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Home  / News & Publications /  Michigan Catholic News / 2009 /  Celebrating 50 years

by Kristin Lukowski of The Michigan Catholic
Published June 19, 2009

Kristin Lukowski | The Michigan Catholic As Archbishop Vigneron prepares the altar for Communion, children bring up food for the needy.

Auburn Hills - June has been a bittersweet month at Sacred Heart of the Hills Parish, Auburn Hills, with the impending retirement of pastor Fr. Jim Mayworm, but the "sweet" came first with the parish's celebration of 50 years of faith last weekend.

The anniversary Mass - celebrated before the parish's Aug. 4 anniversary date so Fr. Mayworm could participate - culminated the end of a year of ice cream socials, selling parish items, breakfasts, special prayers, a Mardi Gras party and more. Still to come is the parish picnic and a 50-hour exposition of the Eucharist.

Ron Iwaszkiewicz and his wife, Gerrie, of Bloomfield Hills, are some of the long-timers at Sacred Heart, having been members for 44 years. They've made many friends and gotten to know a lot of people, he said, and had two boys who grew up the parish.

Kristin Lukowski | The Michigan Catholic Fernando Gutierrez, 10, takes a picture with is father's camera of the archbishop celebrating Mass.

He and his wife have been heavily involved over the years, whether it's been serving as a Eucharistic minister, serving on the parish council, or maintaining the rose beds. "We do just about anything," he said.

Although there have been changes and events in the parish over the years - a fire, a few remodeling projects, the opening and closing of the school - he says he still looks forward to being involved. "It's the feeling of community, and the friends we've made over the years," he said. "This is a home away from home for my wife and I. We do so many different things, if we're not home, we're here most of the time."

Kay Sendegas, of Auburn Hills, has attended the parish for about 46 years, and now one of her daughters and her children attend, too. She likes how everyone cares about everyone else at the parish, she said; if you go to a different church for a few weeks, people will worry and ask about you.

She's currently a lector and a Eucharistic minister, and helps out wherever else she's asked. Other people joke they see her everywhere at church, she said.

"I just wouldn't think of not being here," she said. "It's our parish. I just love it. There's no reason I would even want to go anywhere else."

Harvey and Marguerite Rouleau, of Rochester, are 45-year members, having moved to the area when looking for a Catholic school to send their young children. Sacred Heart's elementary school operated from 1960-1971. They've also been involved in various clubs, commissions and ministries over the years; when Harvey says his wife has been active in the parish, she jumps in with "but he's my backup."

Although the Rouleaus moved 15 years ago from being five minutes away from the parish to 15 minutes away, and they pass three other Catholic churches to get to Sacred Heart, they still attend the parish. "It's the spirit of the parish," Marguerite Rouleau said. "I know the parishioners. It's like a family. There's a lot of good people here in the parish."

Archbishop Allen Vigneron concelebrated the Corpus Christi Sunday Mass with Fr. Mayworm, former pastor Msgr. Dennis Harrity and Fr. Arthur Jacobi. During his homily, Archbishop Vigneron talked about the meaning of a covenant with God and how we can have a hard time understanding what a covenant really is because of our commercial culture - where things are traded for money or other things.

"We exchange stuff - that's a contract," he said. "I get what was yours; I will give you what was mine. That's not what a covenant is."

In a covenant, two parties "don't exchange stuff - they exchange lives, one for the other," he said, with marriage being a good example.

The Last Supper is a new and eternal covenant, as God gives us Himself and Jesus gives Himself to God - "And that's what we do every time we come to the Eucharist," he said. "When God the Father looks at you, he sees the face of Jesus, and He loves and admires and takes delight in what He sees in us because He sees nothing other than the love that lives in us, in the heart of Jesus Christ."

After Mass, Anna Leslie, of Beverly Hills, a member of the parish for about 10 years, was one of many who waited in line to chat with Archbishop Vigneron. She was married in the parish, her child was baptized in the parish, and she just renewed her vows a few weekends ago. She said the parish was like a circle of family.

"It means so much," she said of the celebration. "The parish is so strong."