Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit

Ste. Anne de Détroit, founded in 1701, is the second oldest continuously operating Roman Catholic parish in the United States. The present church was completed in 1887.

Before the Diocese of Detroit was formed, Michigan had been under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Diocese of Quebec from 1701 until sometime after 1796; de facto American sovereignty was established in that year. At the time, the Diocese of Baltimore encompassed the whole of the United States. Upon the creation of diocesan seats at Bardstown (1808) and later, at Cincinnati (1821), Detroit and Michigan were assigned to those sees.

Pope Gregory XVI formed the Diocese of Detroit March 8, 1833, and named Frederick Rese as its first bishop. At the time it covered Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and the Dakotas to the Missouri River. In 1843, all territory of the diocese not incorporated into the State of Michigan was transferred to the Diocese of Milwaukee.

On July 29, 1853, Pope Pius IX formed the Vicarate Apostolic of Upper Michigan, with responsibility for the Upper Peninsula. The territory of the diocese would be further reduced to its current size by the organization of the dioceses of Grand Rapids (1882), Lansing (1937), and shortly after the see was elevated to the status of an archdiocese, Saginaw (1938).[1]

The son of Prussian Polish immigrants, Rev. John A. Lemke, born in Detroit on February 10, 1866, was the first native-born Roman Catholic priest of Polish descent to be ordained in America. He was baptized at St. Mary Roman Catholic Church (1843), at the corner of St. Antoine and Croghan (Monroe Street), on February 18, 1866, attended St. Albertus for his primary education, and studied at Detroit College (now the University of Detroit Mercy), where he received a bachelor's degree in 1884. After attending St. Mary's in Baltimore, he completed his theological studies at St. Francis Seminary in Monroe, Michigan, and he was ordained by Bishop John Samuel Foley in 1889. His added confirmation name was Aloysius.[10]

In January 1989, Cardinal Edmund Szoka implemented a controversial plan to close 30 churches within the city of Detroit. He also ordered 25 other parishes to improve their situation or also face closure.[11] The plan resulted from a five-year study which analyzed maintenance costs, priest availability, parish income and membership before recommending closure of 43 parishes.[12]

The Association of Religion Data Archives indicated a Catholic membership in the archdiocese of 907,605.[13]

Former archdiocesan coat of arms, 1937–2017

On May 5, 2011, Archbishop Allen Vigneron announced that Pope Benedict XVI approved his request to name Saint Anne as patroness of Detroit. The Papal decree stated that Saint Anne has been the city's patroness since time immemorial.[14]

On February 21, 2012, Vigneron announced a second plan to consolidate churches to address declining membership and clergy availability within the archdiocese. Under the plan, two parishes would close in 2012 and 60 others were to consolidate into 21 by the end of 2013. Six additional parishes were asked to submit a viable plan to repay debt or merge with other churches and the remaining 214 parishes in the archdiocese were asked to submit plans by the end of 2012 to share resources or merge.[15]

On June 3, 2017, the archdiocese adopted a new coat of arms featuring the archdiocesan patroness St. Anne, three stars representing the Trinity, a door representing Blessed Solanus Casey of Detroit, and waves representing the Great Lakes. It replaced a coat of arms featuring antlers and martlets that was adopted upon the diocese's elevation to an archdiocese in 1937.[16]

In 2014, the Archdiocese of Detroit began a missionary transformation with a Year of Prayer. During 2016, listening sessions were held at every parish to learn how the faithful felt the Archdiocese of Detroit could move from maintenance to mission. In November 2016, Archbishop Vigneron led a Synod during which over 400 participants – clergy, religious and laity – gathered to pray, share and discern a plan to renew the Church in Detroit.[17]

The fruit of those efforts was Archbishop Vigneron's pastoral letter, Unleash the Gospel, released on the Feast of Pentecost 2017. In this letter, Archbishop gave the roadmap for the missionary transformation of the Archdiocese of Detroit. This foundational document is the repository of the graces of Synod 16 that allows the work of the movement to unleash the Gospel to move forward with confidence, focus and resolve.[18]

The Detroit Archdiocese is divided into four administrative regions: Central (City of Detroit); Northeast (including Macomb and St. Clair Counties), Northwest (including Oakland and Lapeer Counties), and South (including Monroe County, the Downriver area, and the cities of Dearborn, Livonia, and Plymouth). Each of the four regions is further divided into smaller administrative areas known as vicariates.[25] A list of churches in each of these regions and vicariates is found at List of Roman Catholic churches in the Archdiocese of Detroit.

Mercy High School in Farmington Hills

As of 2013 the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit had 96 schools with 30,000 students. As of 2013 there are four Catholic grade schools and three Catholic high schools in the City of Detroit, with all of them in the city's west side.[26]

In the 1964–1965 school year, there were 360 schools operated by the archdiocese, with about 110 grade schools in Detroit, Hamtramck, and Highland Park and 55 high schools in those three cities. There were a total of 203,000 students in the Catholic schools. The Catholic school population has decreased due to the increase of charter schools, increasing tuition at Catholic schools, the small number of African-American Catholics, White Catholics moving to suburbs, and the decreased number of teaching nuns.[26]

• Madonna University
• Marygrove College (closed in December 2019)[27]
• Sacred Heart Major Seminary
• University of Detroit Mercy

• 
  Chapel (1961) of the Felician Sisters in Livonia, Michigan - architectural sculpture by Corrado Parducci.
• 
  The former Duns Scotus College, once a Franciscan monastery in Southfield, is now the non-denominational Word of Faith.
• 
  Former Duns Scotus College in Southfield.
• 
  Cardinal Maida outside of the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit

Ecclesiastical Province of Detroit

• Diocese of Gaylord
• Diocese of Grand Rapids
• Diocese of Kalamazoo
• Diocese of Lansing
• Diocese of Marquette
• Diocese of Saginaw

• Catholic Church by country
• Catholic Church hierarchy
• Polish Cathedral style churches
• Religion in Metro Detroit
• List of the Catholic dioceses of the United States

• Godzak, Roman (2000). Archdiocese of Detroit (Images of America). Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7385-0797-2.
• Godzak, Roman (2004). Catholic Churches of Detroit (Images of America). Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7385-3235-6.
• Godzak, Roman (2000). Make Straight the Path: A 300 Year Pilgrimage Archdiocese of Detroit. Editions du Signe. ISBN 978-2-7468-0145-5.
• Hill, Eric J.; Gallagher, John (2003). AIA Detroit: The American Institute of Architects Guide to Detroit Architecture. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 978-0-8143-3120-0.
• Muller, Herman Joseph (1976). The University of Detroit 1877-1977: A Centennial History. University of Detroit. ASIN B0006CVJ4S.
• Tentler, Leslie Woodcock (1992). Seasons of Grace: A History of the Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 978-0-8143-2106-5.
• Tutag, Nola Huse; Hamilton, Lucy (1988). Discovering Stained Glass in Detroit. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 978-0-8143-1875-1.

• Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit official site
  • Archdiocese of Detroit Website (aodonline.org) at the Wayback Machine (archive index)
  • Archdiocese of Detroit Website (archdioceseofdetroit.org) at the Wayback Machine (archive index)
• Archdiocese of Detroit at http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org
• "Letter from Kerala Catholic Association to Rev. Adam J. Maida, Archbishop of Detroit" in the South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA)