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Mass of unity
St. Bartholomew/St. Rita Parish celebrates first Mass as a combined parish
Robert Delaney of The Michigan Catholic
Published November 23, 2007
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Robert Delaney | The Michigan Catholic
A sign at the entrance to the nave of St. Bartholomew Church last Sunday welcomes former parishioners from St. Rita Parish. |
Detroit — Members of the former St. Bartholomew and St. Rita parishes came together last Sunday at St. Bartholomew Church in northeast Detroit for a Mass of unity to inaugurate their new life together as St. Bartholomew/St. Rita Parish.
Retired Auxiliary Bishop Moses Anderson, SSE, said it was "a great gift of God" for the two parishes to join together so as to build up the Body of Christ in that part of Detroit.
St. Bartholomew / St. Rita Parish
Location: 2291 E. Outer Drive, Detroit
Established: Nov. 14, 2007
Pastor: Fr. Ronald Borg, CSB
Deacons: Deacon Raymond Lubien and Deacon Paul Ostrowski
Origin: St. Bartholomew Parish, founded 1925, and St. Rita Parish, founded 1924, were clustered together in recent years through the Together in Faith process. With dwindling membership, administrative issues and security concerns, St. Rita parishioners voted to merge with St. Bartholomew, whose parishioners welcomed them.
Mass Schedule: Saturday, 4 p.m.; Sunday, 9 a.m. and 11 a.m.; Tuesday through Friday, 9 a.m.
Contact: (313) 892-1446. | "You are already united in the person of Jesus Christ, and there is no greater unity than that," he told the congregation in his homily.
"If you will live out that unity, you will be a light to many persons in the archdiocese and in the world," Bishop Anderson continued.
The merged parish begins life with about 75 families from the former St. Rita Parish on East State Fair Avenue just east of the Chrysler Freeway (I-75) and about 180 families from the former St. Bartholomew Parish.
The new parish is housed in the buildings of the former St. Bartholomew Parish, on East Outer Drive at Wexford.
During the unity Mass, the congregation was asked three questions, to which they all responded affirmatively:
• "Do you promise to walk together for the unity of the Church?"
• "Are you resolved to unite yourself more closely with Christ, and try to become more like Him?"
• "Do you promise to celebrate the sacraments together with sincere devotion?"
The unity Mass also included the reading of the decree from Cardinal Adam Maida proclaiming the establishment of the new St. Bartholomew/St. Rita Parish.
Bishop Anderson installed Fr. Borg as Pastor, and Fr. Borg made a formal profession of faith and obedience.
Members of the new combined parish council came up to the front of the church to present Fr. Borg with a book containing the names of all parishioners, and to officially welcome him as their pastor.
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Retired Auxiliary Bishop Moses Anderson, SSE, sings after delivering the homily. |
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Fr. Ronald Borg, CSB, pastor of the new St. Bartholomew/St Rita Parish, joins in a hymn. | Not that Fr. Borg was any stranger to the parishioners of either former parish. He had been administrator of St. Bartholomew Parish for about one year before recently being named pastor, and most St. Rita parishioners had been worshipping at St. Bartholomew since about June.
It was in June that St. Rita Church was desecrated by vandals, who broke into the tabernacle and scattered the hosts on the floor. In all, the former St. Rita property has been broken unto 17 times since Jan. 1. The buildings are now boarded up and will be sold.
Fr. Borg has expressed the hope that the merger of the mostly black parishioners from St. Rita with the mostly white parishioners of St. Bartholomew will put the merged parish in a better position to do neighborhood evangelization.
Ready to help with that effort are the four Sisters of Jesus the Saviour from Nigeria who recently moved into the St. Bartholomew convent. "We'll be teaching catechism here," said Sr. Mary Paul, one of the Nigerian sisters.
After the Mass, members of the new parish traveled to Sacred Heart Major Seminary for a unity dinner.
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