Contacts & Publisher

Subscription Form

Home  / News & Publications /  Michigan Catholic News / 2008 /  Holy Name of Jesus parishioners return to visit old church

by Robert Delaney of The Michigan Catholic
Published April 4, 2008

Robert Delaney | The Michigan Catholic Upwards of 800 people fill Shield of Faith Church, most of them former members from when it was Holy Name of Jesus Church, for last Sunday’s interfaith service.

Detroit — Even though Holy Name of Jesus Parish closed back in 1990, upwards of 600 former parishioners were back in their old pews last Sunday for an interfaith service with several hundred members of Shield of Faith Church.

The service was part of a two-day reunion for Holy Name parishioners.

"God can take our brokenness, God can take our differences, and make us one," the Rev. James Jennings Jr., Shield of Faith's pastor, told the combined congregation.

"Holy Name of Jesus (members), you left us a great legacy, you gave us a platform to stand on," he said of the parish buildings that once belonged to the former Catholic parish.

Catholic clergy taking part in the service were Fr. Richard Rakoczy, a former associate pastor and now pastor of St. Perpetua Parish in Waterford Township; and three former members of the parish, Fr. Sylvester Taube, pastor of St. Columban Parish in Birmingham, Fr. Nicholas Zukowski, pastor of St. Mary Queen of Creation Parish in New Baltimore, and Deacon Raymond Lubien of St. Bartholomew/St. Rita Parish in Detroit.

"This was my first assignment – from June 1959 to June 1963," Fr. Rakoczy said after the service.

"This was a vibrant parish, with 2,400 families, three priests, more than a dozen Adrian Dominican sisters, and 800 kids in the grade school," he recalled.

Among those who returned for the reunion was the parish's long-time music director Fernando Reyes, who sang Franz Schubert's "Ave Maria," while accompanying himself at the piano.

Also at the service, Louis Canter, archdiocesan director of music, presented Reyes with a certificate signed by Cardinal Adam Maida recognizing his 60 years of serving the Church.

And Reyes' daughter, Dolores Reyes-Aquino, served as cantor for the service.

While the interior of Shield of Faith Church has been reconfigured up front to reflect its change from a Catholic to a Protestant church, a number of former Holy Name parishioners said they were glad to see that the building was so well kept up and that the church's beautiful stained-glass windows had all been kept intact.

Proceeds from the collection are to go toward maintaining the physical plant.

Richard Szafranski, who was a member from 1953 until the parish closed, recalled Holy Name as "a phenomenal parish, because of the friendship and the family feeling that were developed here."

"My wife, Helen, and I raised five children here, and they all graduated from the school," said Szafranski, now a member of St. Veronica Parish in Eastpointe.

The service and other reunion events – a dinner-dance last Saturday night and a reception at the former Holy Name School after last Sunday's service — grew out of the efforts of Michael Happy, who grew up in the parish but now lives in Grosse Pointe, and Jonathan Morgan, a former New Yorker who now lives in Royal Oak.

Robert Delaney | The Michigan Catholic Fr. Syl Taube (left) joins in song with Shield of Faith ministers, the Revs. Wesley Johnson and James Jennings Jr.

They wanted to mobilize former residents of the parish neighborhood to help fix up Fletcher Field, a park near the Holy Name of Jesus buildings.

Happy got in touch with Joyce Jennings-Fells, daughter of Shield of Faith's pastor, and began working with Marvel Cheeks, Adopt-a-Park coordinator for Detroit Parks and Recreation.

Happy, an editor at The Detroit News, promoted the park and reunion efforts on his blog at the paper's Web site. A non-profit organization, Friends of Fletcher Field, was formed, and more than 400 people showed up at Fletcher Field last September for a day of work and play to celebrate the park's rebirth.

"This is an example of what people can do when they decide to let go of race. This is a living, working example, and we should do more of it," Cheeks said.

Those thoughts were echoed by Richard Lewnau, a former Holy Name parishioner who now belongs to Prince of Peace Parish in West Bloomfield Township and represents the Lakes Vicariate on the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council.

Recalling the recent discussion of the link between poverty and racism by the APC, Lewnau said, "This shows what can happen when people take it beyond talk to action."