Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron offers the chalice with the Blood of Christ to God the Father on Easter Sunday, April 12. Despite the fact Catholics cannot partake of the Eucharist during the coronavirus pandemic, it has remained a steadfast source of strength and hope for those who long for it, the archbishop said. (Valaurian Waller | Detroit Catholic)
METRO DETROIT — Over the past month, as the coronavirus crisis has upended much of life for southeast Michigan, local Catholics have responded heroically with acts of faith, hope and service to God and neighbor.
Detroit Catholic has arranged a collection of images showing how the Detroit-area Church is going above and beyond. In the immortal words of Fr. Gabriel Richard, “we hope for better things; it will arise from the ashes.”
Here’s a look at the many ways Detroit Catholics have responded to God’s call:
Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron preaches to a livestream congregation in an empty Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament on Sunday, March 15. (Valaurian Waller | Detroit Catholic)Rose-Erin Love, a kitchen worker at Most Holy Trinity School in Detroit, hands out boxed lunches to students and their families March 25. (Valaurian Waller | Detroit Catholic)Parishioners pray in their cars as Fr. Eric Fedewa blesses them with the monstrance containing Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament on April 3. (Valaurian Waller | Detroit Catholic)
Fr. Bryan Kassa waves a sign for people going to confession on March 19 at St. Thomas Chaldean Church in West Bloomfield. (Courtesy photo)Fr. Charles Altermatt, pastor of St. Alfred Parish in Taylor, tapes pictures of his parishioners to the pews of the church as a way to remember them in his daily Mass intentions. (Facebook photo)
Volunteer Jewell Jones hands a meal to a guest at the Capuchin Soup Kitchen's Conner Street meal site in Detroit, which has stepped up to-go meal options for the city’s homeless and hungry. (Tim Hinkle | Special to Detroit Catholic)Fr. Timothy Pelc, pastor of St. Ambrose Parish in Grosse Pointe Park, blesses a family’s Easter basket with the help of a squirt gun filled with holy water on Holy Saturday, April 11. (Larry A. Peplin | Special to Detroit Catholic)Anna Pizzimenti prays the rosary while she walks her dog, Ryder. (James Silvestri | Special to Detroit Catholic)Rob and Stephanie Leonardi, members of St. Ephrem Parish in Sterling Heights, pray the prayer for spiritual communion together as a family while watching Archbishop Vigneron’s livestream Mass on Sunday, March 15. (Courtesy photo) Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron blesses the Archdiocese of Detroit from the steps of the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament as Fr. J.J. Mech, the cathedral’s rector, prays in the background. (Valaurian Waller | Detroit Catholic)
Students from Holy Family Regional School in Rochester show off their sidewalk stained-glass art. (Facebook photo)A student from St. Joseph School in Lake Orion uses a sewing machine to make masks for health care workers. (Facebook photo)
Fr. Michael Suhy, pastor of Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish in Plymouth, offers absolution to a penitent during “drive-thru confession” on Thursday, April 2. (Valaurian Waller | Detroit Catholic)Fr. Radek Zablocki, associate pastor of St. Mary Queen of Creation Parish in New Baltimore, poses with the 126 Easter baskets the parish prepared to give to those in need in the community. (Courtesy photo)Santino Visocchi, a third-grader at the Academy of the Sacred Heart in Bloomfield Hills, works with his classmates on a shared Google Doc at his in-home school station. (Courtesy photo)Movers transfer 60 beds, frames and mattresses from the now-closed St. Mary’s Retreat House in Oxford, operated by the Dominican Sisters of Peace, to an overflow facility for COVID-19 patients in Ypsilanti on March 30. (Courtesy photo)Pope Francis offers a solemn Eucharistic blessing “urbi et orbi” (to the city and the world) in the pouring rain under the promenade of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome on Friday, March 27. (CNS photo)Dolores Uryga, a resident at Lourdes Senior Community in Waterford, talks to her daughter via FaceTime on an iPad. Visitors are currently not allowed at the community because of COVID-19 concerns, but staff have taken extra measures to keep seniors connected with their families. (Photos courtesy of Lourdes Senior Community) Fr. George Kooran, OFM Cap., assistant director of the Solanus Casey Center in Detroit, prepares sandwiches for those in need at the Capuchin Soup Kitchen’s Conner Street meal site. (Tim Hinkle | Special to Detroit Catholic)Fr. Mario Amore marries Janine and Mark Weber in an intimate ceremony on Tuesday, March 17, at St. Aloysius Church in Detroit, just days before a statewide lockdown postponed all weddings in the Archdiocese of Detroit because of the COVID-19 threat. The couple originally had planned to be married at St. John’s Chapel in Plymouth with a big reception on Saturday, March 21, but changed their plans at the last minute. (Courtesy photo) Fr. Brendan McCarrick, SAC, an Irish Pallottine serving as administrator of St. Vincent Pallotti Parish in Wyandotte, anoints a man suspected of having COVID-19 at his home while wearing full protective gear. (Courtesy photo)St. Ambrose Parish in Grosse Pointe Park ties ribbons to its bushes to represent and memorialize the 2,090 people who have died as a result of COVID-19 in Michigan as of April 16. (Larry A. Peplin | Special to Detroit Catholic)Fr. Phil Ching, pastor of St. Michael the Archangel in Monroe, and Deacon Tracy Esper pray before the Blessed Sacrament before flying in an airplane with the monstrance over the vicariate on Palm Sunday, April 5. (Screengrab via Facebook)A priest (in the red truck) hears confessions in the driving snow at St. Hugo of the Hills Parish in Bloomfield Hills on April 17. (Michael Stechschulte | Detroit Catholic) Bing Eberhart, a camera operator with the Archdiocese of Detroit’s department of communications, records Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron’s Sunday Mass from the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament. (Valaurian Waller | Detroit Catholic) Auxiliary Bishop Robert Fisher prays the rosary for a livestream congregation Wednesday, April 1. Detroit’s bishops have pledged to lead the faithful in the rosary every Wednesday at 7 p.m. until the coronavirus crisis ends. (Valaurian Waller | Detroit Catholic)
Msgr. John Kasza, pastor of St. Therese of Lisieux Parish in Shelby Township, wears a mask as he prepares to donate blood March 18 at the parish. (Courtesy photo)Bro. Philip Wilhelm, OFM, cleans and sanitizes the pews at the Church of the Transfiguration Parish in Southfield. (Facebook photo)
A health care worker takes the temperature of a man outside the Pope Francis Center in downtown Detroit. The center has opened an outdoor care center for the city’s homeless, including hot meals, coffee and shower facilities. (Courtesy photo)The cafeteria is mostly empty at Most Holy Trinity School in Detroit’s Corktown neighborhood, except for a few kitchen workers preparing meals for at-risk students. (Valaurian Waller | Detroit Catholic)A man smiles as he and his son receive a free meal from the kitchen staff at Most Holy Trinity School in Detroit. Schools across the Archdiocese of Detroit are continuing to serve students who might otherwise go hungry. (Valaurian Waller | Detroit Catholic)Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron holds a palm frond on Palm Sunday, April 5, during a livestreamed liturgy from the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament. (Screengrab via Livestream)Archbishop Vigneron holds up the crucifix during the Veneration of the Cross on Good Friday, April 10. Given the health concerns associated with the coronavirus, both he and Fr. J.J. Mech reverenced the cross with a profound bow. (Valaurian Waller | Detroit Catholic)Pope Francis leads a special “urbi et orbi” blessing from St. Peter’s Square on March 27, overlooked by the historic crucifix that was credited with helping end a plague in Rome in 1522. (CNS photo)Auxiliary Bishop Robert J. Fisher holds a rosary while leading prayers from the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament. (Valaurian Waller | Detroit Catholic)A woman kneels next to her car for a blessing April 3 at St. Basil the Great Parish in Eastpointe. (Valaurian Waller | Detroit Catholic)Fr. Stephen Pullis, director of evangelization and missionary discipleship for the Archdiocese of Detroit, leads a Facebook Live session for viewers in mid-March. (Screengrab via Facebook)Beth Smith's family completes a jigsaw puzzle at their home in Independence Township. With more families quarantining at home, daily activities such as prayer, meals and games have brought them closer together. (Courtesy photo)Joann Coleman and her daughter, Sharon Pizzimenti, read passages from the Bible together at their home. (James Silvestri | Special to Detroit Catholic)The Pizzimenti family prays the rosary together at their home. Clockwise are Paul, Jacqueline, Toni, Natalie, Joann Coleman and Sharon. (James Silvestri | Special to Detroit Catholic) Doctors and nurses at DMC Huron Valley-Sinai Hospital in Commerce Township smile after receiving a catering order from The Lakes Bar and Grille, courtesy of “Help Our Healthcare Heroes,” which was started with the help of Our Lady of Refuge parishioner Chelsea Gheesling. (Courtesy photo)Mariano Jimenez washes the feet of his 4-year-old son Mariano Jr., on Holy Thursday at their home. (Courtesy photo)Parishioners wearing masks chat with Fr. Timothy Pelc, pastor of St. Ambrose Parish in Grosse Pointe Park, from their cars on Holy Saturday, April 11. (Larry A. Peplin | Special to Detroit Catholic)On Easter Sunday, Chaldean Catholics worship from their cars as priests of Mother of God Chaldean Church in Southfield, led by Bishop Francis Y. Kalabat, offer Eucharistic adoration. (Courtesy of the Chaldean Diocese of St. Thomas the Apostle)
Students at the Academy of the Sacred Heart give a “thumbs up” while remotely attending their AP History class through a Zoom video call. Across the Archdiocese of Detroit, students and teachers have adapting quickly to their new remote learning environments. (Screengrab via Zoom)
Prayer intentions are presented at the altar of the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament during the Chrism Mass with Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron on Monday, April 6. (Valaurian Waller | Detroit Catholic)Fr. Eric Fedewa, pastor of St. Basil the Great Parish in Eastpointe, blesses parishioners in their cars April 3 with the Blessed Sacrament. After the blessing, Fr. Fedewa took the monstrance and drove the city’s perimeter, invoking Christ’s protection for all of Eastpointe. (Valaurian Waller | Detroit Catholic)Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron pauses for a moment of reflection before beginning Mass at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit on March 15. (Valaurian Waller | Detroit Catholic)A cross and hopeful message for front-line health care workers are seen painted on the front door of Melissa Wierszewski’s family, parishioners at St. Thecla Parish in Clinton Township. (Courtesy photo)
