St. Anne in Ortonville marks 50-year anniversary
Joe Kohn of The Michigan Catholic
Published September 21, 2007
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Joe Kohn | The Michigan Catholic
Msgr. John Zenz (middle) and Fr. Michael Verschaeve (right), joined by the parish's former deacon Deacon Bernard Braun (left), celebrated Mass Sept. 16 to mark St. Anne Parish's 50th anniversary. |
Ortonville — The Catholic community here has come a long way since a small village mission was started in 1949, and last weekend was a red-letter day in that history as St. Anne Parish celebrated its 50th anniversary.
"We celebrate today the space that has been filled with love at St. Anne's," said Msgr. John Zenz, episcopal vicar of the northwest region of the Archdiocese of Detroit, who celebrated Mass Sept. 16 to mark the jubilee. "We celebrate a bond that can never be broken, the bond in the Eucharist. And we celebrate the bond of the love of the Father.…"
Indeed, there was much celebration at the 800-family parish last weekend. People in the faith community organized a sock hop last Friday and a large-scale picnic after the Mass. Past and present parishioners showed up en masse for the festivities, chatted about old times and flipped through photo albums of parish history.
There was, however, an element of concern as current pastor Fr. Bernie Mullen missed the festivities. Fr. Mullen recently was diagnosed with cancer of the throat and had undergone a procedure on Friday, from which he was still recovering over the weekend. At Mass, Msgr. Zenz read a letter from Fr. Mullen to the parish, explaining that he would begin aggressive radiation and chemotherapy, but that he regrets missing the jubilee celebration and was with the community in spirit.
Earlier in the week, Fr. Mullen lauded those who made St. Anne's what it is.
"A lot of people contributed to the life of the parish over the years," he said in an interview. "It's a real accomplishment to get to this point.… The people here are very special. They are down to earth, well-grounded folks. It's a very stable and faith-filled community, and there's a good deal of cooperation among not just our own people at St. Anne, but among people of the area."
The community hosts and maintains a food pantry jointly with other Christian congregations in the area. It also has an active Knights of Columbus council, parish nursing ministry, a fund for the poor, holiday food and toy drives, and a Pax Christi chapter.
St. Anne Parish
Location: 825 S. Ortonville Road in Ortonville
Phone: (248) 627-3965
Founded: 1957
Families: 800
Current pastor: Fr. Bernie Mullen
Founding pastor: Fr. John Hardy
Area involvement: Food pantry, Knights of Columbus council, nursing ministry, fundraising for the poor, food and toy drives for holidays, Pax Christi. | St. Anne's started as an offshoot of St. Joseph Parish in Orion Township, with the help of Fr. George Ging, St. Joseph's pastor at the time. After eight years as a mission, when Sunday Mass was celebrated in the local Grange Hall building, St. Anne was named a parish and Fr. John Hardy was appointed as its first pastor.
"We were all so happy to get a parish, after going to the Grange Hall," recalled Naomi Young, one of a handful of St. Anne's founding parishioners still active in the parish.
Young moved to the area in 1950 and recalls her family taking up a pew in the original, cozy church building and watching her daughters sing in the choir. Being there for the 50th anniversary, she said, left her at a loss for words.
"It's wonderful. You can't explain it," Young said. "It's really great."
Matthew Mersino, another founding parishioner, remembers the church being built, and ushering in St. Anne's earliest days. He's appreciated that each pastor served the community long enough to know it well.
"The priests have stayed and gotten really acquainted with all the parishioners," Mersino said in a phone interview, since he wasn't able to be at the celebration. "That's made it nice — a personal touch."
The parish's population has seen steady growth, just like the surrounding area, said Mary Ann McCarville, the parish secretary who's been with the parish for 24 years.
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Joe Kohn | The Michigan Catholic
Parishioners at St. Anne Parish in Ortonville pore over photo albums of parish history in the parish hall after the 50th anniversary Mass. | "People like this because this was the church out in the country," McCarville said. "Years ago, this was all country, but now it's all built up."
The parish started out with 300 families, and has nearly tripled in size since. Seventeen years ago, a new church building was erected to accommodate the growth, and the old church was converted into a hall. Still, McCarville said, the people don't change.
"When you walk in the door, there are always people here to greet you," she said. "You always meet somebody that you know. It's a welcoming community and friendly atmosphere."
In his homily, Msgr. Zenz observed that those in the community seemed to like space — and just as St. Anne herself, the mother of St. Mary, emptied out herself to make space for God's will, the parish had done the same.
"It was the people of God," Msgr. Zenz said, "who made St. Anne's to come to life in the first place."
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