A jubilee pilgrimage of hope through the Shrine of Jesus the Divine Mercy

Divine Mercy is distinctly linked to hope, shrine's foundress says; Clinton Township chapel a quiet refuge of peace and healing

The Archdiocese of Detroit has designated 12 local pilgrimage sites for Catholics to visit during the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope. 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.

CLINTON TOWNSHIP — Since 2021, the Shrine of Jesus the Divine Mercy in Clinton Township has been officially recognized as an Archdiocese of Detroit shrine and a place of holy pilgrimage and peace.

Weary individuals looking for solace have found it in the shrine’s quiet oratory, peaceful, natural grounds, and through the “holy hospitality” extended by the shrine's foundress, Catherine M. Lanni, and the Sisters of Jesus’ Merciful Passion who live and serve in community at the shrine.

Being named as one of the 12 local pilgrimage sites specifically designated for the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope, Lanni said excitement is heightened at the shrine this year.

“My heart is on fire for everything I know God has in store for all of us,” Lanni told Detroit Catholic.

Lanni said she “felt an extreme amount of joy and hope” when the Archbishop-emeritus Allen H. Vigneron announced that the shrine was one of the 12 in late 2024.

“I can see the hand of God in (this decision) for the people who come to the shrine,” Lanni said. “Divine Mercy is huge in our times … and I feel in my heart that we are on target with the times, the needs of the people, especially in light of COVID when we haven't even begun to scrape the surface of the anxiety and depression that people are going through.”

Lanni said she has witnessed too many miracles to doubt the Divine Mercy of Jesus, beginning with her own miracle, which is where the foundation of the shrine began.

“It began with a miracle that I had on my deathbed,” Lanni explained. “Our Lady appeared to me as I cried out to her because I had just delivered my fourth child. I was hemorrhaging profusely, and there was nothing else that they could do for me.”

Lanni said the doctors who surrounded her hospital bed told her she would not make it through the next hour, and encouraged her to make arrangements for her children while she was still coherent.

“All I could think about was, ‘Is everything I ever believed in a lie?' I pray the rosary, pray the chaplet, and I felt spiritually prepared as best as I could be before coming into the hospital, and here I am lying on my deathbed,” Lanni said. “I cried out to her, ‘I beg you to go before the throne of God and beg for my life so I can raise my family.’ That’s when she bent down and touched me.”

Lanni said this profound encounter and healing led to her conviction that the Lord was asking for total healing for every stratum of the Church.

Before the Divine Mercy Center become a shrine, Lanni said Cardinal Adam J. Maida erected The Servants of Jesus of The Divine Mercy as a private association of the Christian faithful on April 21, 2003, Easter Sunday. On April 11, 2021, Archbishop-emeritus Vigneron granted the center the title of archdiocesan shrine.

Over the years, Lanni said she has witnessed “abundant blessings,” and that pilgrims and visitors have experienced radical physical and spiritual healing.

“Over these 30-something years in ministry, I have witnessed a lot, and it has given me this blessed assurance and a supernatural hope that no matter what we face in life, God is with us,” Lanni said. “There is no question in my heart at all that God is truly with us and that His mother is here to help us along this pilgrimage of life.”

Lanni said the shrine is open Tuesday through Sunday and that visitors can stop by unannounced to spend time in the oratory, visit the gift shop, or walk and pray in the outdoor rosary garden and stations of the cross.

However, Lanni added that by planning ahead, people can take advantage of all the shrine offers: prayer ministers, Eucharistic adoration, rosaries, weekly talks and confession. Every Friday, there is Holy Mass followed by what Lanni calls “holy hospitality,” which consists of lunch and an opportunity for prayer ministry.

Lanni said the Shrine will continue to offer its regular bountiful ministries throughout the Jubilee of Hope Year, but has specifically decided to remain open every second and fourth Saturday of the month to accommodate jubilee pilgrims who might not be able to visit during the week.

And there is no better time to visit than on the feast of the shrine's namesake: Divine Mercy Sunday, April 27. The shrine's celebration will begin with a vigil Mass on Saturday, followed by Divine Mercy Sunday Mass with Fr. Colin Fricke, starting at 1 p.m. with confessions and the rosary. Lanni will offer a reflection at 2:30 p.m. before Mass begins at 3.

Divine Mercy is undeniably linked to hope, Lanni added. She explained that many visitors and pilgrims arrive at the shrine's gates in desperation, having heard that extraordinary things have happened here.

“Jesus died for each and every one of us, shedding for us blood and water that purifies us, and it gives us a new life and new breath to begin again to have that hope to take that first step forward toward God,” Lanni explained. “No matter what you are facing in life, you can always know that Jesus and Our Lady are just waiting there for you; they won’t infringe upon your free will. It is just (about) taking that little step and welcoming Jesus, or opening your heart and telling him that you need and want him in your life.”

Lanni said the significance of Divine Mercy is vast, plentiful, and available for everyone.

“Jesus is coming here not as a judge, but as a merciful Savior, forgiving all sins, and the greater the sinner, the greater the mercy,” Lanni said. “It gives us that great expectant hope that is meant for you, it’s meant for me, it’s meant for each and every one of us, and we can avail ourselves as often as we need. We can come toward him, opening our hearts and asking him to wash us with that blood and water poured out for us, and great things happen from that.”