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n the summer of 1993, I was fortunate to be able to visit a seminary classmate who lived in southern Illinois. One afternoon, we visited a national forest not very far from where he was working. We hiked our way into the forest some distance and eventually found ourselves standing on an impressive rock outcropping that overlooked a beautiful valley of pines, not far from the Mississippi River. While it was my first time visiting that place, my classmate had been there many times before. He shared with me how, from time to time, he would come to that outcropping and just stand there, sometimes caught up in prayer. He would also imagine what it would have been like more than two centuries before, when the first Jesuit missionaries were traveling down the Mississippi, making contact with –and bringing the Christian faith to – the native peoples they met along the way.
I can’t help but think of that place and its rugged terrain on October 19 each year, as we celebrate the feast of the North American martyrs. Saints John de Brebeuf, Isaac Jogues, and their companions came from France to bring the Christian faith to these shores. They survived a perilous sea journey from France to North America. They also braved traveling long distances through the wilderness on foot, by horse or in a canoe. They were not always greeted warmly and many of them had harrowing adventures. As the name of their shared feast day suggests, they all gave their lives in order to give us a gift – the gift of faith. When I think of them, I can’t help but marvel at the strength of their convictions and their consuming willingness to endure great hardship for the sake of God’s kingdom. I can’t help feeling a little inadequate when I think about their experiences. In my own time, I whimper when my high-speed internet connection isn’t working or I can’t get a good cell phone signal. When I think of them, I also marvel at the beautiful chain of people and events that are responsible for my own gift of faith. Reflect on that for a moment. How is it that we have been given this common faith that we share? True, it comes from God, but it also comes through God’s people. Think of the long line of people – many of them nameless and faceless, known but to God – who risked and rejoiced, who sacrificed and prayed, who taught and caught the gift of faith we now share in our own time. If it were not for them and their willingness to respond to God’s call, our lives might be quite different today. This month, take the opportunity to meet a few of the many whose faith has been a gift to the people of our state and diocese. They are links in a faith-filled chain fashioned by the hand of God that stretches backward in history and forward in time. New links are constantly being forged and added. With these new links come new faces, voices and languages. This month we begin including some content in Spanish, a reflection of who we are becoming as a church and nation. In the year ahead, we will continue to explore this gift of faith and the role faith has to play in each of the many stages of human life. This month, however, we look at our beginnings. They help us to understand who we are today. They also help us to appreciate this God-given gift of faith that we share. They inspire us to pass that gift on to those who will come after us. And so our journey in FAITH continues.
Being Catholic in Michigan
Where we’ve been and where we’re going
– Father Dwight Ezop is editor of FAITH Magazine and pastor of the Catholic Community of St. Jude.
FAITH Magazine
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2 January/February 2008 | www.FAITHmag.com
Liturgical Calendar: Octave of Christmas: The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God Jan. 1 | Sts. Basil the Gr
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From Jesuit priests exploring upper Michigan to the first priest elected to Congress; from the founding of Detroit to its burning to the ground; from being part of a diocese that encompassed the entire United States and Canada to a diocese seated in Michigan’s capital city, the history of the Diocese of Lansing is rich with adventurers, saints, lay people, priests and sisters who got us where we are today. Meet 176 of them in the following pages – and meet our past. – Bob Horning/Msgr. George Michalek
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work life 7 Playing the blame game –are you the one who is always right? – Tim Ryan
culture 28 A tasty exploration of Irish roots – make some boxty for supper. – Michelle Sessions DiFranco
last word 31 Why should we care about our history? – Father Charles Irvin
w h a t w a s i t l i k e ? If you were a Catholic living in Michigan in 1900, what would your life have been like? Imagine priority seating in church, and outhouses in the churchyard. Read more about Catholic life in the last century. – Bob Horning
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p r o f i l e Msgr. George Michalek, our diocesan archivist, shares a few of the fascinating objects that help preserve our history and the history of the Catholic Church in America.
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– Bob Horning
the Great and Gregory Nazianzen, Bishops and Doctors of the Church Jan. 2 | The Most Holy Name of Jesus Jan. 3 | St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Religious Jan. 4 | St. John Neumann, Bishop Jan. 5
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The Magazine of the Catholic Diocese of Lansing
Most Reverend Carl F. Mengeling PUBLISHER
Rev. Charles Irvin FOUNDING EDITOR
Jan./Feb. 2008 • Volume 9: Issue 1
your thoughts: thank you for Courage
Rev. Dwight Ezop EDITOR IN CHIEF
Patrick M. O’Brien MANAGING EDITOR/CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Elizabeth Martin Solsburg EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
Patrick Dally ART DIRECTOR/WEB DESIGNER
Jillane Job EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
Rev. William Ashbaugh Michelle Sessions DiFranco Elizabeth Grodi Marybeth Hicks Shannon Hoffman Rev. Joseph Krupp Dcn. Tom and JoAnne Fogle Cathleen McGreal Tim Ryan Jan Rynearson Lindsey Walter CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Derek Melot Margaret Perrone PROOFREADING
Tom Gennara James Luning (cover) Philip Shippert CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS
Wayne Case Michael Eichhorn Mary Jo Gillilland Michael Marshall Diane Nowak Margaret Perrone Joseph Reid Rev. Bernard Reilly James Rhadigan Ricardo Rodriguez Dcn. David Rosenberg Rev. James Swiat Rev. Jerry Vincke Peter Wagner Sharon Wimple ADVISORY BOARD
FAITH Publishing Ser vice Rev. Dwight Ezop CHAIRMAN
Patrick M. O’Brien PRESIDENT/CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Vicki Wells-Bedard DIRECTOR OF SALES AND MARKETING
Enomhen Odigie Lynne Ridenour Abby Wieber GRAPHIC DESIGNERS
Thank you for telling Catholics about Courage and Encourage! Did you know that Encourage also helps married people? Those whose spouses either struggle with same-sex attraction, or who have left the marriage for the homosexual lifestyle, can find help in Encourage, too. Unfortunately, most Catholics don’t know this, so most Encourage groups don’t have any spouses in them. There is a confidential, online, moderated chat list for spouses available through the New York Courage office. The wonderful people on the list have been a lifeline of support and prayer for me. – Name withheld
We want to hear from you!
Taking Flight for Christ In the morass of despair, some choose to flee, while others choose to fight. Angels Outreach Ministry of Sacred Heart Parish in Flint is made up of fighters. In recent years, the Flint area has faced an increase in street crime, family abuse, assaults and drugrelated crimes. Angels Outreach Ministry has fought these conditions with the needs of the situation’s youngest victims in mind. Thousands of children in the city of Flint live in low-income households without the basics and in extremely vulnerable physical conditions. Their problems can be helped; we simply just need to share the wealth. To learn more, check out “Sharing the Wealth” at www.dioceseoflansing.org.
Welcome! The Diocese of Lansing has welcomed five newly commissioned lay ecclesial ministers. They are: Mary Lou Hahn-Setta, Regina Moskal, Jacqueline Popadich, Melinda Zeigler and David Woods. Lay ecclesial ministers serve the church in a variety of ways, including acting as directors of youth ministry, pastoral associates and directors of religious education.
Tell us what you think. We want to hear your opinions – about articles in the magazine, happenings in our church or anything you want to share. Send e-mail to: esolsburg@ faithpublishingservice.com Or mail us a letter:
Patricia Oliver SECRETARY
InnerWorkings PRINT MANAGEMENT FAITHPublishingService.com FAITHTM (USPS 019993) is a publication of FAITH Publishing Service, Catholic Diocese of Lansing, 300 W. Ottawa, Lansing, MI 48933. FAITHTM is a membership publication of the Catholic Diocese of Lansing and is published monthly except for February and August. To purchase a subscription, log onto FAITHmag.com. If you have a change of address, please contact your parish. Periodicals postage paid at Lansing, MI or additional offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to FAITHTM, 209 Seymour Ave., Lansing, MI 48933 ©FAITH Publishing Service. FAITH is a trademark of FAITH Publishing Service.
FAITH Magazine
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Editor FAITH Magazine 209 Seymour Ave. Lansing, MI 48933 Please make sure to add a line granting us permission to print your letter or e-mail. Your thoughts and ideas matter, please share them with us!
4 January/February 2008 | www.FAITHmag.com
The Epiphany of the Lord Jan. 6 | Raymond of Peñafort, Priest Jan. 7 | Feast of the Baptism of the
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From riches to rags Blessed Isabel of France Feast day: Feb. 26 Patron saint of sick people Meaning of name: God’s promise, or dedicated to God Claim to fame: Isabel was born into France’s royal family in 1225. She was the daughter of Louis VIII and Blanche of Castille. Her brother was King Louis IX. While at court, Isabel demonstrated piety and modesty, and a desire to be holy. She broke off an engagement to a count and even refused to marry Conrad, the son of German Emperor Frederick II, determined to stay a virgin. She founded the Franciscan Monastery of the Humility of the Blessed Virgin, a convent of the order of St. Clare (the Poor Clares), although the rules at Isabel’s convent were not as strict as the rules of the order. Isabel herself never took vows, and refused the position of abbess. But she still practiced the same rules used in the convent and spent most of her life tending to the poor and sick of Paris. Several other convents adopted Isabel’s rules, but there was never any formal religious order formed based on them.
Bendita Isabel de Francia Día festivo: 26 de febrero Santa patrona de la gente enferma Canonización pendiente Significado del nombre: Promesa de Dios, o dedicada a Dios
St. Isabel was born into luxury. She
easily could have melted into the carefree, popular and often corrupt lifestyle at court
Hechos que la hicieron famosa: Isabel nació en la familia real francesa en 1225. Era hija de Luís VIII y Blanca de Castilla. Su hermano era el Rey Luís IX. Isabel demostró piedad y modestia y un deseo de consagrarse especialmente a Dios cuando estaba en la Corte. Rompió un compromiso con un conde y hasta rehusó a casarse con Conrado, el hijo del Emperador Federico II de Alemania, decidida a permanecer virgen. Fundó el Monasterio Franciscano de la Humildad de la Bendita Virgen, un convento de la orden de Santa Clara (las Pobres Clarisas), aunque las reglas en el convento de Isabel no eran tan estrictas como las reglas de la orden. Isabel misma nunca hizo los votos, y rehusó el cargo de abadesa, pero ella aún practicó las mismas reglas usadas en el convento. Pasó la mayor parte de su vida atendiendo a los pobres y enfermos de Paris. Varios otros conventos adoptaron las reglas de Isabel, pero nunca hubo ninguna orden religiosa formal constituida con base a sus reglas.
Why she is a saint: St. Isabel was born into luxury. She easily could have melted into the carefree, popular and often corrupt lifestyle at court, but instead persisted in her desire to remain chaste and holy.
Por qué es una santa: Santa Isabel nació en el lujo. Fácilmente podría haberse acomodado a la vida despreocupada, popular y a menudo corrupta de la corte, pero en lugar de ello, persistió en su deseo de permanecer casta y consagrada al servicio de Dios.
Best quote: Isabel’s piety and dedication to God and the church defined her life. It was said of her that “She was even more devoted to the Franciscan Order than to her royal brother.”
Mejor cita: La piedad de Isabel y su consagración a Dios y la Iglesia definieron su vida. Se dijo de ella que «Ella era más fiel a la Orden Franciscana que a su hermano el rey».
How she died: Isabel died at her home in Longchamps on Feb. 23, 1260. Nine days after her death, her body was exhumed, and was found in perfect condition, with no signs of decay. In 1637, the body was again exhumed, still with no signs of decay.
Cómo murió: Isabel murió en su casa en Longchamps, el 23 de febrero de 1260. Nueve días después de su muerte, su cuerpo fue exhumado y se le halló en perfectas condiciones sin señales de descomposición. En 1637 el cuerpo fue nuevamente exhumado, todavía sin señales de descomposición.
m of the Lord Jan. 13 | St. Anthony, Abbot Jan. 17 | St. Agnes, Virgin and Martyr Jan. 21 | St. Vincent, Deacon and Martyr Jan. 22 | St. Frances de Sales, Bishop and Doctor Jan. 24
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what in the world? the top-10 Catholic News events this month
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Vatican to study care of elderly Research is under way on how Catholics can offer better pastoral assistance to the world’s 390 million people who are over age 65.
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Donations for the poor U.S. parishioners collected $9.5 million in donations for the poor this year. The money will be used by more than 300 poverty-fighting organizations who work to help the 36.5 million Americans living below the poverty line.
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Blogged faith Benedict XVI has encouraged religious leaders to use Internet blogs as a means of reaching out to the youth and showing them the true Jesus.
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Good Christians pay taxes Good Christians must also be good citizens, and this implies even the unpleasant task of paying taxes, said Pope Benedict XVI in a recent address.
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Five million strong A petition signed by 5 million people from 154 countries calling for an end to capital punishment was recently presented to the United Nations. The document is the fruit of nine years of labor.
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Chicago cardinal elected as president of United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Cardinal Francis George was elected for a three-year term beginning in 2008. Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Arizona was elected vice president.
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Responsible withdrawal The president of the U.S. bishops’ conference is calling for a “responsible transition” to resolve the problem of Iraq. This would require our nation’s leaders to be more realistic about the difficult situation and more concerned about the likely consequences of a withdrawal that is too rapid or not rapid enough, the cardinal said.
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Iran not an immediate threat The recent assessment of the confrontation with Iran by U.S. bishops suggests that all nonmilitary alternatives must be exhausted before military action is considered.
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Bishops support child tax plan U.S. bishops urged the House of Representatives to make the well-being of poor families with children a central priority when they debate and vote on the Temporary Tax Relief Act of 2007.
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Planned Parenthood encounters resistance by Colorado bishops The bishops decried the secrecy that surrounded the acquisition of new Planned Parenthood facilities in their state. Planned Parenthood has quietly sought expansion in the state in order to avoid the protests they’ve encountered at other branches. FAITH Magazine
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Should Catholics see The Golden Compass?
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ollywood history is rife with examples of literary works that by dint of problematic sexual, violent or religious content have been softened to varying degrees to mollify public sensibilities.
So it appears to be with The Golden Compass (New Line) which, we’ll say right at the start, is a lavish, well-acted and fast-paced adaptation of Northern Lights, the original title of the first volume of Philip Pullman’s much-awarded trilogy, His Dark Materials, published in 1995. The film has already caused some concern in Catholic circles because of the author’s professed atheism, and the more overt issue of the novels’ negative portrayal of his (very much fictionalized) church, a stand-in for all organized religion. The good news is that the first book’s explicit references to this church have been excised, with only the term Magisterium retained. The choice is still a bit unfortunate, however, as the word refers so specifically to the church’s teaching authority. Yet the film’s only clue that the Magisterium is a religious body comes in the form of the icons that decorate one of their local headquarters. Most movie-goers with no foreknowledge of the books or Pullman’s personal belief system will scarcely be aware of religious connotations, and can approach the
movie as a pure fantasy-adventure. This is not the blatant real-world anti-Catholicism of, say, the recent Elizabeth: The Golden Age or The Da Vinci Code. Religious elements, as such, are practically nil. Whatever author Pullman’s putative motives in writing the story, writer-director Chris Weitz’s film, taken purely on its own cinematic terms, can be viewed as an exciting adventure story with, at its core, a traditional struggle between good and evil and a generalized rejection of authoritarianism. Will seeing this film inspire teens to read the books, which many have found problematic? Rather than banning the movie or books, parents might instead take the opportunity to talk through any thorny philosophical issues with their teens. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-II – adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 – parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. – Harry Forbes and John Mulderig/CNS
Feast of the Conversion of Paul, Apostle Jan. 25 | Sts. Timothy and Titus, Bishops Jan. 26 | St. Thomas Aquinas, Priest
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Playing the blame game Tom Gennara
Are you the one who’s always right?
A Campaign for our Diocesan Senior Priests Residence Our senior priests are among the most treasured gifts in our diocese. While they no longer have administrative responsibility for a specific parish, they continue to serve the people of our diocese. They celebrate Mass for pastors who are ill or on vacation and they assist in a wide variety of other ways. They hear confessions; they assist in nursing homes, hospitals and prisons; they continue their priestly life to the extent that age and health permit. Diocesan priests generally leave administrative responsibilities behind at 70, or beyond, often after 40-45 years of active service and ministry. Priests are paid a modest wage throughout their years of active ministry and therefore receive only a modest Social Security benefit upon their retirement. Senior priests become self-supporting and can no longer rely upon parishes that once provided for their needs during their years of active ministry. It is incumbent upon the people of our diocese to now care for these humble servants of the Church who have given selflessly for so many years. Out of a dedicated sense of caring, Bishop Carl Mengeling is launching the “Caring for Our Treasured Gifts” Capital Campaign to raise the necessary funding to meet the need for expanding the existing senior priests residence in DeWitt, Michigan. The proposed expansion will feature a six-apartment complex to accommodate the waiting list of senior priests. Residents will pay a monthly fee, covering the long-range cost of maintenance for the facility, in addition to utilities, phone and personal expenses. Please share in the care of the most treasured gifts in our diocese, our senior priests, by supporting the “Caring for Our Treasured Gifts” Capital Campaign. For additional information, please contact Patricia O’Hearn, Director of Development, 517.342.2503 or email pohearn@DioceseofLansing.org.
iStockphoto.com
Caring for Our Treasured Gifts
Dave is the guy in the shop who never does anything wrong... at least that’s what he thinks.
Q:
That press over there broke down this morning and is holding up production. They’re trying to blame me because I didn’t perform the regular maintenance last week. It’s not my fault – they changed the maintenance process and schedule and didn’t let anyone know. They said they posted it, but I didn’t see it. This place is screwed up, and nobody knows what they’re doing. “They” don’t tell us anything. – Dave
A:
We’ve all heard it before and, to some extent, we’re all guilty of it. Because we’re human, our egos sometimes take control. After all, no one works in a perfect environment. But playing the blame game just makes matters worse. It’s easy to place blame when things don’t go right. It’s difficult, however, to admit how we may be contributing to the problem. Maybe it wasn’t Dave’s fault and the process is screwed up. But has Dave ever done anything to try to make things better, instead of just complaining? According to noted author Stephen Covey, proactive people decide to respond positively to a situation and thus tend to have a positive influence on the people around them and on the organization as a whole. It’s easy to simply react to an undesirable situation and play the blame game. On the other hand, it takes a proactive person to honestly look at himself/
herself and assess how to improve the situation. Is this not what Christ speaks of in Matthew’s Gospel regarding the judgment of others? Christ asks us how we can criticize others (point out the splinter in their eyes) while not paying attention to our own faults or contribution to a problem (the beam in our own eye). (Mt 7:3-5) We must first examine ourselves and eliminate our contribution to the problem before we can expect anyone else to change their ways. Probably one of the most painful exercises we can undertake is to be honest with ourselves regarding our contribution to or apathy toward problems in the workplace. But we can take the following steps toward correcting our weakness: • Recognize our negative tendency toward blame or criticism. • Step back and honestly examine the circumstances. • Take action if there is something proactive we can do to improve the situation rather than contributing to the problem and propagating a negative attitude. – Tim Ryan
, Priest and Doctor Jan. 28 | St. John Bosco, Priest Jan. 31 | Feast of the Presentation of the Lord Feb. 2 | St. Agatha, Virgin and Martyr Feb. 5 | Ash Wednesday Feb. 6 | St. Jerome Emiliani, Priest Feb. 8
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FIRST CATHOLICS IN MICHIGAN
1641 • Two Jesuits, Charles Raymbault and St. Isaac Jogues, visit Sault Ste. Marie 1658 • The Vicariate Apostolic of New France organized. • François de Montmorency Laval is first vicar.
FROM JESUIT PRIESTS exploring upper Michigan to the first priest elected to Congress; from the founding of Detroit to its burning to the ground; from being part of a diocese that encompassed the entire United States and Canada to a diocese seated in Michigan’s
FIRST PERMANENT SETTLEMENT IN MICHIGAN
1668 • Father Jacques Marquette founds first permanent settlement in Michigan at Sault Ste. Marie.
capital city, the history of the Diocese of Lansing is rich with adventurers, saints, lay people, priests and sisters who got us where we are today. Meet 176 of them in the following pages – and meet our past.
1671 • St. Ignace mission founded by Father Marquette.
1673 • Louis Joliet and Father Marquette begin exploration of the Mississippi.
1674 • Michigan becomes part of the new Diocese of Quebec. • François de Montmorency Laval is first bishop.
1675 • Father Marquette dies at age 38. • Father Henri Nouvel offers first Mass in the interior of the lower peninsula.
1679 • Fort Miami built by Robert Cavelier de la Salle near present-day St. Joseph.
1691 • Fort St. Joseph established near present-day Niles.
DETROIT FOUNDED
1701 • Detroit is founded by Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac. • St. Anne Parish in Detroit organized.
1784 • Baltimore created a vicariate apostolic encompassing all the United States. FAITH Magazine
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8 January/February 2008 | www.FAITHmag.com
St. Josephine Bakhita, Virgin Feb. 8 | Our Lady of Lourdes Feb. 11 | St. Cyril, Monk and St. M
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FIRST U.S. BISHOP NAMED
1789 • The Diocese of Baltimore is created with John Carroll as its first bishop. 1796
• British troops withdraw from Michigan and priests return to Quebec. • Bishop John Carroll sends a former Sulpician Father, Michael Levadoux, to be pastor of St. Anne in Detroit.
1798
• Father Gabriel Richard arrives in Detroit to assist Father Levadoux.
1801
• Father Richard becomes pastor of St. Anne.
1808
• Michigan is transferred to the new Diocese of Bardstown (now Louisville).
1810
• Benedict Joseph Floget consecrated first bishop of Bardstown.
1821
• Michigan becomes part of the new Diocese of Cincinnati.
1822 • Edward Dominic Fenwick is consecrated the first bishop of Cincinnati. 1829
• Father Patrick O’Kelly comes to Detroit to minister to the Irish Catholic population.
FIRST PARISHES IN THE FUTURE DIOCESE OF LANSING
1831 • Old St. Patrick in Northfield Twp., St. Thomas the Apostle in Ann Arbor and St. Patrick in Brighton organized. • Old St. Patrick in Ann Arbor is the oldest English-speaking parish in Michigan. • Bishop Fenwick and Father Frederic Baraga tour the Indian Missions of Michigan and Wisconsin.
1832
• Bishop Fenwick and Father Richard both die, victims of the cholera epidemic.
Monk and St. Methodius, Bishop Feb. 14 | St. Peter Damian, Bishop and Doctor of the Church Feb. 21 | The Chair of St Peter, Apostle Feb. 22 | St. Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr Feb. 23
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1833 • Michigan becomes part of the Detroit Diocese, established on March 8 with Frederic Rese as bishop.
1836 • Father Anton Kopp leads German immigrants to found St. Mary in Westphalia. • Daniel O’Sullivan organizes and teaches the first catechism classes in Flint. • First Mass in Jackson County. • Father O’Kelly celebrates the first Mass in Dexter, held at the home of Patrick and Rose Lavey on Jan. 1.
FIRST CATHOLIC SCHOOL IN DIOCESE
1838 • First Catholic school in diocese opens in Westphalia.
1839 • Land first purchased for St. John the Baptist in Hartland. • Father O’Kelly leaves Michigan and works in Wisconsin.
FIRST MASS IN FLINT
1841 • Father Martin Kundig celebrates the first Mass in Flint on his trip to Saginaw and Bay City. 1843 • Circuit rider priest George Godez assumes pastorate at Westphalia. • Father O’Kelly returns to Michigan and is appointed pastor of Livingston and Oakland counties. • Missions are established at St. Aphonsus in Deerfield and St. Augustine in Deerfield Twp.
the first priest elected to
1844 • Land purchased for a church in Sylvan Twp. (later Chelsea)
1845 • The Sister Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary are organized at Monroe. • First Mass in Ingham County celebrated by Father O’Kelly at Bunker Hill.
Father Gabriel Richard
1846 • Redemptorist priest Simon Saenderl visits both Adrian and Hillsdale and takes a census.
1847 • Father Godez celebrates Mass in log church, the first worship site in Shiawassee County.
1853 • St. Mary, Adrian founded.
1854 • First Mass in Lansing in log cabin of Thomas and Eleanor Saier.
1856 • Father O’Kelley leaves Livingston County for Dearborn.
ON JUNE 11, 1805, a fire destroyed all but two of Detroit’s 300 buildings, potentially ending the existence of the century old city. Many of the discouraged, homeless residents were ready to leave. There was no city authority to take charge of the situation. Soon, though, one man was seen walking up and down the Detroit River, on both the American and Canadian sides, arrangFAITH Magazine
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ing quarters for the stricken in homes of farmers, begging food and blankets and whatever else was needed.
10 January/February 2008 | www.FAITHmag.com 12/11/07 5:34:41 PM
1857
• Annunciation Parish, Corunna receives a resident priest, Father Edward Van Paemel.
Father Gabriel Richard, pastor of St. remain forever sterile,” he wrote in one letAnne Church, was offering comfort and ter. encouraging people not to abandon the city. Though Father Richard didn’t see a His work and leadership led to the gradual number of his ideas accomplished during rebuilding, for which he has been called the his lifetime, they remained as blueprints for “second founder of Detroit.” His words, as later innovators. he surveyed the destruction, later became One of his successful projects was bringpart of the seal of the city, “Speramus ing a printing press 800 miles by wagon to meliora; resurget cineribus” (We hope for Detroit. With it, he published Michigan’s better things; it will arise from its ashes). first newspaper, The Michigan Essay, though The fire was a turning point for Father it lasted only one issue. But with the RichRichard. Seeing the needs of his people, ard Press, he printed books like The True he abandoned plans to return to his native Principles of a Catholic, and The Child’s SpellFrance. He had escaped the terror of the ing Book, which he probably wrote himself. French Revolution in 1791, and possible To give residents access to local and naarrest and death, with three other Sulpician tional news, he appointed a town crier, who priests, and would speak sailed to Baltifrom the steps Though Father Richard didn’t see a more to teach number of his ideas accomplished dur- of St. Anne’s at St. Mary’s every Sunday. ing his lifetime, Seminary and Never losing Georgetown sight of the College. need for eduHowever, cation, Father a lack of stuRichard began dents caused Bishop John Carroll to assign Spring Hill Community, a school for educatFather Richard to an Indian mission in ing Indian and white children together, Kaskaskia, Ill., where he stayed for six years to create understanding and break down before going to Detroit. barriers between cultures. He also felt that In the early 19th century, the village the more he could civilize people, the better was uncivilized. Father Richard dealt with chance he had of winning their souls. The poverty, mental and spiritual ignorance and school taught the 3 R’s, but also trades and indifference, fire, famine, plague and the agriculture for boys – and sewing, fine arts occupation of British forces during the War and husbandry for the girls. Lack of land of 1812. Not to mention controversies and and federal funding kept the school from litigation because of the narrow-mindedness succeeding, but 10 years after it closed, of some townsfolk. Father Richard’s ideas were adopted by the He envisioned culture and civilization, U.S. government for educating Indians. maybe because he had seen what was posThe priest was also one of the founders sible in Europe. “God knows how many of the Michigan Historical Society and a plans, great and small, for schools and misco-founder of the school that became the sions pass through my head for the Indians, University of Michigan. He served as its vice for the deaf-mute, for the children of the president from 1817-21. poor. My mind, my imagination, and still Because the needs of his people were more, my heart, are full of projects which more than spiritual, he became involved in
they remained as blueprints for later innovators.
Father Richard’s Michigan milestones: • Published Michigan’s first newspaper • The second founder of Detroit • First priest elected to congress
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• One of the founders of the University of Michigan • a founder of the Michigan Historical Society • Built a school for Indian and white children • Enlisted in the U.S. Militia • Last victim of the cholera epidemic of 1832
1858
• St. Anthony, Hillsdale is founded. • St. John the Baptist in Ypsilanti is founded.
FIRST VISIT OF A CATHOLIC BISHOP TO STATE CAPITAL
1859 • The cornerstone of St. Mary Church in Lansing is laid by Bishop Peter Paul Le Ferere. This was the first visit of a Catholic bishop to the state capital. 1865
• St. Joseph, Adrian becomes a parish.
1866
• St. Mary Parish in Lansing receives its first resident priest.
1868 • Oldest continuous parish school opens at St. Thomas, Ann Arbor with IHM sisters. 1873 • St. Paul, Owosso founded.
1875
• Jubilee Mission preached by Father M. Langcake S.J. in many towns, including Ann Arbor, Brighton, Dexter, Fenton and Owosso.
1880 • St. Mary Star of the Sea opens in Jackson. 1884
• Six Dominican sisters from New York City arrive in Adrian and open St. Joseph Hospital and Home for the Aged.
1888 • Borgess Hospital opens in Kalamazoo.
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1889 • The Sisters of St. Joseph establish a motherhouse at Nazareth outside Kalamazoo. • Sisters of St. Joseph of Nazareth take over Borgess Hospital in Kalamazoo.
1892 • St. Joseph Hospital in Adrian becomes a Dominican provincial house. 1895 • School of Nursing established at Borgess Hospital in Kalamazoo
civic affairs. He campaigned against selling gress. While there, he was instrumental liquor to the Indians, even threatening in getting approval for the road from Chiexcommunication to any parishioner who cago to Detroit (now Michigan Ave./Old did. He also worked to enable the Indians U.S. 12), helping connect Michigan with to keep any land they were settled on, or to the rest of the country. get a fair price for it from the government. Father Richard’s tireless commitment His compassion and humane stance to his people eventually led to his death. toward the Indians led Pokagon, chief Already weakened from years of service and of the Potawatomi, to ask him to send travel throughout the lower peninsula and his tribe a missionary. And when Father other parts of the country, his resistance was Richard was imprisoned during the War of low when cholera hit Detroit in 1832. 1812 for refusing to swear allegiance to the Detroiter R.E. Roberts wrote this about British when they captured Detroit, it was him: “Gabriel Richard might be seen Tecumseh, the Shawnee chief, who forced clothed in the robes of his high calling, pale his release. Teand emaciated, cumseh said he Father Richard’s patriotism swayed with specDetroit to remain loyal to the U.S. dur- tacles on his wouldn’t fight for the British, forehead and ing the war. even though he prayer book in hated Amerihis hand, gocans, until ing from house Father Richard to house of was freed. his parishioners, encouraging the well, and Father Richard’s patriotism swayed administering spiritual consolation to the Detroit to remain loyal to the U.S. during sick and dying.” the war. He even enlisted in the militia, Father Richard was the last victim of the ready to bear arms. After the war, when epidemic. After catching cholera, he died crop seed and cattle were sent by the gov- shortly, on Sept. 13, 1832. When given ernment to restock desolate farms, Father last rites by Fathers Leo Badin and Frederic Richard became the real, if unofficial, Baraga, his final words were the Nunc Dimitrelief administrator. tus – “Now, O Lord, let thy servant depart in In 1823, Father Richard was encourpeace according to thy word.” aged to run for Congress as a non-voting His friend, Father Baraga, a fellow misdelegate to the U.S. House of Representasionary to the Indians, gave the funeral tives from the Northwest Territory. Figureulogy. Two thousand people, of all faiths ing it was another way to try to receive and ethnic backgrounds, attended – a government aid for Michigan, he agreed, number greater than the population of the and was the first priest elected to Conwhole city.
He even enlisted in the militia, ready to bear arms.
1896 • St. Joseph Hospital closes and St. Joseph Academy for girls is opened by the Adrian Dominicans at their provincial house. 1898 • Villa St. Anthony at Comstock opens for mentally retarded girls. • Nazareth Academy for girls by the Sisters of St. Joseph at Nazareth opens.
FIRST KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS
1901 • Knights of Columbus Councils formed in Ann Arbor and Jackson.
1902 • St. Joseph Jackson (Polish) founded. • Barlour Hall for boys is opened at Nazareth by the Sisters of St. Joseph. • A Knights of Columbus Council is organized in Flint.
1903 • A Knights of Columbus Council is organized in Lansing.
1910 • All Saints in Flint (Polish) founded.
1911 • St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor is opened by the Mercy Sisters.
1912 • St. Mary Queen of Angels, Swartz Creek (Slovak and Czech) begins as a mission of All Saints, Flint. • St. Joseph Mercy School of Nursing in Ann Arbor opens. • St. Joseph Home for Boys in Jackson opens with 20 students.
Bishop Plessis of Quebec describes Father Richard “[Father Richard] has the talent of doing, almost simultaneously, 10 entirely different things. Provided with newspapers, well informed on all political matters, ever ready to argue on religion when the occasion presents itself, and thoroughly learned in theology, he reaps his hay, gathers the fruits of his garden, manages a fishery fronting his lot, teaches mathematics to one young man, reading to another, devotes FAITH Magazine
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his time to mental prayer, establishes a printing press, confesses all his people, imports carding and spinningwheels and looms to teach the women of his parish how to work, leaves not a single act of his parochial register unwritten, mounts an electrical machine, goes on sick calls at a very great distance, writes letters and receives others from all parts, preaches every Sunday and holyday both lengthily and learnedly, enriches his library, spends whole nights without sleep, walks for whole days, loves to converse, receives company, teaches catechism to
his young parishioners, supports a girls’ school under the management of a few female teachers of his own choosing whom he directs like a religious community, while he gives lessons in plainsong to young boys assembled in a school he had founded, leads a most frugal life, and is in good health, as fresh and able at the age of 50 as one usually is at Bishop Plessis 30.”
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1914
The Catholic founder of Detroit Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac CADILLAC WAS IN charge of the fort at Mackinac when he returned to France to urge the establishment of a fort on the Detroit River. He argued that it would be a better strategic position against the British, and would centralize the fur trade with the Indians. Permission was given, and on June 24, 1701, Cadillac arrived with a group of colonists in what is now known as Detroit. He quickly erected Fort Pontchartrain. The first building was St. Anne Church. Above: Statue of Cadillac, commemorating his landing, in Detroit’s Hart Plaza; Right: an early engraving of St. Anne Catholic Church; Bottom: Map of Fort Detroit, 1764
• Father Michael Burke sent to Ann Arbor to establish a student chapel at the University of Michigan.
1915 • Mercy Hospital and School of Nursing in Jackson opens, staffed by Mercy Sisters. • St. Agnes Foundling Home established in Kalamazoo by the Sisters of St. Joseph.
1916 • St. Casimir, Lansing (Polish) begins as a mission of St. Mary Cathedral. • St. Joseph College, now Siena Heights, is founded by Adrian Dominican Sisters at their motherhouse.
1918 • Lee Memorial Hospital in Dowagiac opens. Mercy Sisters staff it.
1919 • St. Stanslaus Jackson (Polish) begins as a mission of St. Joseph. • First graduates of Mercy School of Nursing in Jackson.
1920 • St. Joseph, Owosso (Slovak and Czech) organizes as a mission. • St. Joseph Hospital Flint founded by Sisters of St. Joseph of Nazareth. • St. Lawrence Hospital, Lansing opens, staffed by Mercy Sisters. • St. Lawrence School of Nursing in Lansing opens in the fall.
1921 • St. Joseph, Flint (Hungarian) founded.
FIRST ST. VINCENT DE PAUL • The first St. Vincent de Paul Chapter in the diocese is organized at St. John, Davison.
1922 • Resurrection Parish, Lansing founded. • Mission of St. Joseph, Owosso (Czech and Slovak) founded.
1923 • The Adrian Dominicans become an independent congregation. 1924 • Nazareth College is opened by the Sisters of St. Joseph outside Kalamazoo. • Mercywood Hospital for the mentally ill is opened in Ann Arbor by the Mercy Sisters. • St. Benedict Mission House opened by the Marian Hill Fathers at Brighton.
1925 • Sacred Heart, Flint (Slovak) organized as a mission.
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FIRST BLACK PRIEST IN MICHIGAN
1926 • Father Norman DuKette ordained first black priest in Michigan. 1927 • First Secular Franciscan Chapter is organized at Holy Cross, Lansing. • Leila Post Montgomery Memorial Hospital opens in Battle Creek under the direction of the Sisters of Mercy.
1929 • Father Norman Dukette founds Christ the King Parish in Flint for black Catholics. • New Calvary Cemetery in Flint established by Msgr. Patrick Dunigan.
1932 • First St. Vincent de Paul society organized in Lansing area at Resurrection Parish on Aug. 16.
1933 • Diocese of Detroit celebrates its centennial.
1934 • Msgr. John Gabriels begins radio broadcasts of the Mass from Resurrection Church in Lansing, the longest continuous religious broadcast in the nation.
1935 • First St. Vincent de Paul society organized in the city of Flint at St. Michael.
1936 • St. Benedict Seminary and Novitiate for the Marian Hill Mission Society opens at Brighton.
DIOCESE OF LANSING ESTABLISHED
1937 • The Diocese of Lansing is established and Joseph H. Albers of Cincinnati is installed as first bishop. FIRST ORDINATIONS IN DIOCESE
1938 • The first ordinations for the priesthood are held at St. Mary Cathedral. • Bishop Albers almost dies in a fire at St. Mary Cathedral rectory. • Diocesan boundaries change. Allegan, Barry and Ionia Counties go to Grand Rapids and Genesee, Livingston and Shiawassee Counties come from Detroit.
there were winters he might walk 700 miles on snowshoe. He was motivated by his missionary calling. He wrote once in a letter, “For of all the divine things, the most divine is to cooperate with God in the salvation of souls.” As a young man, Frederic studied law in his native Slovenia, and was engaged to be married. But the influence of Father Clement Hofbauer of Vienna, now a saint, was strong. Frederic felt a call to the priesthood, and, orphaned, gave up a vast family inheritance when he entered seminary. Father Baraga was much-loved at his first parish, but due to the harassment of fellow priests and SOME DAYS, FATHER Frederic Baraga traveled 40 his bishop, who had embraced the miles through the snow from his mission in the Jansenist heresy, he Upper Peninsula to visit someone in need. This decided to leave for was in the mid 1800s, when travel was by foot, America to work among the Indians, snowshoe or, sometimes, by dog sled. where he could Father Baraga went where he was needed, teach and preach the truth unhindered. In 1831, he was in Arbre Croche, now regardless of the distance or the number of Harbor Springs, near Petoskey. Over the people who required his help. He became years, Father Baraga founded five missions known as the “snowshoe priest,” because
Bishop Fredric Baraga
Michigan’s fathers in faith
St. Patrick parishes. In 1843, he helped establish churches in Oakland and Livingston counties.
Father Patrick O’Kelly
Father Patrick Clement Kelly
Born in Ireland, Father O’Kelly served in New York before joining Father Gabriel Richard at St. Anne in Detroit. He was the second Irish priest to work in Michigan. In 1831, he was a circuit rider in Washtenaw County, establishing St. Thomas and
From 1893-1906, Father Kelly, who was born in Canada, was a pastor in Lapeer, with mission churches in Davison and Otisville. In 1906, he founded the Catholic Church Extension
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1939 • St. Joseph College in Adrian begins Siena Heights College.
in Michigan and Wisconsin. But they surround me and give me testimony before didn’t remain true mission fields for long; our final judge.” Father Baraga converted and baptized hunFather Baraga wrote to his benefactors dreds and thousands. in Austria and Slovenia, describing his Father Baraga cared passionately for work among the Indians. His letters were the Indians. He not only traveled great widely published, so that he became famous distances to reach them, he fought the gov- throughout Europe. St. John Neumann was ernment’s attempts to relocate them and so affected that he emigrated to the U.S. afto make unfair treaties. Likewise, someter reading Father Baraga’s accounts. On the times at risk of his safety, he fought the fur few occasions that Father Baraga traveled in traders who exchanged worthless trinkets Europe, he drew large crowds. In Austria, or alcohol to the Indians for their furs. he was presented with an expensive jeweled When Father crown and Father Baraga cared passionately for episcopal ring Baraga saw the devastatthe Indian. He not only traveled great by Emperor ing affects of Franz Joseph. distances to reach them, alcohol upon Knowing its the Indians, worth, Father he formed Baraga had a successful cheap imitatemperance tion made to societies for keep, then them. sold the origiAfter mastering their language, Father nal to raise money for his work. Baraga worked endlessly on a grammar In 1853, the snowshoe priest was consebook and dictionary for the Ojibwas. Later, crated vicar apostolic of upper Michigan. he wrote prayer books, catechisms and As a bishop, his territory increased. For the meditations in three Indian languages. He next 15 years, he continued to travel by was known as the first among scholars of the foot, dog sled, horse, canoe or steam engine Indian language, and many of his books are – reaching out to the copper and iron workstill used today. ers of the western Upper Peninsula. Because he had so much to do, and was At age 70, Bishop Baraga’s strength often the only priest in the Upper Peninsula, failed him and he died Jan. 19, 1868. A Father Baraga cut down on the time he spent German author left this description of eating and sleeping. But he increased his time him, “Providence has chosen him as a at prayer, rising at 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. to be with perfect pattern for all missionaries and God. He reasoned that if he was trying to has selected him as a true apostle of the bring spirituality to the Indians, he needed to pagans. From him shines a high, combe perfected himself. prehensive learning and apostolic piety, While at L’ anse, he wrote, “I have few coupled with an insatiable zeal for the comforts here, often times barely the necessi- salvation of his faithful. God has endowed ties of life. But what consolation, what grand him with such wisdom that not only all reward, what unspeakable joy will it be for the Catholics love and respect him highly, me on the day of judgment, when some, but also the Protestants and pagans eshopefully all, of these my good children may teem and revere him.”
he fought the government’s attempts to relocate them and to make unfair treaties.
Society, which focused on poor, rural Catholics in areas where priests were scarce. In1924, he became the second bishop of Oklahoma. He wrote several books about Catholicism, aimed at those indifferent to the faith.
founded Christ the King Church in Flint for black Catholics, and DuKette Catholic School there is named for him. He was the eighteenth of 27 siblings, and was known as a wonderful confessor.
Father Norman DuKette
Monsignor George Peek
Father Dukette was the the first black priest ordained in Michigan, in 1926. He
He served as a pastor in Ypsilanti, 1932-1940, at St. Thomas in Ann Arbor, 1940-1969, and was
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FIRST EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS
• First Diocesan Eucharistic Con-
gress held in Fowler.
• Holy Family in Decatur is the first parish created in the Diocese of Lansing.
FIRST CATHOLIC CHARITIES IN DIOCESE
1940
• Father Earl V. Sheridan establishes the Catholic Charities office in Flint. • Franciscan Sisters of the Poor open Holy Angels Convent in Flint. • Father Jerome V. MacEachin opens the Education Office for the diocese. • First diocesan-wide appeal for funds for a home for the bishop.
• Holy Redeem-
er, Flint opens in September.
• St. Thomas Aquinas, East Lansing opens in October.
1941
• St. Vincent de Paul Particular Council of Lansing organized July 27.
1942
• Villa St. Anthony at Comstock converts to a day and boarding primary school. • St. Benedict Seminary and Novitiate for the Marian Hill fathers re-opens at Brighton after a lapse of four years. • St. Vincent Villa for girls, run by the Sisters of Charity, opens at Brighton.
1944
• First institute for teachers is held in the diocese.
1946
• Lee Memorial Hospital sold by the Mercy Sisters to the Sisters of St. Joseph.
1948 • Boysville founded by Cardinal Mooney on land purchased from Henry Ford.
• Father John D. Slowey organizes the Catholic Charities Office in Lansing.
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1949 • The first Secular Carmelite Chapter in the diocese is set up in Flint.
1950 • Bishop Albers goes to Rome for the proclamation of the Dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. • First Diocesan Development Fund drive is held. • Cupertino College for Scholastics, run by the OFM Conventuals, opens in Eaton Rapids and closes two years later. • Twenty-two ladies meet at the home of Anne and Gordon Prout to organize catechism classes in Saline, the beginning of St. Andrew Parish.
1951 • St. Vincent Home in Lansing opens as an orphanage. FIRST COUNCIL OF CATHOLIC WOMEN
1952 • The Council of Catholic Women is organized in the diocese. 1954 • Initial purchase of land for retreat house in DeWitt, “Portiuncula in the Pines,” which opens the following year. • The Catholic Weekly is instituted.
1955 • The Marian Year Celebration concludes with an outdoor liturgy at Sexton Stadium in Lansing.
1956 • Catholic Charities is established in Wastenaw County. • Villa St. Anthony at Comstock becomes the postulant campus for the Sisters of St. Joseph at Nazareth.
1957 • Our Lady of Guadalupe, Flint and Cristo Rey, Lansing are organized for Hispanics. • St. Bernard Seminary at Brighton closes. • St. John Student Center in East Lansing opens, with Father Robert Kavanaugh as founding pastor.
1958 • Marion Hall in Flint opens, staffed by the Sisters of the Precious Blood from Dayton, Ohio. • Graduate division of Siena Heights College in Adrian opens for both men and women.
Tomahawked! St. Isaac Jogues FATHER ISAAC JOGUES was a young Jesuit literature professor who left France to become a missionary in the New World. With Charles Raymbault, he was the first white man to reach Sault Ste. Marie. Here they established good relations with the Huron Indians, making safe the expedition of Marquette and Joliet to discover the Mississippi River 30 years later. In 1642, Father Jogues was captured by the Iroquois, and lived as a tortured slave for 13 months until he escaped and returned to France. Due to his mutilated hands (at least two fingers had been bitten off), beatings and other tortures, he was called a “martyr of Christ” by the pope. The bravery of Father Jogues had caused even his captors to name him “the indomitable one.” But Father Jogues wasn’t content in France. He returned to what is now upstate New York, back to his captors. He was actually welcomed, except for a small faction that blamed him for recent sicknesses and crop failure. That group lured him to a cabin on Oct. 18, 1646, and tomahawked him to death. A letter that he wrote before returning to the Indian village says, “My heart tells me that if I have the happiness of being employed in this mission, I shall go and shall not return, but I should be happy if our Lord the dean of the Washtenaw County deanery for many of those years.
Above: Statue of Saint Isaac Jogues located on the grounds of the National Shrine of the North American Martyrs in Auriesville, New York. Left: In 1642, Father Jogues was captured by the Iroquois, and lived as a tortured slave for 13 months until he escaped and returned to France. St. Patrick’s Day, 1975. Monsignor Jerome V. MacEachin
Monsignor Earl V. Sheridan Father Sheridan was the first Catholic Social Services director for the diocese, leading it from 1940-65. He founded CSS in Genesee County, and was pastor of St. Michael Parish in Flint from St. Patrick’s Day, 1950 until FAITH Magazine
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will complete the sacrifice where he has begun it, and make the little blood I have shed in that land the earnest of what I would give from every vein of my body and my heart. ... May our good Master, who has purchased them in his blood, open to them the door of his Gospel ...” Father Jogues and seven others were canonized in 1930 as the North American martyrs. The Jesuit Relations is an account of their missionary experiences.
He began the education office for the diocese in 1940 and originated the teacher institute for all religious serving in diocesan schools. Father MacEachin also founded the home-school council movement, which was similar to the PTA in public schools.
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• Lenawee and Kalamazoo County Catholic Charities opens.
1960 • St. Louis Center in Chelsea opens for developmentally disabled boys, staffed by the Servants of Charity from Italy. 1961
Voyageur priest Father Jacques Marquette
T
THE DESIRE TO be a missionary led Jacques Marquette to enter the Jesuit novitiate in 1654 at age 17. Twelve years later, he was ordained a priest, and that same desire took him to New France (Canada), where he learned to speak fluently in six Indian languages.
• First Spanish-speaking Cursillo is held at Holy Cross in Lansing.
VATICAN II BEGINS
1962
When Governor-General Comte de Frontenac sent an expedition to look for the Mississippi River, he wanted Father Marquette to accompany explorer Louis Joliet and five others. The French were hoping that the Mississippi would lead to a trade route to the Far East via the Pacific Ocean. Marquette’s knowledge of languages could help insure the group’s safety with the Indians they met along the way. Father Marquette himself was eager for the opportunity to bring Catholicism to the Indians. An associate, Father Le Mercier, had said about him, “Because of his wonderfully, gentle way, he is most acceptable to the natives.” In 1673, they left the mission that Father Marquette had founded at St. Ignace, and, a month later, came to “the big river,” continuing 1,100 miles south to the mouth of the Arkansas River before turning back. Two years later, Father Marquette returned to preach to the Illinois Indians, but weakened by dysentery and his travels, he died in 1675. As his friend, Father Claude, said, “The range of his zeal made him carry faith to the ends of this new world.” Father Marquette died young, but was instrumental in opening the area for future French missionaries. Both Joliet and Father Marquette left journals of their expedition, but only Marquette’s remains.
• Four Lansing bishops are present at opening session of Vatican II: Albers, Green, Zaleski and Mengeling. • Bishop Albers presides at 25th anniversary of the diocese. Archbishop John Dearden of Detroit preaches. • Lansing receives its first auxiliary bishop in the person of M. Joseph Green. • Holy Trinity Student Chapel is established, with Father Leo Broderick beginning regular Mass for students at Eastern Michigan University.
1963
• O’Rafferty and Gabriels High Schools in Lansing open in the fall.
• Michigan Catholic Conference
founded. 1964
• Hachett (for boys) and O’Brien (for girls) High Schools opens in Kalamazoo. • Bishop Alexander Zaleski is installed as coadjutor bishop of Lansing. • Liturgical commission established.
1965 • First Teens Encounter Christ (TEC) held. Father Matthew J. Fedewa developed the program. • Bishop Albers dies Dec.1.
1966 Monsignor John Gabriels At the invitation of WJIM radio in Lansing, Father Gabriels began broadcasts of Mass in 1934. Still airing today, it is the longest continuous radio broadcast of Mass in the U.S. He also founded Church of the Resurrection in Lansing; and Gabriels High School on the east side of Lansing was named after him (in 1970 it combined
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with O’Rafferty High to form Lansing Catholic Central). Father Maurice Chawke Father Chawke, a native of Ireland, was pastor of St. Michael in Flint from 1934-50. In 1933, he founded Camp Sancta Maria near Gaylord to give a summer experience of “wholesome recreation in a religious atmosphere” for boys aged 8-16.
• A diocesan-wide census is conducted under Father Francis J. Murray’s direction. • Renewal through Vatican II begins in parishes. • Diocesan music and building commissions formed. • The Oblates of St. Francis de Sales opens a novitiate at Battle Creek. • St. Joseph Home in Jackson for Children opens a new facility for both boys and girls. • St. Vincent Home in Lansing begins care for emotionally impaired children.
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1967
• The Presbyteral Council is organized.
1968
• Cristo Rey Community Center is established in Lansing. • Catholic Charities in Jackson opens. • St. Mary
Father Anton Kopp
A
and St. John High Schools in Jackson close in June and Lumen Christi High School opens that fall.
• The Sisters Council is organized. • Home seminary program instituted by Father James S. Sullivan. • The Particular Council of the St. Vincent de Paul Society in Jackson is founded.
1969
From Westphalia, Germany to Westphalia, Michigan
• St. John and St. Bernard High Schools in Benton Harbor close and Lake Michigan Catholic opens that fall. • Diocesan finance committee set up. • The Marian Hill Seminary at Brighton closes. • School of Nursing at St. Lawrence Hospital in Lansing closes.
1970 • Eight parish high schools consolidate to form Father Luke M. Powers High School. • O’Rafferty and Gabriels High Schools consolidate to form Lansing Catholic Central.
ANTON KOPP WAS born June 7, 1796, in the province of Westphalia, Germany. He was the eldest of Franz Joseph and Anna Klara Cramer Kopp’s six sons, and his family had been blacksmiths in the region for six generations. In 1819, Anton Kopp was ordained a Catholic priest; in 1836, he emigrated to America aboard the Leontine – bound for New York City. He and a group of German immigrants traveled to the See of Detroit, which encompassed Michigan and the Northwest Territory. On Nov. 10, 1836, Father Kopp and several other families founded St. Mary Parish in Westphalia. This marked the beginning of the rural Catholic Church in Michigan and was the first German Catholic settlement in central Michigan. – Evelyn Weiland, Westphalia Historical Society, contributed to this story.
• The Mercy Sisters withdraw from Lee Memorial Hospital in Dowagiac. • Daniel O’Sullivan Model School opens in Flint and lasts four years.
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FIRST PERMANENT DEACON
1971 • First permanent deacon, Robert H. Boehmer, ordained for diocese.
• The Word of God Charismatic Covenant Community begins in Ann Arbor. • The Dioceses of Kalamazoo and Gaylord are created. • Lansing loses seven counties to Kalamazoo and gains two counties from Detroit. • Jackson Catholic Middle School opens in the former St. John High School.
1972
• James S. Sullivan is ordained the diocese’s second auxilary bishop.
Monsignor John Hackett
Monsignor John O’Rafferty
Intending to stay for only two years, Father Hackett became pastor of St. Augustine in Kalamazoo in 1923, and ended up remaining 30 years. He built the present St. Augustine Church, which became the cathedral when Kalamazoo was made a diocese in 1971. Hackett Catholic Central High School was named after him.
From 1915-1940, Father O’Rafferty was the pastor of St. Mary Cathedral in Lansing. The high school on the west side of Lansing was named after him, and he was influential in the founding of St. Lawrence Hospital. Father O’Rafferty was known for driving his car to the countryside during the Depression to get food
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1973
• Office for Aging opens with J. Andre Tardif as first director.
1974
• Catholic Charities in Shiawassee County is organized.
1975
• Bishop Zaleski dies in May. • Mercy Hospital in Jackson closes. • Kenneth J. Povish is installed as the third bishop of Lansing in December. • The first meeting of the Blue Army is held at St. Agnes parish in Fowlerville.
1976
• Flint Catholic Urban Ministry meets. • First Senior Citizen Appreciation Week held in the diocese. • St. Joseph Home for Children becomes a day care center and a retreat and conference center.
1977 • Sister Claudia Burke, a Franciscan Sister of the Poor, begins Catholic Outreach in Genesee County.
• Bishop Povish leads the rededication of the diocese to the Blessed Mother to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the diocese. • Gabriel Richard High School opens in Ann Arbor following the closing of St. Thomas High School in the spring. • Dukette Intercultural Center for Urban Ministry opens. • John R. Armstrong is appointed first diocesan youth minister.
1978
• Father William F. Meyers opens the Priestly Life and Ministry Office.
religious sisters in Michigan
T
THREE RELIGIOUS ORDERS of sisters The Adrian Dominicans began in Michigan in the 1800s In the late 1870s, Mother Augustine – the Adrian Dominicans (OP), Neuhierl of the Newburgh, N.Y. DominiSisters, Servants of the Immacu- cans had a deathbed vision in which she late Heart of Mary (IHM), and Above: Mother Mary Weber, Adrian Dominican Superior General the Sisters of St. Joseph (SSJ).
from farmers that he would then deliver to poor families in the city. Monsignor Eugene Cullinane Known for his theatrical presentations of the passion on Good Friday, Monsignor Cullinane was pastor of St. Mary Star of the Sea in Jackson from 1908 to 1944.
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Priests from Michigan who became bishops elsewhere Bishop James Sullivan James Sullivan was born in Kalamazoo and was ordained in 1955 in the Lansing diocese. He founded Liturgical
1979
• First Emmaus Convocation for priests is held. • First Diocesan Pastoral Assembly is held in Lansing. • Interim diocesan pastoral council established.
1980
• The diocesan-sponsored Dukette Elementary opens on the St. Agnes, Flint campus. • Diocesan Service Committee for Charismatic Renewal is organized. • First pastoral coordinator, Sister Rita Schaefer O.P., appointed to St. Augustine in Deerfield. • Sacred Heart Chapel and Hispanic Cultural Center is organized in Jackson.
1981
• First Catholic Schools Week liturgy held at the cathedral. • The Real to Reel program first
airs on Channel 6, Lansing. 1982
• Father George Kuryvial, OMI opens the Office of Handicapper Ministry (later Minsitry with Persons with disAbilities).
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• The North End Soup Kitchen opens in the Blasko Hall at Sacred Heart in Flint.
1983
• Bishop Povish decides to launch the Renew program in preparation for the diocesan 50th anniversary. • Diocesan-wide open house is held on March 13. • Loyola Institute for Ministry Extension Programs begins in the diocese.
1984
• Office for Hispanic Affairs opens.
1985 • The Outreach Mass broadcasts weekly from St. Thomas Aquinas in East Lansing.
• First lay couple appointed pastoral coordinators of Sacred Heart in Flint. • Livingston County Catholic Charities opens in Brighton. • Catholic Social Services of Lansing and St. Vincent Home are merged.
FIRST RED MASS
saw a “peninsula in the west dotted white College in Adrian (now Siena Heights with Dominican foundations.” Soon, sisUniversity). ters from her congregation were sent to St. In 1923, the St. Joseph Province sepaMary Parish (1879) and St. Joseph Parish rated from the Newburgh Congregation (1880) in Adrian. In 1884, additional sisunder the title of Congregation of the ters were sent Most Holy to establish a Rosary. MothIn 1962. Mother Mary Genevieve hospital for iner Camilla Weber of Chelsea was elected as the jured railroad was named workers. Mother General, and served six years. motherIn 1892, general and Mother Cafounder. milla Madden In 1962, was appointed Mother Mary the provincial Genevieve for the new St. Weber of Joseph ProvChelsea was ince. As the need for the hospital diminelected as the mother general, and served ished, Mother Camilla turned to educasix years. Maria Health Care Center and a tion and opened St. Joseph Academy in new novitiate, Weber Hall, were erected 1896. At the same time, the congregation during this time. Weber Center is well was asked to staff schools in Michigan, known to many as a place for retreats and Illinois, Ohio and New Mexico. Mother programs on spirituality, theology and Camilla Madden also opened St. Joseph personal development.
Maria Health Care Center and a new novitiate, Weber Hall, were erected during this time.
• First “Red Mass” for Catholic lawyers and judges is held at the cathedral.
1986
• First Black Catholic Diocesan Coordinator Team is commissioned by Bishop Povish. • The Professional Pastoral Ministers Association (PPMA) is organized.
1987
• Catholic Outreach East opens in Davison. • Cristo Rey Community Center moves into the former High Street Elementary School. • The diocesan 50th celebration concludes with a liturgy on Aug. 4.
1988
• First conference for separated and divorced Catholics is held.
1989
• The diocese purchases the DeWitt retreat house and renames it St. Francis. Father Lawrence Delaney is director and Sister Suzanne Eichhorn is assistant director. • First Stephen Ministers in the diocese are commissioned at St. Mary Parish in Flint. • The Church Ministries Institute begins the training of lay ministers and permanent deacons in conjunction with St. Mary College in Orchard Lake. • St. Thomas More Academy in Burton opens.
1990
• The Black Catholic Ministry Office opens with Willard C. Hooks, Jr. as director.
1991
• Holy Family School in Grand Blanc is the first Catholic school in the state to be accredited by the Michigan Association of Non Public Schools. • The last edition of Real to Reel airs Dec. 29.
The Sisters of St. Joseph In 1889, Mother Margaret Mary Lacy and 11 Sisters of St. Joseph arrived from New York to establish a congregation in Nazareth, on the outskirts of Kalamazoo. They came at the request of the Diocese of Detroit to start a hospital, later named Borgess Hospital. They also began an orphanage and a school, and built a motherhouse. Over the years, the congregation expanded throughout Michigan to include health care, social work, education, parish ministry, spiritual development, pastoral ministry, and ministry to the elderly, homeless and dying. Two women from Bunker Hill served as superiors general of the order: Mother Marion Hankerd, 1923-29, and Mother Scholastica Hankerd, 1953-59. Commission Publishings, which offers priests daily commentaries for the Mass and homilies. He was named auxiliary bishop in 1972 when Bishop Zaleski’s health was failing. Upon Bishop Zaleski’s death, Bishop Sullivan was appointed administrator of the diocese until the appointment of Bishop Povish. In 1978, Bishop Sullivan became a pastor for the first time at St. Thomas Aquinas in East Lansing, where he remained until his appointment as bishop of Fargo, N.D., in May 1985. FAITH Magazine
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Mother M. Aileen, S.S.J, superior and administrator, Borgess Hospital, Kalamazoo
Bishop Joseph Rademacher Though he never was a priest in the Lansing diocese, Joseph Rademacher was born in the parish of St. Peter in Westphalia in 1840 and was the first native son of the diocese to become a bishop of the church. Father Rademacher was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Fort Wayne
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• A columbarium is blessed at New Calvary Cemetery in Flint.
FIRST LAY ECCLESIAL MINISTERS
Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary At 18, Theresa Maxis helped found the Oblate Sisters of Providence, the first congregation of women religious of color in the world. She was born in Baltimore in 1810, of a Haitian mother and British father. While general superior of the Oblates, Theresa met Louis Florent Gillet, a Redemptorist priest, who was seeking women religious for schools in Michigan. She agreed to help Gillet found a new congregation in Monroe, which would be the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Education has been their main focus through the years. Mother Ruth Hankerd, also from SS Cornelius and Cyprian in Bunker Hill, was superior general of the order from 1930-42. She was succeeded by Sister Teresa McGivney, originally from St. Augustine parish in Deerfield. She served 12 years.
1992 • First group of 12 lay ecclesial ministers are commissioned by Bishop Povish.
• The Servants of God’s Love approach Bishop Povish seeking canonical recognition. • The last parish high school in the diocese, at Holy Rosary in Flint, closes.
1994
Above: Mother Theresa Maxis, about 1868. Below: Mother Theresa and council (front row, left to right) Mother Ruth, Mother Theresa, Sister Francis Regis (back row left to right) Sister Veronica, Sister Vigilia and Sister Miriam
• Marian Peace Center in Lansing is organized. • Internship in Spiritual Direction begins at St. Francis Retreat Center in DeWitt. • Senior Scripture Days are first held. • Eighth and last Diocesan Pastoral Assembly is held. • First BeFriender Ministry Training Sessions are held in the diocese. • First Koinonia weekend held at St. Pius in Flint. Father Matthew Fedewa develops the program.
1995
• St. Joseph Cemetery Chapel Mausoleum in Lansing is dedicated. • In November, Bishop Povish’s resignation is accepted and Carl F. Mengeling is appointed the fourth bishop of Lansing.
1996 • Carl F. Mengeling is ordained a bishop at St. Mary Cathedral on Jan. 25.
• The first Spanish Koinonia is held at Cristo Rey in Lansing. • First Common Conference held at the Lansing Center. • Mausoleum at New Calvary Cemetery in Flint is dedicated.
in August 1864, consecrated bishop of Nashville in 1883, then transferred to Fort Wayne in 1893, where he died in 1900. Because of his amiable, modest character, he was referred to as “good” Bishop Rademacher. Bishop Michael Joseph Green Born in 1917 in St.
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Joseph, M. Joseph Green was ordained a priest on July 14, 1946. Msgr. Green was consecrated as the first auxiliary bishop of the diocese at St. Mary Cathedral on Aug. 28, 1962. In 1965, he became the first episcopal moderator for the Cursillo movement, and was the bishop of Reno, Nev. from 1967-74. After resigning there, he was pastor of St. Joseph in Adrian until his retirement in 1979. He died Aug. 30, 1982.
1997 • Mother Teresa House for the terminally ill opens in Lansing.
• Statewide preparation for Jubilee 2000 begins with a Mass at the Breslin Student Events Center at Michigan State University. • The Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist arrive in Ann Arbor and begin teaching at Spiritus Sanctus Academy.
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Our shepherds in Christ
1998 • St. Andrew Dung Lac (Vietnamese) established in Lansing.
the four bishops of Lansing
• Siena Heights College in Adrian becomes Siena Heights University. • Ave Maria College in Ypsilanti opens in September.
S
diocese in 1937, Lansing has had four bishops. SINCE BECOMING A
1999
• The Office of Pastoral Planning is opened. • Emmanuel House in Ann Arbor, an assisted living home for the elderly, is blessed by Bishop Mengeling. • The diocesan-wide strategic planning process is announced to the faithful at the Chrism Mass. • Celebrations of God’s Mercy are held during the year of the Father in Ann Arbor, Flint, Jackson and Lansing as part of the preparation for the Great Jubilee 2000. • Faith Magazine and Web site are launched on Dec. 9.
Joseph Albers
Bishop Joseph Albers
On Oct. 7, 1964, the Most Rev. Bishop
2000 • As a Jubilee gift to the diocese, every registered household receives a year’s subscription to FAITH Magazine.
Alexander M. Zaleski was sent
• Bishop Povish celebrates his 50th anniversary as a priest and 30 years as a bishop. • Six regional missions are held to celebrate the Great Jubilee 2000. • St. Mary College, Orchard Lake and Ave Maria College in Ypsilanti merge to create Ave Maria University. • In July,
ground is broken for the youth retreat facility at St. Francis Retreat House in DeWitt. Bethany House is blessed Dec. 8. 2000-01
• VOICES, a grass-roots consultation with the laity for pastoral planning, is held in 10 locations.
2001
• Seven diocesan goals for pastoral planning are promulgated by Bishop Mengeling. • Ave Maria Law School opens with 77 students. • Boysville in Clinton is renamed Holy Cross Children’s Services.
Bishop Alexander Zaleski
Bishop Paul Donovan Paul Donovan was born in Iowa, but attended St. Mary Cathedral High School in Lansing. He was pastor at Our Lady of Fatima, Michigan Center and at St. Agnes in Flint, also serving as the head of the priests’ council, which advises the bishop. When FAITH Magazine
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was born in Cincinnati in 1891 and ordained a priest there in 1916. As a chaplain in World War I, he was wounded three times and received the Silver Star for bravery. At age 38, he was consecrated auxiliary bishop of Cincinnati, making him one of the youngest bishops in the country. He was assigned to establish the new Lansing Diocese in 1937.
from the Archdiocese of Detroit to new duties in Lansing, and as eventual successor to the ailing Bishop Albers, who died on Dec. 1, 1965. One of seven children, Zaleski was born in Laurel, N.Y., in 1906. He was ordained in 1931 in Louvain, Belgium. He had attended St. Mary College in Orchard Lake and returned there to be a Scripture professor. In 1950, he was appointed auxiliary bishop of Detroit, serving there until coming to Lansing. Bishop Zaleski had many responsibilities in the church hierarchy Kalamazoo was created a diocese in 1971, Father Donovan became its bishop. He served until he retired in 1994. Bishop James Murray Father Murray was born in Jackson in 1932 and ordained a priest in 1958. He was rector at St. Mary Cathedral
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2002
• Six regional prayer and dialogue sessions are held to address the issue of clergy sexual abuse. • The Sexual Abuse Review Board is organized. • The Virtus program to provide a safe environment for all children is instituted. • St. Louis
nationally. He died in 1975. Succeeding Bishop Zaleski was Kenneth Povish, the only Diocese of Lansing bishop who was a Michigan native. Born in 1924 in Alpena, he was ordained a priest in 1950 for the Diocese of Saginaw. He was in that diocese until appointed as bishop of Crookston, Minn. On Dec. 11, 1975, he was installed as Lansing’s third bishop. For a number of years, while a parish priest in the Saginaw Diocese, Bishop Povish wrote a column for the Catholic Weekly newspaper. Then, as bishop of Lansing, he was again a columnist for the newspaper, and appeared on a regular television program, called Real to Reel. After a long battle with cancer, Bishop Povish died on Sept. 5, 2003. Our current bishop, Carl F. Mengeling, was born Oct.22, 1930, in Hammond, Ind. He was ordained in 1957. In 1964, he earned a doctorate in sacred theology in Rome. He taught for four years, then was a pastor at different parishes until coming to Lansing as bishop on Jan. 25, 1996. He initiated the publication of FAITH magazine. An interesting footnote is that three of our bishops (all except Bishop Povish) were present at the opening session of the Second Vatican Council. Bishops Albers and Zaleski were attending, and Father Mengeling was a page. in Lansing for 25 years and chancellor for the diocese from 1968-1998, when he was named the third bishop of Kalamazoo. Monsignor Albert Koenigsknecht, M.M. A native of Most Holy Trinity Parish, Fowler, Albert Koenigsknecht joined the Maryknoll Mission-
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Center in Chelsea expands to include a women’s facility.
• The Ave Maria Law School building is dedicated • Bishop Mengeling blesses the 2,800square-foot addition to the Cristo Rey Community Center. • The Catholic Native American National Convention is held at Michigan State University.
FIRST MARRIED PRIEST
Bishop Kenneth Povish
2003 • The first married priest for the diocese, Father Steve Anderson, is ordained.
• The first prospective seminarian vocation dinner is held at Bethany Retreat House. • The diocesan
history, Living In Joyful Hope, authored by Father George C. Michalek, is published.
• New
Bishop Carl Mengeling ers and was ordained in 1945. In 1973, Msgr. Koenigsknecht was appointed apostolic administrator of the Juli Prelature in Peru. An apostolic administrator has the rank of a bishop without the privilege to ordain. He died in an automobile accident in February 1986 in Peru.
Gabriel Richard High School in Ann Arbor is blessed by Bishop Mengeling in September. 2004 • The New St. Vincent Home in Lansing on Bishop Carl F. Mengeling Campus is dedicated.
2007
• Ave Maria University closes its Ypsilanti campus and all operations move to Florida. • Bishop Mengeling
celebrates his 50th anniversary of priesthood in October.
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to be Catholic in Michigan in 1900
W
hen going to Mass at a rural church a century ago, you would arrive by buggy and leave your horse in the horse shed. If the church were in town, you could walk instead because you probably lived nearby. That is why, today, you don’t find much parking at many urban churches. Upon entering the church, you would sit in your pre-paid pew. Wealthier parishioners paid more so they could sit “closer to Jesus” (the tabernacle). There was medium-priced seating farther back, and the least expensive was way at the back or in the balcony. Recent immigrants usually sat in “the cheap seats.” Sometimes, name tags were placed on the ends of pews. Paying a quarterly rent for a pew was the primary source of income for parishes until the envelope system began in the late 1920s or early ’30s. FAITH Magazine
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You would bring a missal, since Mass was in Latin, or a devotional book with the Mass prayers in it. Because many people had to travel a considerable distance to Mass, they would often spend the whole day at church. Anti-Catholic prejudice prevalent in America at that time isolated Catholics from the rest of society, so their social activity centered around the parish. After Mass, there might be a potluck, catechism classes, socializing and meetings of groups like the Altar/Rosary society, Holy Name Society, young la-
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dies’ sodality, or Children of Mary. Since it could be a long day, and there was no indoor plumbing, an outhouse for each sex was a necessity. More affluent parishes had two-seaters and brick construction. Not until after World War I were there enough priests to offer Mass at the mission churches every week. Instead, a family would have their own devotions at home, like saying a rosary. A priest might come through the area once a month. Parishes sprang up farther and farther westward from Detroit, following the path of the railroad. Taking a train, then, in later years, an auto, enabled a priest to reach more parishes on Sunday or during the week. The faithful were often called together by the ringing of a church bell when the priest arrived. Everyone would drop what they were doing and go to church. It was more common to go to confession
By Bob Horning | Photography courtesy of Diocesan Archives
12/11/07 5:51:23 PM
Clockwise from top left: penny stamp postcard sent May 9, 1920; first Communion class in Adrian, May 29,1910; photo of St. Cornelius and Cyprian Parish (note the horse stables in the lower right); postcard of St. Isidore Church, Laingsburg (with dual outhouses in lower left); wedding reception at Flynn home on Main Street, Morrice, in 1906. Father John O’Raffery pictured between bride and groom; St. Mary church, Morrice, 1900; postcard of St. Joseph Shrine, Irish Hills, Christmas morning, 1914; postcard of St. Thomas Church, Ann Arbor.
before Mass then, so the priest would try to arrive the night before. Fasting before Mass, with no water, was from midnight until after the liturgy.
firmed before their first Communion, the latter not usually occurring until age 13 or 14. That changed once Pope Pius X encouraged earlier and more frequent
Anti-Catholic prejudice prevalent in America at that time isolated Catholics from the rest of society, so their
social activity centered around the parish. Every year, there would be a parish mission called the “Forty Hours,” lasting from Sunday night through Tuesday night. Visiting priests stayed in the third floor of the rectory, which was set up like a dormitory. They would present the talks, and eucharistic adoration was available. Since bishops were available less frequently, confirmation would take place whenever he was traveling through. That meant that children were usually con-
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Communion. Important church celebrations often coincided with a national holiday as a way of demonstrating to non-Catholics that Catholics were patriotic, and that their political allegiance was to the U.S., not to a foreign power. Thus, the cornerstone for St. Mary Church in Lansing, now the cathedral, was laid on July 4, 1911. It wasn’t unusual for an entire church, or at least the foundation, to be built
with fieldstone that farmers brought from their farms. For example, in 1911, local craftsmen built St. Mary Church in Manchester from fieldstones collected by farmers and salvaged from the foundation of the hotel that had stood on the site. Father Edwin Fisher, the pastor, designed the church and erected similar fieldstone churches at his missions in Blissfield, Tecumseh and Brooklyn. Early parishes in the Diocese of Lansing were Irish and German. The first Polish parishes were in Jackson in 1902 and Flint in 1910. Then Southern and Eastern Europeans arrived, building a Czech/Slovak church (St. Mary) in Swartz Creek in 1912. The growing Knights of Columbus reached Michigan when a council was formed at Ann Arbor’s St. Thomas the Apostle Church in 1901. Jackson had a council that same year, Flint the following year, and Lansing in 1903.
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our history answer-man
FAITH Magazine
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By Bob Horning | Photography by Tom Gennara
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p r o f i l e
M
sgr. George Michalek took on yet another role in the church and became the diocese’s first archivist in 1979. This article, and much of this month’s issue, would have been blank without his knowledge and input. We asked Msgr. Michalek to tell us a little bit about what’s in the diocesan archives.
The Diocesan Archives is a chancery service supported by the D.S.A.
In 1937, when Lansing was made a diocese, it was typical for episcopal sandals and leggings to match the vestments. You can see these beautiful items of Bishop Joseph Albers in the diocesan archives, as well as his collection of relics. There, too, you can find a 1685 copy of the Vulgate (Latin) Bible and a 1669 book from England on the lives of the saints. There is an 1840 letter from parishioners of St. Patrick Parish in Ann Arbor/Whitmore Lake to the bishop of Detroit, asking for the return of their pastor who had been transferred. With a little research, you discover that, in 1831, “Old St. Pat’s” became the first English speaking church in Michigan. The deed for their land is in the archives, as is the one from 1837 for St. John Parish in Hartland. The archive building is in the Zaleski Center, the former brothers’ residence for Lansing Catholic Central (that’s a bit of archives trivia), now attached to Lansing Catholic Central High School. It is open on Tuesdays, 9:30 a.m.4:30 p.m., to anyone.
Besides artifacts, deeds and letters, the archives hold: • books pertaining to Catholicism in Michigan and other parts of the country. • books about religious orders that served in the diocese. • papers of John Carroll, the first U.S. bishop. • files and papers of deceased priests. • sacramental records of closed parishes. • parish records and directories . • blueprints and specs of church buildings. • the only collection of The Catholic Weekly newspaper. The Catholic Weekly was the diocesan paper from 1954 until it went out of business in 1991. One good result of its closure was that Msgr. Michalek inherited all of their photographs. He had none when the archives opened in 1979. He adds to the collection every year. Msgr. Michalek took a one-semester class at the University of Michigan in preparation for his job, in addition to working at Bentley Historical Library for practical training during one semester. He is on the national board of Catholic Diocesan Archivists. If you’d like to look at documents in the archives, Msgr. Michalek recommends calling ahead to make sure that what you are looking for is actually there. Nothing can be checked out of the archives, but you can peruse them at 501 Marshall St., Lansing. The phone number is 517.485.9902.
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Left: Some of the artifacts you will find in the Diocesan Archives: 1. Msgr. Sheridan’s biretta and sash; 2. An oak sick call set; 3. Bishop Mengeling’s biretta; 4. Chalice from Queens in Jackson; 5. 1837 Deed from St. John Parish, Howell, 6. 1685 Vulgate Bible; 7. Bishop Povish’s pectoral cross cord
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discover this traditional potato cake from the
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c u l t u r e
I
discovered quite a bit on my recent trip to Ireland. First, traveling overseas with a toddler and an infant is a great workout (which was a good way to counteract the calorieladen Guinness on tap). Second, the Irish are excellent conversationalists with their quick wit and jovial nature. And finally, I learned that no other country serves the potato in so many different ways.
Yes, this beautiful green landscape, where quiet sheep graze and old castles stand, offers perfect growing conditions for the Irish staple. Since the late 1600s, potatoes have thrived here – except during the great potato famine of 1845, when a devastating blight wiped out most of Ireland’s potato crop and caused thousands of Irish to starve or emigrate. The blight came at a time when persecution of the Catholic faith was also bearing down on the Irish people. Many who came to our country in those days equated the potato famine with their struggle against religious oppression. Many starving immigrants to the U.S. found a land of bounty – one that provided safety and nourishment, both physically and spiritually. For
the Irish who were displaced from their country, the potato famine was a nightmare. But it was also a critical part of their history that pushed them to a land where they could celebrate their faith freely. Today, the blight is a distant chapter in Irish history, and the potato is still a staple of the country’s cuisine. Many traditional Irish recipes survive today, and they are delicious. One of my favorites is the potato cake, or boxty. Let me tell you, it appeared on menus at a lot of restaurants and pubs in the smaller villages of Ireland. Fittingly, this dish is traditionally prepared on the feast day of Ireland’s own patron, Saint Brigid, which is celebrated Feb.1. Thankfully, you don’t have to visit the Emerald Isle to enjoy this tasty treat. In fact, it is among the hundreds of other potato recipes our Catholic Irish immigrants brought to our country. So, gather the ingredients and get ready to throw a few boxty in the frying pan. They are a great addition to almost any main course and they are also a great snack when curled up with a book of William Butler Yeats on a cold overcast day.
Irish Boxty 1 cup (8 oz) mashed potatoes 1 cup (8 oz) finely grated raw potatoes 2 cups flour 1 teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon salt 1 ¼ to 1 ½ cups buttermilk 1 tablespoon butter (for the pan)
In a smaller bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, combine the mashed potatoes with the raw potatoes. Add the flour mixture and gently stir. Slowly add the buttermilk to make a stiff batter (similar to that of cookie batter). Do not over mix. Scoop out batter with a large spoon and slightly flatten in the palm of hand. Place into a heated pan with melted butter and cook until crispy and golden brown on both sides. Find more tasty recipes and fun crafts at FAITHmag.com. By Michelle Sessions DiFranco | Photography by Philip Shippert
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c o m m u n i t y
maculate Heart of Mary, Lansing. There will be two sessions with six catechist formation topics. Cost is $15. Call Kathy Warriner at 517.321.4179 for complete details.
Jan./Feb. café events Looking for some Adult Faith Formation opportunities? Check out the Diocese of Lansing Web site, which carries information on a wide variety of programs. Go to www.dioceseoflansing.org and scroll down to “Continuing Adult Faith Formation Opportunities.” The site is updated twice a month, so continue to check for something that catches your interest. 2007 - 2008 Father Gabriel Richard Lectures: Calling Us to Examine Current Issues in Light of our Faith presented by St. Mary Student Parish. War, Politics, and Ethics: Choices for the Country and the Citizenry in an Election Year, presented by Father J. Bryan Hehir, Jan. 28 at 4 p.m. Religious Identity in a Pluralistic World: Liberal, Conservative or Just Catholic? presented by Paul Baumann, March 11 at 4 p.m. For more details, call 734.663.0557. Lansing Region Catechist Formation Day, Jan. 19 from 8:30 a.m.-12:45 p.m. at Im-
Media and Morality, presented by Davon Heckman, Jan. 22, 7-8:30 p.m. at St. Joseph, Adrian. Call 517.266.4015 for further information. A Lenten Journey, presented by Father Michael Himes, Feb. 13, 20, 27 and March 5 from 2-3 p.m. at St. Joseph Shrine, Brooklyn. For further information, call Diane Dover at 517.467.2106. Immigration, presented by Sister Attracta Kelly, OP, at St. Mary, Adrian, Feb. 26 from 78:30 p.m. For further information, call 517.266.4015. Freedom to Love – a fourpart series on Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body, St. Thomas Aquinas Parish, East Lansing Jan. 16 and 30, Feb. 13 and 27. 7-9 p.m. Call 517.351.5460 for information. Cursillo Weekend – A weekend consisting of daily celebration of the Mass, visits to the Blessed Sacrament, talks, meditations and good old-fashioned Christian fellowship. Take advantage of this opportunity to grow as a Cath-
At the Weber Center The following programs will be hosted at the Weber Center in Adrian. Please contact 517.266.4000 for more information about any of them. • Whole Community Catechesis, presented by Bill Huebsch, Jan. 31. Call 517.263.4281 for further information.
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olic Christian in a welcoming, supportive, and peaceful setting. Men’s weekend: Feb. 21-24, Women’s weekend: March 6-9. For more information, check the Web site www.lansingcursillo. org or call Mary Kay Howard at 517.784.1353, or Steve Larsen at 517.524.7185, or Rick Freedberg at 517.589.5605.
Brighton on Jan. 9, Feb. 13 and April 9 from 7-9 p.m. Contact Glenna Diskin at 810.229.9863, ext. 208 for further details.
Women’s Walk – A new ministry featuring Mass, presentation and social will be held at St. Patrick,
REFRESH, March 7-9. A retreat for single Catholics. Call Nick at 734.752.5480 or Dawn at 517.647.5119.
Accept the Challenge, a men’s conference, Feb. 16 from 8 a.m.-3:30 p.m. at St. Patrick, Brighton. For more information, call 810.223.0338.
Father Charlie Irvin Scholarship Contest Write to Win $1,000! The theme for this year’s contest is “Why am I proud to be Catholic?” A check for $1,000 will be awarded to the winning essay written by a Catholic high-school senior who is a parishioner in a Diocese of Lansing parish. Check with your parish’s director of religious education, coordinator of youth ministry or pastor for more information.
Out of Darkness Saint Mary’s Student Parish, in Ann Arbor recently released its CD, Out of Darkness, which is a live recording from their 2006 Easter Vigil Mass. The CD features a mix of traditional psalms, contemporary praise music, and a 55-voice choir backed by a six-piece band. For those living in and around Ann Arbor, the actual CD can be purchased at the Saint Mary Student Parish office for $15 ($10 for students). The CD can also be purchased from the official Web site – www.outofdarkness.org, where you can get additional CD information, preview songs online and download the music.
• Come Back to Me: A Lenten Journey with Jesus, presented by Janene Ternes, Feb. 16 from 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Cost is $45 and includes lunch. • Acceptance is the Answer through the Twelve Steps: A Serenity Retreat for Women, presented by Cora “Tommy” Day and Sister Rose Celeste O’Connell, Feb. 22-24. Cost is $150. • Women and Mid-Life: A Mosaic of Transitions for Nurses, six contact hours toward continuing education requirements, Feb. 27 from 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., Cost is $70 and includes lunch.
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l a s t
Jan./Feb. Readings Sunday, January 6 Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord Is 60:1-6 Eph 3:2-3a, 5-6 Mt 2:1-12 Sunday, January 13 Feast of the Baptism of the Lord Is 42:1-4, 6-7 Acts 10:34-38 Mt 3:13-17 Sunday, January 20 Second Sunday in Ordinary Time Is 49:3, 5-6 1 Cor 1:1-3 Jn 1:29-34 Sunday, January 27 Third Sunday in Ordinary Time Is 8:23-9:3 1 Cor 1:10-13, 17 Mt 4:12-23
Sunday, February 3 Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time Zep 2:3; 3:12-13 1 Cor 1:26-31 Mt 5:1-12a Wednesday, February 6 Ash Wednesday Jl 2:12-18 2 Cor 5:20-6:2 Mt 6:1-6, 16-18 Sunday, February 10 First Sunday of Lent Gn 2:7-9; 3:1-7 Rom 5:12-19 Mt 4:1-11 Sunday, February 17 Second Sunday of Lent Gn 12-1-4A 2 Tm 1:8b-10 Mt 17:1-9 Sunday, February 24 Third Sunday of Lent Ex 17:3-7 Rom 5:1-2, 5-8 Jn 5:5-42
50 Years of Service to M.S.U. On any day of the week, what you will find at St. John Student Parish will give you “hope for the future of the church,” Fr. Mark Inglot, St. John’s pastor said. Every day, St. John’s is bustling with students who are eager to serve the community and grow in their Catholic faith. This year, St. John’s celebrates 50 years of service to Michigan State University and the East Lansing community. “God loves this place a lot,” Fr. Mark said, “There’s been a spirit in this place since we opened in 1958.” The spirit is vibrant. Every weekend, about 4,000 students, 300 faculty members, and many members of the community join to worship at St. John’s. “We try to be a home away from home,” Fr. Mark said. “As students grow in their knowledge, we will be a place where they can grow in their faith.” Throughout the jubilee year, St. John’s offers many opportunities for its community to grow in faith through special events. One example is the Green and White Mass that, this fall, welcomed back a number of the 48 priests who have graduated from Michigan State University since St. John’s opened. St. John Student Parish continues to develop Catholic leaders as it celebrates 50 years of “learning, practicing, and sharing our faith.” – Anna Sklut
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w o r d
Why should we care about our history? Not to know history is to have no parentage, rendering us illegitimate children who wander through the streets of human experience living purposeless, meaningless, and repetitious lives.
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our score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Can there be an American citizen who does not know those historic words delivered by President Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg, Pa., on Nov. 19, 1863? They constitute one of the pillars upon which our American culture rests, a living culture fathered and mothered from human experience that is now thousands of years old. Not to know history is to have no parentage, rendering us illegitimate children who wander through the streets of human experience living purposeless, meaningless, and repetitious lives. As the famous philosopher George Santayana once wrote: Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it. A liberal arts education liberates us from being held hostage by what is immediate. If we are conscious only of what we want to do now we will be enslaved by our feelings, having no strong convictions forged from human experience. Another philosopher, George Wilhelm Hegel, once warned us: What experience and history teach is this – that people and governments never have learned anything from history, or acted on principles. As Americans we have much yet to learn and put into our lives. God’s Word comes to us through our history. Our Catholic faith is nothing if it is not historical. Each Mass brings with it the lives and legacies of billions of human beings who have been touched by God in Christ and made present to us in the Lord of history who loves us here and now and wants nothing less than to liberate us. The Jewish Passover is a celebration of freedom coming to them from history. Our Catholic Mass continues from that origin so that creation itself would be set free from slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God. (Romans 8:21). What do you know about your family’s history? Learn it now lest it be lost to you and you know not who you are and what you have within you. What do you know of our Catholic history? Learn it now lest you become a helpless victim of passing fads and live without all that the Bread of Life can give you in order that you might face this world and find your true self. Treasures from the past to enrich and empower your life await your discovery. – Fr. Charles Irvin
12/11/07 5:53:32 PM
Catholic Schools Week is January 27-February 2
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12/11/07 5:53:46 PM