DETROIT — As 2024 comes to a close, Detroit Catholic would like to thank our readers for supporting Catholic journalism for another year in the Archdiocese of Detroit.
As we do every year, we strive to bring you the very best in local Catholic news, covering the parishes, schools, ministries and people in our communities who make up the body of Christ in southeast Michigan.
Over the past year, we’ve covered important news and events and highlighted inspiring individuals whose lives of faith serve as a model for our own journeys. From the National Eucharistic Congress to the NFL Draft in downtown Detroit, 2024 was a year in which public displays of faith took center stage. It was also a year of revival and development, with new projects and acts of charity leading the way toward a brighter future.
Our end-of-year retrospective is one of our favorite articles to write, because it allows us to reflect upon the blessings God has bestowed in the prior year and the hope He promises in the next.
Here are Detroit Catholic’s top 10 stories of 2024. Thanks for reading, and we look forward to serving you again in the new year.
10. Pope Francis Center set to open facility that will be a ‘game changer’ for homeless
In May, the Pope Francis Center — a Jesuit-run ministry that serves as a lifeline for Detroit’s homeless residents — finished construction on a $30 million facility its leaders say will dramatically change the conversation around homelessness, not just in Detroit, but nationwide.
The 40-unit bridge housing facility on Detroit’s west side aims to help residents transition from the streets to temporary housing to permanent stability through a combination of housing assistance and wrap-around services such as job skill training, mental health resources and substance abuse treatment. Fr. Tim McCabe, SJ, executive director of the Pope Francis Center, said the facility was the result of a comprehensive study of best practices and programs helping the homeless in about a dozen cities, gathering “everything we need to make people successful in one spot.”
9. At Catholic Central, a trend emerges: More students are choosing to become Catholic
In 2018, a student at Detroit Catholic Central High School in Novi approached his religion teacher with a desire to become Catholic and receive the sacraments. And from there, an idea was born.
After first receiving permission from Detroit Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron to begin an adapted sacramental prep program using the Order of Christian Initiation of Teens (OCIT), a variation of the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (OCIA), more than 50 Shamrock students have become Catholic or completed their missing sacraments, with another 18 prepared to be fully initiated this spring. For the past six years, this unique initiative at Catholic Central has allowed interested students the opportunity to study the faith, pray and journey together — all in the comfort of their own school.
8. Detroit-area Catholics find ways to assist with Hurricane Helene relief efforts
Michigan residents don’t frequently experience natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, droughts and wildfires. But when such calamities strike the rest of the country, Detroit-area Catholics can’t be accused of resting on their heels.
After Hurricane Helene struck the southeastern United States in September as a Category 4 storm, killing more than 220 people and leaving thousands homeless through flooding, high winds and storm surge, students and faculty at Shrine Grade School in Royal Oak and across the Archdiocese of Detroit quickly banded together to raise much-needed supplies, funds and manpower to help in the crisis. With the blessing of Fr. John Bettin, rector of the National Shrine of the Little Flower Basilica, Shrine principal Scott Wisniewski and religion teacher John LaCroix drove a U-Haul loaded with food, clothing, blankets and supplies for hurricane victims more than 10 hours from Royal Oak to Johnsonville, Tenn.
7. Archbishop blesses new Heart of Christ Clinic in former convent of Ste. Anne
In January, a long-held vision was brought to fruition when Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron blessed a new pro-life medical clinic for mothers and children that will serve as a beacon of hope in southwest Detroit. The Heart of Christ Clinic, located in a former convent at the Basilica of Ste. Anne, provides a wide range of women’s health services, pre- and postnatal care, and comprehensive family medical services at low cost for families in need.
Born out of a desire to serve more women and children in Detroit facing hardship, the clinic is the result of a yearslong collaboration involving many Detroit-area sponsors, including the Knights of Columbus, Trinity Health, Ascension Health, the Order of Malta, Catholic Charities of Southeast Michigan, the Christ Medicus Foundation, Mother and Unborn Baby Care and the Basilica of Ste. Anne.
6. This ‘little white chapel’ on the side of the road in White Lake has an amazing history
When you first drive by it, it doesn’t seem like much. Nestled amidst the tress and gravestones in a roadside cemetery off Union Lake Road in White Lake sits a small, unassuming white building with a simple white cross. But the history behind the “little white chapel” of St. Patrick Parish is almost as old as the diocese itself.
Built in 1840, St. Patrick’s Chapel is believed to be the oldest still-standing original Catholic edifice in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula, a testament to the craftsmanship of the Irish Catholic pilgrims who settled in White Lake in the early 19th century. For the past several years, St. Patrick Parish has begun using the chapel — complete with worn wooden benches for pews and a simple wooden altar rail — for semi-annual liturgies on Memorial Day and Labor Day, allowing parishioners and interested Catholic history buffs to take a step back in time.
5. Archbishop dedicates historic ‘Journey with the Saints’ pilgrimage at cathedral
As part of a unique project to turn Detroit’s mother church into an “apostolic center for arts and culture,” Archbishop Vigneron presided Feb. 8 over the historic dedication of a dozen statues and relics of Christ’s apostles at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament. The “Journey with the Saints” installation, part of a new pilgrimage experience at the cathedral, includes one of the only exhibits in North America featuring permanently accessible first-class relics of the men who walked with Christ.
The most significant renovation to Detroit’s cathedral in nearly three decades, the installation features life-size wooden statues of 12 apostles and two angels and a self-guided pilgrimage, in which visitors are invited to write and leave prayer intentions with particular saints. “(Pilgrims) are going to walk away transformed, different, and they are going to enter through prayer," Fr. J.J. Mech, rector of the cathedral, said.
4. Catholic evangelists ask NFL fans visiting Detroit to make Jesus their No. 1 pick
The 2024 NFL Draft — hosted in Detroit for the first time in April — shined a rare spotlight on the Motor City’s ascension over the past decade. As hundreds of thousands of football fans flocked to downtown Detroit's Cadillac Square, Catholic evangelists from around the city seized the opportunity to shine a spotlight of their own — on the love of Jesus.
Volunteers from local parishes and St. Paul Street Evangelization handed out rosaries, holy cards and holy water to fans decked out in their favorite team’s gear, invited fans to Mass and asked for prayer requests. “Days like today have a lot of foot traffic, bringing people from all over to watch their preferred sport. Sometimes that’s the perfect time for people to meet Jesus and tell them about his love for them,” Michael Miller of St. Paul Street Evangelization told Detroit Catholic.
3. Church must extend love, truth to those with gender confusion, archbishop says
Those who experience the struggle and pain of gender confusion are near to Christ’s heart, and thus near to the heart of the Church, which out of compassion reaches out to offer Christ’s perfect love, truth and wholeness for them, Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron said in a new pastoral letter, released Feb. 26.
In a new teaching document, “The Good News About God’s Plan: A Pastoral Letter on the Challenges of Gender Identity,” the archbishop addressed the sensitive topic of gender confusion, presenting the Church’s wisdom and seeking to accompany families, parishes and schools as they offer pastoral care in “clarity and charity” to those struggling with their God-given identity. The pastoral letter, released Feb. 26, is the fifth of the archbishop’s episcopate and the first major letter since "Unleash the Gospel" in 2017, which was a response to the Archdiocese of Detroit’s historic Synod 16.
2. Local Catholics return from National Eucharistic Congress inspired, convicted
In July, the culmination of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ three-year National Eucharistic Revival reached its pinnacle as tens of thousands attended the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis. More than 300 Catholics from the Archdiocese of Detroit joined pilgrims from around the country at Lucas Oil Stadium to proclaim and testify to Jesus’ powerful and life-changing presence in the holy Eucharist.
The first National Eucharistic Congress in more than 80 years was preceded locally by four regional Eucharistic congresses in the Archdiocese of Detroit, a walking pilgrimage from Monroe to Detroit, and the I AM HERE campaign, which collected and shared real stories from Catholics in southeast Michigan and beyond testifying to the overwhelming love of God through the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.
1. From death to life: Trent Vecchiarino’s beautiful, broken journey to the Catholic faith
Sometimes the hardest stories to tell are the most important. And Trent Vecchiarino’s difficult journey home to the Catholic faith was no doubt a hard one to tell.
Vecchiarino, was baptized as a 21-year-old in March during the Easter Vigil at St. Mary Parish in Monroe. In a powerful story he shared with Detroit Catholic, Vecchiarino told of his broken childhood marred by drugs, abuse, violence, despair and suicide attempts, including a two-year prison sentence he served as a teenager. While incarcerated, Vecchiarino was introduced to the Gospel by a Protestant pastor, beginning a yearslong search for the love, truth and wholeness that ultimately led to a life-changing encounter with Jesus through the Catholic faith. Vecchiarino’s story is anything but straightforward, but his raw, emotional and often-winding journey reminds us of the mysterious ways God moves and the overwhelming superabundance of His grace.
We hope you’ve enjoyed Detroit Catholic’s coverage in 2024. We look forward to serving you next year. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
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