Cardinal Adam J. Maida hands his crozier to Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron during Archbishop Vigneron’s installation Mass as Detroit's fifth archbishop on Jan. 28, 2009, at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament. Ordained a bishop on July 9, 1996, Archbishop Vigneron is celebrating his silver episcopal jubilee this year. (Detroit Catholic file photos)
DETROIT — On July 9, Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron celebrates his silver anniversary as a bishop, having been ordained to the episcopal ministry on July 9, 1996, to serve as an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Detroit.
Twenty-five years later, Archbishop Vigneron’s ministry has touched thousands of souls in southeast Michigan, Oakland, Calif., and beyond.
To celebrate and honor the archbishop on the occasion of his 25th episcopal jubilee, Detroit Catholic has gathered a selection of photos from his ministry over the years.
Bishop Allen Vigneron is pictured with his parents, Elwin and Bernardine, shortly after his ordination as a bishop in 1996. Bishop Vigneron and Cardinal Edmund C. Szoka meet with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican in 2006. Bishop Vigneron celebrates Chautauqua, the Diocese of Oakland, California’s multicultural celebration on Oct. 4, 2003. Archbishop Vigneron served as ordinary in Oakland from 2003-06.Bishop Vigneron on the day he was named an auxiliary bishop of Detroit on Jan. 10, 2003. Bishop Vigneron participates in a Walk for Life in Oakland, Calif., in 2007. Bishop Vigneron blesses the ground of the new Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland, Calif., in 2004. Bishop Vigneron accepts his appointment as Oakland’s third bishop on Feb. 26, 2003. Bishop Vigneron blesses a cemetery in the Oakland diocese in 2008.Archbishop-elect Allen H. Vigneron arrives in Detroit at the airport with Bishop Earl Boyea of Lansing in 2009 after the announcement that he had been named Detroit’s fifth archbishop. Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron and Cardinal Adam J. Maida appear at a press conference together to announce Archbishop Vigneron’s appointment as Cardinal Maida’s successor. Archbishop Vigneron smiles during his installation Mass as Detroit’s fifth archbishop and ninth ordinary on Jan. 28, 2009, at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament. Archbishop Vigneron, left, appears with Cardinal Francis E. George of Chicago, center, and Cardinal Adam J. Maida of Detroit during Archbishop Vigneron’s installation Mass. Archbishop Vigneron takes his seat on the “cathedra” at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament for the first time during his installation Mass on Jan. 28, 2009. Garrett Vigneron, 11, interviews his “Uncle Al,” Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron in the Vatican Gardens in 2009. Archbishop Vigneron receives his pallium, a woolen stole representing his role as a shepherd, from Pope Benedict XVI in 2009.
Archbishop Vigneron blesses his family members in the Vatican Gardens in 2009.Archbishop Vigneron strolls the Vatican Gardens.
Archbishop Vigneron receives an acknowledgment from the Interfaith Leadership Council of Metropolitan Detroit. Archbishop Vigneron blesses a shrine dedicated to St. Barbara in the Detroit Salt Mine on Oct. 22, 2009, as Fr. Charles Fox, then priest-secretary to the archbishop, assistsArchbishop Vigneron chats with a Michigan Catholic reporter during an interview for his first anniversary as Detroit’s archbishop in January 2010.
Archbishop Vigneron holds a relic of Ste. Anne during her feast day at Ste. Anne de Detroit in 2011. Archbishop Vigneron holds a t-shirt given to him acknowledging Ste. Anne’s being named Detroit’s patroness in 2011.
Archbishop Vigneron meets with students at Ladywood High School during a visit to the school in 2012. Archbishop Vigneron speaks during a rally in favor of religious freedom at Dearborn’s city hall in light of the federal government's contraception mandate in October 2012. Archbishop Vigneron carries the Christ Child to the manger during midnight Mass on Christmas Eve at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in 2012. Archbishop Vigneron chats with supporters of the Archdiocese of Detroit's Changing Lives Together initiative at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in 2012.Along with Fr. Charles Fox, Archbishop Vigneron chats with passersby during a “street evangelization” outing with St. Paul Street Evangelization in downtown Royal Oak in 2012. Archbishop Vigneron smiles during a press conference announcing the election of Pope Francis to the papacy in March 2013.The archbishop takes a photo with a group of teenagers during the annual CYO Rainbow Conference at the Detroit Renaissance Center in 2012. Archbishop Vigneron blesses a new Catholic medical facility in Grand Cayman, a Caribbean island under the pastoral jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Detroit, in 2013.Archbishop Vigneron leads Central Services employees to their new Chancery building in downtown Detroit’s Capitol Park district in 2014.Archbishop Vigneron offers Communion to Mother Mary Assumpta Long, OP, prioress and founder of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, during a religious jubilee Mass in 2014. Archbishop Vigneron gives a talk during “Theology on Tap” at the Traffic Jam and Snug in Detroit.Archbishop Vigneron presides at the opening of the Archdiocese of Detroit’s historic Synod 16 at the Westin Book Cadillac in downtown Detroit on Nov. 18, 2016.Archbishop Vigneron takes notes during Synod 16’s discussion sessions. The result of those notes would end up being the archbishop’s groundbreaking pastoral letter, Unleash the Gospel, issued the next year on the Solemnity of Pentecost.The archbishop presides at the opening Mass of Synod 16 at St. Aloysius Church in downtown Detroit. Archbishop Vigneron and Detroit’s auxiliary bishops lie prostrate before the altar at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament during the archdiocese’s Mass for Pardon in 2016. Archbishop Vigneron presides during Mass on the Vigil of Pentecost in 2016, during which he unveiled his pastoral letter, Unleash the Gospel, a response to the archdiocese’s call for missionary conversion during the synod.Archbishop Vigneron greets Pope Francis at the Vatican. Dressed in traditional Pakistani garb, Archbishop Vigneron congratulates Fr. Shafique Masih, a native of Pakistan, on the 75th anniversary of St. Jude Parish, where Fr. Masih was pastor, in 2016. Archbishop Vigneron presides at a wedding between a man and a woman at St. Damien of Molokai Parish in 2016 as part of a joint wedding celebration at the parish for couples who had been previously cohabitating. Archbishop Vigneron holds a relic of St. John Paul II at the dedication of a shrine to the sainted Polish pope at the Chapel of Our Lady of Orchard Lake. The archbishop blesses a planned expansion on the grounds of Sacred Heart Major Seminary in 2017. Archbishop Vigneron entrusts the chalice to Fr. Craig Marion during Fr. Marion’s ordination to the priesthood in 2017. Archbishop Vigneron smiles as he announces the beatification of Detroit’s own Blessed Solanus Casey at the Solanus Casey Center in Detroit in 2017. Archbishop Vigneron prays at Blessed Solanus’ tomb as a stack of prayer intentions sits in front of him. Archbishop Vigneron offers words of gratitude during the beatification Mass of Blessed Solanus Casey at Detroit's Ford Field as 60,000 Catholics look on Nov. 18, 2017. The archbishop blesses those gathered at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament for the Rite of Election preceding their entrance into the Catholic Church as catechumens and candidates. Archbishop Vigneron smiles surrounded by students at Gesu School in northwest Detroit in 2017. Archbishop Vigneron watches as the “galero,” or cardinal’s hat, for Cardinal Edmund C. Szoka rises to the ceiling of the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in 2018. Archbishop Vigneron anoints the head of Auxiliary Bishop Gerard W. Battersby during Bishop Battersby’s ordination to the episcopate in January 2018 along with Auxiliary Bishop Robert J. Fisher. Archbishop Vigneron celebrates Mass at St. Fabian Parish in Farmington Hills in 2018. The archbishop presides at a Mass of Thanksgiving for the elevation of the National Shrine of the Little Flower in Royal Oak to the status of a minor basilica in 2015. Archbishop Vigneron holds up an icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help during a prayer service for Christians in the Middle East in 2015. At right is Chaldean Bishop Francis Y. Kalabat. Archbishop Vigneron blesses those gathered for the dedication of a new tympanum, or art installation, above the doorway of the archdiocesan Chancery in downtown Detroit. Archbishop Vigneron walks the grounds of Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Southfield, where his predecessor bishops of Detroit are buried, on All Souls Day in 2016. Archbishop Vigneron celebrates with religious jubilarians at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in 2018. The archbishop presides at adult confirmations at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in 2018. Archbishop Vigneron imposes ashes upon a woman’s forehead during Ash Wednesday Mass at St. Aloysius Parish in downtown Detroit in 2018. Archbishop Vigneron smiles during a recording of his new podcast, “Eyes on Jesus,” in the seminary’s podcast studio in 2018.Archbishop Vigneron baptizes a young man during the Easter Vigil at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in 2016. Archbishop Vigneron breathes upon the oil to be consecrated as sacred Chrism during the Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday, 2019, at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament. Archbishop Vigneron offers a hearty “thumbs up” to students at St. Catherine of Siena Academy in Wixom during a visit to the school in 2019. The archbishop smiles as he speaks to Catholic school students during a Mass for Catholic Schools Week in 2019 at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament. Preaching in an empty cathedral, Archbishop Vigneron addresses the Archdiocese of Detroit for the first time via livestream at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Archbishop Vigneron preaches via livestream from the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in March 2020.The archbishop offers an extraordinary Eucharistic blessing to the city of Detroit and its suburbs during Easter Sunday in April 2020, livestreamed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The archbishop prays a rosary for an end to racism during the summer of 2020 after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis touched off racial tensions across the country. The archbishop blesses a new crucifix outside the cathedral as the driving snow piles up in 2020. Archbishop Vigneron prays over Michelle Piccolo, who became a consecrated virgin during a special service at Our Lady of Good Counsel in October 2020. The archbishop prays outside an abortion clinic in Eastpointe during a prayer vigil and demonstration in October 2020.Archbishop Vigneron blesses the ombrellino and tintinabulum, signs of the newly named Basilica of St. Anne’s papal status, during a Mass of Thanksgiving in July 2020. Archbishop Vigneron and Fr. J.J. Mech, rector of the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament, participate in cleanup project on the cathedral's grounds last summer. The archbishop preaches during a special Mass for the Protection of the Unborn on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade in January 2021. Archbishop Vigneron processes out of Most Holy Trinity Parish in Detroit’s Corktown district on St. Patrick’s Day 2021. The archbishop presides over a Mass of dedication for the newly named archdiocesan shrine at the Divine Mercy Center in Clinton Township this year. Archbishop Vigneron prays with police and law enforcement during a special “Blue Mass” at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in May 2021.The archbishop celebrates Mass at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery during a dedication ceremony for a new Stations of the Cross installation in June 2021.
