By Lawrence M. Ventline
The melody and memory of the words, "love and marriage and a horse and carriage," resound loud and clear these days in a Roseville church. Love of faith, and the sure commitment of a church, a pastor, and, area faithful, that is.
Back more than a hundred fifty years ago, around 1861, a horse and buggy headed from the stony McNichols and Gratiot roads in Detroit northbound toward Utica Junction.
And, hundreds of Polish, Belgian, Irish and German faithful, among others, today, who are linked to the huge edifice and 607 registered households of the historic Sacred Heart Catholic Church and schools, are ringing out that melody with memories of the sprawling community.
"Father Amadeus Vandendriessche was pastor of Assumption Grotto Church and he rode his horse and buggy from there every second Sunday of the month for Mass for the small flock of thirty-five families," Diane Kramer, office manager and receptionist of Sacred Heart Church, said, looking at a parish history book.
"However, in 1864, the ever-increasing number of Catholic families made it necessary to move from a vacant store nearer to the property for the future parish," Kramer, who has served the church for more than half a decade, concluded.
This mission that sat near what is today Gratiot and Utica Roads was officially designated in June of the same year by the local Detroit leader at the time, Bishop Caspar Borgess, second head of this local diocese. Mass in the edifice built for 300 faithful has been celebrated every Sunday since in another structure, however. Sacred Heart mission bcame a parish in 1872, according to the bronze Michigan and national historic marker outlining the church's storyline on the corners of Gratiot at Utica.
Land was purchased the next year for a cemetary, and, in 1915, expansion of the Detroit to Port Huron interurban railway, forced moving the church building east. To that end, the basement of the current church was poured in 1930. However, the great depression, and World War II delayed construction of the main, upper church for decades until 1950.
Allen H. Vigneron, archbishop of Detroit, will lead a 150th anniversary celebration of Sacred Heart Parish with current pastor, Eugene Katcher, Sunday, October 23 at Mass at 11 am. Eastpointe Manor will host a celebration dinner the same day from 2 pm. Dinner tickets are available at 586 777-9116. The Mass is open to the public.
According to a former pastor from '76-'79, Bishop Walter Hurley of Grand Rapids: "Sacred Heart has stood tall in the community as a beacon of Gospel values and community service for 150 years."
When asked what was defining for him as pastor at the church for eight years from 1996, the now retired senior priest, Father William Bonnici, who resides in Mayville, said:
"To help parish finances, and, to keep people growing and reading, we opened a bookstore that thrived," with about 900 registered households at the time, according to archives.
A "long line of Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM) Sisters served" the schools at the church with Bonnici until 2004, including Sister Anne Mamienski of St. Thecla Catholic Church and St. Claude Chapel in Clinton Township. Mamienski remembers "tons of IHMs sisters staffing the grade and high schools from the parish's inception, including the currently ill, Sister Mary Frances Ryan, now at their Monroe-based nursing care facility, and, Sister Mary Uicker, music minister from '96 through 2004. Some sisters resided in the school classrooms early in the school's development, according to Mamienski.
"Sacred Heart was one of a few schools open outside the city limits at the time," Mamienski said, praising the "work of wonderful laity and women religious." Mamienski will celebrate thirty-five years of religious life with others, Saturday, October 8th at Sacred Heart's 5 pm Mass, and, "pot luck" meal afterwards, perhaps dancing to tunes of Mike Zawojsky from 6 pm in the lower level of the edifice. Mamienski "proudly served" for six years in a line of IHM sisters throughout its story, she admits.
During the church's centennial celebration in 1961, pastor Father Raymond Clancy, recived a parchment apostolic blessing for parishioners and benefactors of Sacred Heart Church from the beloved Pope John the XXIII, Vatican head of the worldwide Catholic community who convened the ecumenical second Vatican Council from 1962-65, a church with the largest global membership, according to official records.
Among outreach ministries provided at the church is the St. Vincent de Paul Society, a seasonal warming center for the homeless, longtime leadership skills development in Stephen Ministry, pastoral counseling, youth ministry, rite of Christian initiation of adults, family religious education, and numerous adult education programs. A nurse from St. John's Hospital visits parisioners in a program started by Mamienski.
The parish is "warm and welcoming and blessed with a pastor who encourages Gospel values to flourish," according to Carol Hofer who heads youth ministry, musical benefits, and yard sales with Doris Rollinger.
Katcher agrees. With his parishioners, he has chipped away, downing a $900,000.00 debt to about $500,000 since he was named pastor at the remodeled church in 2004.
"From the first day of our Parish in 1861, until its last, the center will be the Gospels of Jesus Christ," Father Katcher said.
Archdiocesan staff, and other area officials have suggested that the financially fledgling church that is comprised of many senior citizens on fixed incomes, combine with neighboring St. Athanasius Church that is also in Roseville, and, Our Lady Queen of All Saints in Fraser.
Roseville city council members, among others, plan on being part of the year-long celebration. U.S. House of Representatives, John Conyers, Jr., a member of Congress, in a tribute, recognized "the church's 150th annniversary celebration, a distinction truly worth honoring."
"I salute you and wish you many more years of blessings," Conyers concluded.
A horse and buggy's trek northward by a pastor, coupled with dozens of people's faith and fervor founded and formed Sacred Heart.
For more information, contact the church office at 777 9116, sacredheartroseville@saintly.com, or visit, http://www.aod.org/.
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