Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2008 / We honor the gift of consecrated life in the history of the archdiocese
March Prayer Theme
We honor the gift of consecrated life in the history of the archdiocese
Published March 7, 2008
Editor's note: This, the second part of Cardinal Adam Maida's column for March, looks at the historical contribution of religious in the Archdiocese of Detroit. The first part, published Feb. 29, explored the forms and gift of consecrated life to the Church.
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Images of America: Archdiocese of Detroit
The Negro Apostolate organized by the archdiocese assimilated African Americans into the Catholic Church and encouraged their participation in its administrative and charitable functions. The priests in the front row are members of the Passionist Fathers. | My Brothers and Sisters in the Lord:
When initial settlers landed along the Detroit River on July 24, 1701, two religious were among the retinue of Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac – a Franciscan priest, whose name has been lost to history, and a Jesuit, Fr. Francois Vaillant. Jesuits maintained a very strong presence in this part of our country during the early years of missionary growth and expansion. The Sulpician Order also made a major commitment to serve the developing Church of our state and gave us Fr. Gabriel Richard, the "renaissance man" who represented Michigan at the U.S. Congress and co-founded the University of Michigan along with other educational institutions for boys and girls and the Native Indian peoples, and served as pastor of Ste. Anne de Detroit Parish.
Detroit became a diocese in 1833 and Michigan a state in 1837; soon after, both the city and the region began to experience tremendous growth. The first bishop of Detroit, Frederic Rese, was concerned for the well-being of the many sick and poor, especially the children; the results of the deadly 1832 cholera epidemic left an enduring need for many social services. Bishop Rese invited the Sisters of Charity to the diocese in 1844 and they established Detroit's first hospital, St. Vincent's, later relocated downtown under the name St. Mary's. The Sisters of Charity also established St. Joseph's Retreat, a psychiatric facility, in 1860.
In 1845, Fr. Louis Gillet, a Redemptorist, invited three women religious under the leadership of Mother Theresa Maxis to Monroe; together, they established the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (or the IHM Sisters), whose ministry primarily focused on education. Over the ensuing years, their ministries also included various forms of parish service and even missionary activity. In 1851, the Religious of the Sacred Heart founded the first independent school in the state of Michigan. The School Sisters of Notre Dame arrived in 1852, the Brothers of the Christian Schools in the same year, and the Society of St. Paul in 1854.
As wave upon wave of immigrant groups came to the metro area, quite often, they brought with them not only their own clergy, but also religious women. They had a powerful impact and influence in helping the initial generations adjust to the American culture, while yet preserving their ethnic and religious traditions from the old world.
The archdiocese has been greatly blessed by the presence and service of the Jesuit Fathers, who accepted responsibility for SS. Peter and Paul Church in downtown Detroit in 1877, and that same year, opened a college which eventually became the University of Detroit, relocated in 1926 to its current Six Mile/Livernois area. The Capuchin Friars have been active in the archdiocese since 1833, when Bishop Casper Borgess invited them, and they built St. Bonaventure Monastery, a place of prayer and service, the eventual home of the Venerable Fr. Solanus Casey. Meanwhile, the Holy Ghost Fathers arrived in the archdiocese around 1884 and served the African-American Catholics of the metro area, both in Detroit and Inkster. They founded the first African-American parish in the city in 1911, St. Peter Claver, which at that time existed in Greektown.
Ministering to the large number of Polish first- and second-generation immigrants were the Felician Sisters. They immigrated to the United States in 1879 and established a motherhouse in Wisconsin. Their Detroit motherhouse was originally in St. Albertus Parish. In 1936 they relocated to Livonia, where their on-campus ministries include a child care center, Montessori center, high school, university, skilled and nursing care facility, hospital, hospice and Senior Clergy Village.
Throughout the 20th century, various men's and women's congregations came to the archdiocese: the Augustinians in 1920, the Oxford Dominicans in 1923, the Servite Fathers in 1923 and Servite Sisters in 1931. Since 1906, the Cloistered Dominicans have been present in the archdiocese – first near what is now Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament and, for the last 40 years, in Farmington Hills – and the Discalced Carmelites, since 1926, first near Marygrove and later in Clinton Township.
We are blessed with several Dominican congregations of religious women within the archdiocese – besides the Cloistered Sisters in Farmington Hills and the Cloistered Dominicans of Mount Thabor, the Dominican congregations of Adrian and Oxford have made a very significant contribution to our history. Although Adrian has not been within our boundaries since 1971, Dominicans from Adrian have been – and are – influential in many aspects of archdiocesan life. The Oxford Dominicans have provided quality nursing care and related services for the elderly at their Lourdes Campus in Waterford Township and continue the valuable service of retreat work.
The archdiocese has been blessed by the Religious Sisters of Mercy, headquartered in Farmington Hills, and their many ministries of education, health care and parish service. Mercy High School and College (now University of Detroit Mercy) has played a significant role in our history, and the hospital and healthcare facilities sponsored by their order have brought healing to many. They have also partnered with the archdiocese in care for senior citizens.
Although not headquartered in the archdiocese, the Congregation (formerly the Sisters) of St. Joseph of Nazareth, Michigan, have also made a profound effect in our archdiocese through their many institutions of healthcare and social service, including St. Francis Home and St. John Health.
It would be difficult to imagine our archdiocese without the dedicated service of so many religious orders who have sponsored our major high schools, for example: the Christian Brothers and De La Salle Collegiate High School (originally near Connor and Outer Drive, and now in Warren); the Congregation of Christian Brothers (Brother Rice High School); the Marist Father and Brothers (Notre Dame in Harper Woods and Notre Dame Preparatory in Pontiac); the Sisters of St. Joseph, Third Order of St. Francis (Regina High School); and the Fathers and Brothers of the Congregation of the Holy Cross (Catholic Central, Monroe).
We have been blessed by the pastoral service of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales (in various capacities within the archdiocese, especially in teaching); the Missionaries of La Salette; the Basilian Fathers (St. Anne de Detroit and Detroit Catholic Central, High School); the Crosiers (St. Cyprian and several other parishes); the Holy Ghost Fathers (St. Mary, Greektown); the Benedictines (St. Scholastica and the Subiaco Retreat House); the Passionists (especially through their retreat work); the Redemptorists (Holy Redeemer, Detroit). We have also been challenged by the presence and witness of the Marianhill Missionaries and the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME).
During the two decades that Cardinal Edward Mooney was archbishop (1937-1958), the Marianhill Mission Society, Irish Pallotine Fathers, the Bernadine Franciscans, and Our Lady of Victory Sisters were all welcomed into the archdiocese. In 1948, Cardinal Mooney approved the creation of the Home Visitors of Mary, whose founders were Sr. Mary Schutz and Sr. Mary Agnes; their charism was evangelization, especially among the African-Americans of the urban area.
After the Second Vatican Council, as many religious orders were refocusing their mission, a group of the local, former Felicians created a community of their own, the Servants of Jesus, a religious institute of diocesan rite, committed to a variety of ministries. The Missionaries of Charity came to metro Detroit in the 1970s and have served in various locations in the core city and on the southwest side among the most economically-challenged. Sisters from Africa – Sisters of Jesus the Savior and the Daughters of Mary Mother of Mercy – have been serving in the archdiocese for the last 20 years. Daughters of Mary Immaculate serve Chaldean Catholics. Most recently, two Indian communities: the Daughters of Mary and the Sisters of the Imitation of Christ have taken up residence in the archdiocese; their ministries include participation in Felician healthcare services, and an integral participation in their Indian faith community.
The archdiocese of Detroit has been immeasurably blessed by the presence of foreign-born religious women and men who have come to learn the English language and complete educational degrees. Some of these religious have returned to their countries prepared to enhance the lives of their own people and to enrich the ministries in which they serve; others continue to serve in various capacities.
My summary of religious work in the Archdiocese is obviously not exhaustive. I simply wanted to highlight some of the religious women and men who have helped build up the people of God in this part of the world. It would be completely accurate to say that our Church of Detroit would not be the same without the contribution they have made! We cannot begin to appreciate the hidden but powerful impact they have brought in the formation of generations of women and men through our Catholic schools, in the field of healthcare, in parish ministry, and in various aspects of social service.
Religious men, women have had tremendous impact on the Archdiocese of Detroit
Sincerely yours in the Lord,
†Adam Cardinal Maida
Archbishop of Detroit
March Prayer Theme
“The Gift of Consecrated Life in the History of the Archdiocese”
As we celebrate the 175th anniversary of the foundation of Detroit as a diocese, we give thanks to God for the gift and blessing of consecrated life. Many of us were privileged to have been taught by religious order priests, brothers, and sisters. Most of the major Catholic healthcare institutions of our metro area trace their origins and ongoing mission to the charism of particular religious communities. This month of March, as we celebrate the Paschal Mystery of the Lord, let us give thanks to God for these women and men who have truly lived their baptismal calling to its utmost, consecrating their entire lives to the Lord for the well-being of the Church through vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.
Almighty God and Father, as we celebrate the Death–Resurrection of Christ your Son and our share in that mystery through the waters of Baptism and a life of loving obedience to the Holy Spirit, we give you thanks for the gift and blessing of generations of women and men who consecrated their lives to the service of the Church.
Continue to bless their communities and inspire more women and men to pursue a vocation to one of the forms of consecrated life in the Church today.
By our ever–deepening ap-preciation of religious life, may we also affirm the vocations of priesthood and diaconate, mar-riage, family, and the single life.
As we follow–according to our life circumstances–the way of Christ, the way of poverty, chastity, and obedience, renew our life within us.
We ask this, Heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.
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