Archdiocese of Detroit Archidiœcesis Detroitensis | |
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_-_exterior.JPG) Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit, the mother church of the archdiocese since 1938 | |
 Coat of arms | |
| Location | |
| Country |  United States |
| Territory |  Michigan counties ofLapeer,Macomb,Monroe,Oakland,St. Clair, andWayne |
| Episcopal conference | United States Conference of Catholic Bishops |
| Ecclesiastical region | Region VI |
| Ecclesiastical province | Detroit |
| Statistics | |
| Area | 3,901 km2 (1,506 sq mi) |
Population
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| Parishes | 209 |
| Information | |
| Denomination | Catholic Church |
| Sui iuris church | Latin Church |
| Rite | Roman Rite |
| Established | March 8, 1833 (192 years ago) |
| Cathedral | Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament |
| Patron saint | St. Anne |
| Current leadership | |
| Pope | Leo XIV |
| Archbishop | Edward Weisenburger |
| Auxiliary Bishops | |
| Vicar General | Jeff Day |
| Judicial Vicar | Sal Palazzolo |
| Bishops emeritus | |
| Map | |
 | |
| Website | |
| aod | |
TheArchdiocese of Detroit (Latin:Archidiœcesis Detroitensis) is anarchdiocese of theCatholic Church covering the south-east portion ofMichigan in the United States. It consists counties ofLapeer,Macomb,Monroe,Oakland,St. Clair, andWayne counties. It is themetropolitan archdiocese of theEcclesiastical Province of Detroit, which includes all the dioceses in the state of Michigan. It was erected on March 8, 1833, and elevated to an archdiocese on May 22, 1937. TheCathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament has served as themother church since 1938. TheBasilica of Sainte Anne de Détroit is the second oldest continuously operating Catholic parish in the United States, dating to 1701. In 2000, the archdiocese accepted pastoral responsibility for the Catholic Church in the Cayman Islands.
The first Catholic presence in present-day Michigan was that of the French Jesuit missionaries,Charles Raymbaut andIsaac Jogues. The two priests stopped near what is nowSault Ste. Marie in 1641 to visit theChippewa Nation.[1]
In 1670,Claude Dablon established the first Catholic mission in the region onMackinac Island.Jacques Marquette moved the mission off the island in 1671 to the mainland by theStraits of Mackinac.[2][3] By the late 1600s, Jesuit priests were setting up missions throughout the region.[1]
In 1701, theDiocese of Quebec took jurisdiction over missionary activity in Michigan, now part of the French colony ofNew France. In July of that year, a group of French-Canadian settlers, led by the explorerAntoine de la Mothe Cadillac, arrived at the mouth of theDetroit River. They immediately started building the first Sainte-Anne-de-Détroit Church, a small wooden structure.[1][4]
When the British took control of New France after theFrench and Indian War ended in 1763, the Diocese of Quebec retained its jurisdiction there. After the end of theAmerican Revolution, the British transferred control of Michigan to the new United States.[1] In 1789,Pope Pius VI erected theDiocese of Baltimore, with jurisdiction over Catholics in the entire United States.[5]
The newMichigan Territory was transferred in 1808 from the Diocese of Baltimore to theDiocese of Bardstown.[6] It was reassigned in 1821 to theDiocese of Cincinnati.[6]
Pope Gregory XVI erected the Diocese of Detroit on March 8, 1833, taking its territory from the Diocese of Cincinnati. He namedFrederick Rese from Cincinnati as its first bishop.[7] Ste. Anne became the cathedral for the diocese. At the time, the new diocese covered a vast area in theAmerican Midwest andGreat Plains, extending throughMichigan, Wisconsin,Minnesota and the Dakotas to theMissouri River.[7]
By 1837, Rese was incapable of administering the diocese due to mental health problems.[8] Gregory XVI recalled him to Rome and appointedPeter Paul Lefevere ascoadjutor bishop to assume its operation.[9] When Lefevere arrived in Detroit, the city had only two parishes, with the rest of the diocese having only 25; the diocese was served by only 18 priests.[10]
To improve the administration of the diocese, Lefevere established its first set of policies in 1843. That same year, the Vatican reduced the Diocese of Detroit to the State of Michigan, transferring the out-of-state territories to the newly-formedDiocese of Milwaukee.[7] He won a dispute with some of the laity over the ownership of church property. Lefevere bought property throughout the diocese for future churches.[11]
Lefevere and theFour Sisters of Charity established four orphanages, a medical hospital and a mental hospital. TheDaughters of Charity became the first religious order of teaching sisters to come to Detroit.[10] TheSisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary came to the diocese in 1845. In 1846, Lefevere established St. Thomas Seminary in Detroit, aminor seminary that closed in 1854.[12][10]
In 1853,Pope Pius IX formed theVicarate Apostolic of Upper Michigan, taking theUpper Peninsula of Michigan from the Diocese of Detroit.[7] Lefevere in 1854 dedicatedSaints Peter and Paul Cathedral in Detroit, which replaced Ste. Anne de Detroit.[13] He presided over the first diocesan synod in 1859.[11]
Lefevere died in 1869. He never became bishop of Detroit because Rese was still alive, living in a sanitarium in Europe. During Lefevere's time as coadjutor bishop, the number of parishes in Detroit increased to 11 and 160 in the rest of the diocese, with 80 priests.[10]
To replace Lefevere as coadjutor bishop of Detroit,Pope Pius IX in 1870 namedCaspar Borgess of Cincinnati. When Rese died the next year, Borgess succeeded him as bishop of Detroit.[14]
In 1877, he invitedJesuits to establish theUniversity of Detroit Jesuit High School in Detroit.
In 1882, the Vatican erected theDiocese of Grand Rapids in west central Michigan, taking its territory from the Diocese of Detroit.[7] Borgess suspended the pastor ofSt. Albertus Parish in Detroit in 1885; when the congregation refused to accept their new pastor, Borgess placed the parish underinterdict.[15] These controversies and his poor relationship with his priests led Borgess to submit his resignation to the Vatican as bishop of Detroit as early as 1879.[16] However, the Vatican would not let him resign his post until 1887.[14]
The next bishop of Detroit wasJohn Samuel Foley from Baltimore, named byPope Leo XIII in 1888.[7] During his tenure, Foley established aseminary forPolish Americans, and later healed a longschism among them.[17] In 1889, John A. Lemke was ordained to the priesthood at St. Casimir Church in Detroit. He became the first American of Polish descent to become a priest.[18]
In 1907, St. Francis's Home for Orphan Boys opened in Detroit, built at a cost of $250,000.[17] Foley established the first parish forAfrican Americans,St. Peter Claver, in Detroit, in 1911, althoughchapels and missions for African-American Catholics had existed since the late 1870s.[19] The development of the automobile industry in Detroit led to a massive increase in population, and the number of Catholics in the diocese more than tripled during Foley's tenure. Although the number of diocesan priests nearly doubled, there still insufficient to minister to the growing population. Despite his popularity and personal charm, Foley was generally regarded as an ineffective bishop with an unsuccessful administration.[20] Foley died in 1918, after 30 years as bishop of Detroit.[7]The last bishop of Detroit was BishopMichael Gallagher from Grand Rapids, appointed in 1918.[21] In 1921, the archdiocese published aposter prohibiting sterilization and abortion services in its hospitals. This became the basis of theEthical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, published by theUS Conference of Catholic Bishops in 1971.[22] In 1919, Gallagher openedSacred Heart Major Seminary in a temporary structure in Detroit to alleviate the priest shortage. In 1924, after a $4 million fundraising effort, the diocese constructed a permanent facility with a capacity for 500 seminarians.[23][24]
In 1926, Gallagher appointedCharles Coughlin as pastor of theShrine of the Little Flower Parish inRoyal Oak, Michigan. Coughlin soon started a radio ministry, with Gallagher's approval. As Coughlin started gaining a large national audience for his program, his incendiary comments against Jews and capitalists became more pronounced.[citation needed]
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In 1930, theapostolic delegate for the United States, CardinalPietro Fumasoni Biondi, asked Gallagher to curb Coughlin, but Gallagher refused. "I made no mistake and have never doubted my judgment in putting him before the microphone," Gallagher said about Coughlin in 1933.[25]
Again in 1935, CardinalAmleto Cigognani, the new apostolic delegate, tried to stop Coughlin, but Gallagher still protected him. It was rumored thatPope Pius XI refused to raiseDetroit to an archdiocese due to his displeasure over Coughlin.[26][27] In August 1936, Gallagher travelled to Rome. While he was en route, Coughlin denounced US PresidentFranklin Roosevelt as a liar. Gallagher forced Coughlin to apologize.[28] While meeting with Pius XI, Coughlin's activities arose in the discussion. Gallagher convinced the pope not to censure Coughlin or force him to cease broadcasting.[25] Some months later, Gallagher died in January 1937.[29]
In May 1937, Detroit Diocese was made an Archdiocese. TheDiocese of Lansing was established in south central Michigan with territory taken from Detroit.[30][31] BishopEdward Mooney from the Diocese of Rochester became Detroit's first archbishop.[32]
In October 1937, Mooney publicly rebuked Coughlin for calling Roosevelt "stupid" over his nomination of SenatorHugo Black to theU.S. Supreme Court. This reprimand from Mooney led Coughlin to cancel his contract for 26 radio broadcasts,[33] though he resumed broadcasting in 1938. (Coughlin's anti-Semitism became more blatant with the outbreak of World War II, leading Mooney to repeatedly rebuke him and radio stations refusing to air his broadcasts. By 1940, Coughlin had virtually no access to the airwaves, though he continued to publish his views.)[34]
In February 1938, the Vatican erected the Diocese of Saginaw, taking territory in northeastern Michigan from the Archdiocese of Detroit and the Diocese of Grand Rapids.[35] The Vatican also transferred three more counties from the archdiocese to the Diocese of Lansing.[31] In April 1938, theCathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit became the mother church of the new archdiocese.[36]
In a 1939 meeting of all the archdiocesan priests, Mooney proposed the establishment of labor schools in the parishes to help "Christian workers to train themselves in principle and technique to assume the leadership in the unions which their numbers justify".[37] An avid golf player, Mooney once remarked to his priests "If your score is over 100, you are neglecting your golf—if it falls below 90, you're neglecting your parish". Every year, he would take a group ofaltar boys to the opening game of theDetroit Tigers major league baseball team.[38]
In 1942, theUS Department of Justice informed Mooney that it was planning to indict Coughlin on charges ofsedition, based on his espousal of Nazi doctrines. As part of a deal to avoid Coughlin's prosecution, Mooney ordered him to end his political activities and work solely as a parish priest. Mooney stated, "My understanding with him [Coughlin] is sufficiently broad and firm to exclude effectively the recurrence of any such unpleasant situation."[39]Pope Pius XII created Mooney ascardinal priest of theChurch of Santa Susanna in Rome in 1946.[40]
As the northern suburbs of Detroit grew after World War II ended in 1945, Mooney added parishes inOakland County. In 1948, he appointedFrederick Delaney to begin opening additional parishes in the rural areas of the county.[41] That same year,Pope Pius XII named BishopJohn Dearden from theDiocese of Pittsburgh ascoadjutor archbishop to assist Mooney.[7]
After Mooney died in 1958, Dearden automatically succeeded him as archbishop of Detroit. He was active in community causes, such as supporting equal employment opportunities and encouraging his diocese to work for better racial relations in Detroit. His commitment to racial justice frequently put him at odds with priests and lay Catholics at the parish level, who organized to fight racial integration of their neighborhoods.[42]
In 1965, Dearden helped inaugurate Project Equality, an interfaith program that asked businesses to pledge to a policy of non-discrimination in hiring and hire employees.[43] He also announced that the archdiocese would give preferential treatment to suppliers who provided equal employment opportunities to minority groups.[44]
When voters amended theMichigan State Constitution in 1970 to bar all taxpayer aid to private schools in 1970, Dearden ordered all parishes to examine their finances in light of this decision and determine if their schools would be a financial drain due to reduced enrollment. Dearden ultimately ordered the closing of 56 parish schools.[45] That same year, the Vatican transferred two counties from the Archdiocese of Detroit to the Diocese of Lansing.[7]
After thepermanent diaconate was restored during theSecond Vatican Council, Dearden in 1971 became the first American bishop or archbishop to ordain married laymen as deacons.[45]
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After suffering a heart attack, Dearden retired as archbishop of Detroit in 1980. To replace Dearden, Pope John Paul II named BishopEdmund Szoka from theDiocese of Gaylord. In 1983, he dealt with SisterAgnes Mary Mansour, who was appointed as the director of theMichigan Department of Community Health. This state agency providedMedicaid funding for abortion services for women. Szoka had given Mansour permission to take the job, but insisted that she oppose publicly funded abortion services. Mansour believed that abortion was a tragic decision for the pregnant woman, but should be legal. She refused to oppose public funding of it. Szoka then appealed to Mansour's superiors in theSisters of Mercy to order Mansour to change her stance, but the order supported her.[46]
In 1989, Szoka closed 30 parishes within the archdiocese and ordered 25 other parishes to improve their financial situation or face closure.[47] The plan resulted from a five-year study that analyzed parish maintenance costs, priest availability, parish income, and parish membership.[48] Szoka resigned as archbishop in 1990 to assume a position in theRoman Curia.
The next archbishop of Detroit was BishopAdam Maida from theDiocese of Green Bay, appointed by John Paul II in 1990.
In 2007, Maida relieved Auxiliary Bishop EmeritusThomas Gumbleton of his pastoral duties at St. Leo Parish in Detroit. Gumbleton claimed that Maida was punishing him for his outspoken views on sexual abuse crimes by clergy. Maida said that he was following the Vatican rules on the retirement age of bishops.[49] Maida retired in 2009.Pope Benedict XVI then named BishopAllen Vigneron from theDiocese of Oakland as Maida's replacement.[7]
In 2011, Vigneron announced thatPope Benedict XVI had approved his request to nameSaint Anne as patroness of the archdiocese.[50] In 2012, Vigneron announced a new plan to consolidate parishes in order to address declining parish membership and clergy availability within the archdiocese. Under the plan, two parishes would close in 2012 and 60 others were to consolidate into 21 parishes by the end of 2013. The archdiocese asked six additional parishes to submit plans to either repay their debts or merge with other parishes. The remaining 214 parishes were asked to submit plans to share resources or merge.[51]
In 2019, Vigneron published the pastoral note "The Day of the Lord". This note ended required Sunday sports practices and games in Catholic schools so that students could spend that day focused on prayer, family and rest. Vigneron announced in June 2020 that the archdiocese was restructuring 200 parishes into 60 to 80 parish families to deal with the shortage of priests.[52]
On February 11, 2025,Pope Francis accepted Vigneron's retirement as archbishop of Detroit and named BishopEdward Weisenburger from theDiocese of Tucson to succeed him.[53][54][55]
In 2002,Wayne County prosecutors indicted Harry Benjamin, Robert Burkholder, Edward Olszewski, and Jason E. Sigler on criminal sexual conduct charges. The four priests, all residing outside of Michigan, had previously been incardinated in the Archdiocese of Detroit. They were all accused of sexually molesting 11 to 13-year-old boys.[56]
In May 2019, Michigan Attorney GeneralDana Nessel indicted two priests who had previously served in the archdiocese:[57]
In July 2019, the archdiocese removed Eduard Perrone, pastor of Assumption Grotto Parish in Detroit from public ministry after determining that allegations that he sexually abused a child decades ago were "credible". Perrone denied the charges.[63] The archdiocese took action based on accusations from a Wayne County police detective who claimed that Perrone sexually assaulted a boy 40 years earlier. However, the alleged victim later retracted his allegations. In August 2020, Perrone received a $125,000 settlement from Wayne County for adefamation lawsuit he filed against the detective[64] That same month, 20 parishioners from Assumption Grotto sued the archdiocese. They claimed that the archdiocese framed Perrone on the sexual abuse allegations because he was a traditionalist Catholic priest who had allegedly exposed scandals in the archdiocese.[65] Perrone was found guilty of three violations of canon law in May 2022. He was allowed to resume public ministry, but could not return to Assumption Grotto.[66]
In July 2019, Joseph Baker was indicted on first-degree criminal sexual conduct with someone under age 13. The archdiocese had previously placed limits on his public ministry.[67] Baker was convicted in October 2022 and was sentenced to three to 15 years in prison.[68]
In September 2020, Gary Berthiaume was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old at Our Lady of Sorrows Parish in Farmington during the 1970s. He was additionally charged in June 2021 with sexually assault two young teenagers at St. Joseph Catholic Church inWyandotte during the same time period.[69][70] Berthiaume pleaded guilty in November 2021 to two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct andno contest to one count of gross indecency in the two cases. He was sentenced to 16 to 17 months in prison.[71]
The archdiocese in June 2021 restricted the public ministry of Lawrence Fares, a then 96-year-old retired priest. It had received credible allegations in 2019 ofchild sexual abuse against him, dating back to his early years as a priest.[72]
In 1974, Brian McNaught, a reporter and columnist for theMichigan Catholic newspaper, revealed in aDetroit News article that he was gay. TheCatholic then dropped his column, citing space issues in the publication. In response, McNaught filed a complaint against theCatholic with theHuman Rights Commission for the City of Detroit, claimingsexual discrimination. The newspaper ultimately fired him. McNaught later founded the Detroit chapter ofDignityUSA, a support organization for LGBTQ Catholics.[73]
Vigneron in 2013 stated that he would not allow Catholics who supportsame-sex marriage to receivecommunion in the archdiocese. He said that taking communion while disagreeing with the church on this issue was "double-dealing that is not unlikeperjury."[74]
In 2020, the archdiocese fired Terry Gonda, the music director at St. John Fisher Parish inAuburn Hills, for being married to another woman.[75] In August 2020, Vigneron banned DignityUSA and Fortunate Families, a ministry for families of LGBTQ Catholics, from gathering at archdiocesan churches or having priests perform mass for them. He stated that the two groups were incompatible with the virtue ofchastity.[76]
Vigneron wrote apastoral letter in 2024 to the leaders of Catholic schools and other institutions in the archdiocese. It stated that all their employees, students, and youth program participants must "...respect their God-given biological sex." This meant thattransgender individuals had to use restrooms and follow dress codes that corresponded to theirbiological sex. Vigneron said that accommodating "individuals experiencing gender confusion" is dangerous. In apodcast following his letter, Vigneron called acceptance oftransgender individuals by society as "...a toxin that's been deposited in our culture" and compared transgenderism to a virus.[77]
In June 2017, the archdiocese adopted a new coat of arms. It features the archdiocesan patroness St. Anne, three stars representing theHoly Trinity, a door representing BlessedSolanus Casey of Detroit, and waves representing theGreat Lakes. It replaced a coat of arms featuring antlers andmartlets that dated back to 1937.[85]
The Archdiocese of Detroit is divided into four administrative regions:
Each region is divided intovicariates.[86] In 2021, to promote a more missionary focus, the archdiocese grouped its parishes into families. Each family consists of three or more parishes that are close to each other.[87]
TheCathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament has served as themother church of the archdiocese since 1938. Earlier cathedrals were:
In 1964, the archdiocese operated 360 schools with an enrollment of 203,000 students. These included 110 primary schools and 55 secondary schools. The Catholic school population decreased over the decades due to the increase ofcharter schools, the rise in tuition at Catholic schools, the small number of African-American Catholics, the exodus of White Catholics to the suburbs, and the decreased number of teaching nuns.[90]
As of 2024[update], the archdiocese was operating 24 secondary schools and 62 primary schools, serving 27,000 students.[91][92]
Roman Catholic Ecclesiastical Province of Detroit | |
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