A jubilee pilgrimage of hope through St. Joseph Shrine on Detroit's east side- Detroit Catholic

Revitalized parish near Eastern Market is experiencing a revival that mirror's Detroit's own, a beacon for pilgrims in a jubilee year

At the start of the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope, Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron designated 12 local pilgrimage sites for Catholics to visit during the holy year. Each month during 2025, Detroit Catholic will highlight one of these sites to encourage Catholics to take advantage of the extraordinary graces offered during the jubilee.

DETROIT — For more than 150 years, St. Joseph Shrine has been a core presence in Detroit’s historic eastern district and a center for Catholic vitality and hope.

The parish, which sits directly across from Eastern Market, is a microcosm of the greater history of Detroit — the lively faith and school community thrived until the 1960s, when the school closed and the parish began experiencing a steady decline. By the early 2000s, the community had reduced to about 50 people, and the church was about to be closed. In 2016, however, Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron invited the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, a religious institute founded in France, to come to Detroit and entrusted them with the care and revival of the parish.

Nine years later, the parish is alive again — nearly 700 people of all ages come to church on Sundays to attend one of its three Masses, filling the tightly lined pews. The church’s perfect acoustics make it so the sounds of the countless parish children and babies in the back reach Canon Jean-Baptiste Commins, ICKSP, up at the altar.

St. Joseph Shrine is one of the 12 pilgrimage sites designated by Archbishop Vigneron for the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope. While the Shrine is already a popular pilgrimage site that regularly welcomes busloads of pilgrims, Canon Commins said pilgrims traveling to the parish specifically for the Jubilee Year of Hope have come to the right place.

“Come here on Sunday if you are a little down, a little discouraged,” Canon Commins, rector of St. Joseph Shrine, told Detroit Catholic. “You don’t need to hear much about hope or much preaching, but looking around you; that's already the source of much hope because you see the life of the young kids and older people, and you see the joy around the community.”

Everything in the Christian faith expresses that hope, Canon Commins added.

“There can't be faith without hope for eternal life, for union with God — it would be a very dry, depressing faith if hope were not there,” Canon Commins said. “I think we need that hope today. This society and this culture are very dark today. There is a lot of suffering and a lot of unfortunate things that we see and experience, and I think Pope Francis' encouragement to look at the virtue of hope is very appropriate for our times. I think just seeing the fruits of the shrine, seeing the growth of the shrine, that's already in itself a sign of hope.”

There is no “magic formula” for the parish’s decades-long revival, Canon Commins said, except a steadfast focus on the sacraments.

“It's just doing what the church has always been doing,” Canon Commins explained. “The church is always open; there are confessions every day, Mass every day, and we just have the priests do what they are supposed to do.”

Canon Commins said he and the vicar, Canon Stephen Sharpe, are currently preparing more than a dozen couples for the sacrament of marriage and that there are countless baptisms. Catechism classes are taught every Wednesday, which is also the day when 90 homeschoolers come to the parish for their co-op.

In addition to feeding souls, the community also runs a food pantry, which serves about 50 families in the neighborhood every week.

“I think people are searching for that,” Canon Commins said. “I understand that many priests are busy, but I think that really the heart of our vocation as priests is being in the confessional, being at the altar, and if that happens, well, the good Lord will provide, and it has been the case for centuries in the Church.”

Today, St. Joseph Shrine is a personal parish devoted to caring for the faithful according to the 1962 Roman Missal, known as the traditional Latin Mass.

Because parish life continues to grow and thrive, and the community holds frequent events and feasts — such as the parish’s upcoming annual celebration of the feast of its patron, St. Joseph, which includes a high Mass, dinner and, of course, a procession with a statue of St. Joseph through Eastern Market — Canon Commins said the future is full of hope.

In November 2024, the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest purchased a 4.2-acre lot across the Dequindre Cut. The property will be renamed DeSales Park, after St. Francis de Sales, the institute’s patron.

Canon Commins added that the parish is also undergoing its "Beacon of Hope" campaign to restore its steeple, aptly named for the Year of Hope.

“The fundraising campaign, 'Beacons of Hope,' is not just about money or restoration — it is also the living stones (of our faith),” Cannon Commins added. “That’s one of the main themes here at the shrine — the living stones so that we see all of the sacraments as a beacon of hope as well.”

Cannon Commins said anyone who visits St. Joseph Shrine during the Jubilee Year of Hope will be able to find something in the church and its community that helps enrich their faith.

“The beauty of our faith is that everyone gets the spiritual food that he or she needs at a specific time in life,” Canon Commins said. “One might just look at all the statues or the different devotions we have, or one might find comfort in the statue of Our Lady or in a special prayer to St Joseph. There is enough for everyone, in a way.”

Things to do and see when you visit St. Joseph Shrine

1. Study the historic stained glass windows

In 1972, St. Joseph Shrine was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, in large part due to the church’s massive stained-glass windows from Munich and Innsbruck, Austria, two of which are landmarked. As is the purpose of stained glass, the images depict Bible stories and saints; however, the stained glass located behind the altar also tells a story of church history.

Although the shrine is dedicated to St. Joseph, the saint is nowhere to be seen in the sanctuary and instead has always had a place on the side altar. Canon Commins explained that as the church was being built by German immigrants, the First Vatican Council was taking place. One of the major topics of the council was papal infallibility.

“There was a lot of controversy and, in Germany, there were some trying to push against the pontifical infallibility,” Canon Commins explained.

As a sign of the church’s alignment with Rome and Catholic doctrine, the parish commissioned the stained-glass window behind the altar to depict Jesus Christ handing the keys to St. Peter — a reminder that Christ bestowed authority on Peter, the first pope. Canon Commins pointed out that the window is surrounded by depictions of the Church fathers who had spoken about the authority of the pope throughout the centuries. Below the saints is the text: Roma locuta est. Cause finita est., which translates to: “Rome has spoken. Case closed.”

2. Pray with St. Joseph

Every Wednesday, the parish prays a devotion to St. Joseph; however, pilgrims hoping to delve deeper into their relationship with Jesus’s foster father should visit the parish in March during the Feast of St. Joseph on March 19. For the nine days leading up to the feast, the parish prays a novena to St. Joseph, and on the feast itself, the parish celebrates with a high Mass in the Tridentine rite followed by a procession through Eastern Market carrying a statue of the beloved patron.

3. Attend Mass

Every Mass at St. Joseph Shrine is in the extraordinary form, otherwise known as the Latin Mass. It is the only personal parish in the Archdiocese of Detroit devoted to caring for the faithful exclusively according to the 1962 Roman Missal. To experience the beautiful, traditional liturgy, attend one of the three Sunday Masses or daily Mass at the church, Canon Commins said.

4. Admire the woodwork and German craftsmanship

The beautiful artwork and architectural designs throughout the church are a testament to the labor of love of the original German community who built the church in the 19th century. Canon Commins explained that most of the woodwork was done by local parishioners, such as the Communion rails and the side altars.

Whatever was not made locally was imported from Germany, including the Stations of the Cross written in Gothic German and the carved statues of the apostles — all made from one oak tree.

5. Go to Eastern Market

St. Joseph Shrine and Eastern Market, which sits directly across the street, have long been connected as historic landmarks in Detroit and beacons of revitalization in the neighborhood. Stop at the market after Mass to explore the stalls and buy from local vendors. And don't forget to check out the latest addition: a four-story mural of St. Joseph, painted by local artist Elton Duran.

Pilgrimage sites in the Archdiocese of Detroit

The following 12 Catholic sites were designated as pilgrimage sites for Detroit-area Catholics during the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope. To learn more, visit www.aod.org/jubilee.