Archbishop 'baptizes' new chapel at St. Mary School, telling students it's a 'symbol of what's special' about Catholic education
MOUNT CLEMENS — Students, staff and families joined Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron the morning of Tuesday, April 16, to celebrate the inaugural Mass in St. Mary Catholic School’s new Our Lady of the Annunciation Chapel, a sacred place Fr. John Maksym hopes will be “the very center and heart of the school.”
Archbishop Vigneron was joined in celebrating Mass and blessing the new chapel with holy water by Fr. Maksym and other priests in solidum of the Central Macomb 1 Family of Parishes, which includes St. Peter Parish in Mount Clemens, the sponsoring parish for St. Mary School.
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Other parishes in the family include San Francisco in Clinton Township, St. Hubert in Harrison Township and St. Louis in Clinton Township.
“What we’ve done to bless this chapel is to baptize it,” Archbishop Vigneron said in his homily to the second and eighth-grade students in attendance at the Mass. “You heard me say the prayers over the water so that we ask God that, through the sprinkling of this water, we’re to remember that we are baptized by water and the Holy Spirit, and we use that same water to bless this building.”
Planning for the new chapel began in 2022, when Fr. Maksym became concerned about the dangerous walk all 511 students of St. Mary School had to make to cross Gratiot Avenue to attend Mass at St. Peter. Seeking to enhance the school's Catholic identity, he began to discuss the prospect with St. Peter parishioners.
“When I got here three years ago, I noticed that the school wasn’t quite as Catholic as I wanted it to be,” Fr. Maksym explained to Detroit Catholic. “(I wanted ) kids understanding who Christ is, understand their relationship with God, establishing a real friendship with God — and my faculty as well — and having them practice their faith. And when you bring in this kind of chapel with the beautiful artifacts we were able to find from other parishes, it really makes a huge difference in the daily lives of children and teachers.”
Fr. Maksym recalled the chapel at his own elementary school, the Academy of the Sacred Heart in Grosse Pointe, and the impact it had on his 5-year-old self.
“I remember walking into that chapel as a Montessori student and seeing its beauty and majesty,” Fr. Maksym said. "That never left me, and it is one of the reasons I am a priest.”
The Our Lady of the Annunciation Chapel, formerly the school’s gymnasium, became a reality through the generosity of several donors. Fr. Maksym said Sr. Esther Mary Nickel, RSM, director of sacred worship for the Archdiocese of Detroit, helped him acquire artifacts and pieces from closed churches throughout the archdiocese and repurpose them for the school chapel.
For instance, the wooden pews came from the Chapel of the Little Flower next to the old St. Patrick’s High School in Detroit, and the midcentury modern lights came from St. Stanislaus Kostka in Wyandotte, as did the restored baldacchino behind the altar, among other items.
The chapel altar is from St. Peter, a true reminder that St. Mary’s is the parish's school, Fr. Maksym said. A benefactor purchased a new Italian marble altar for the parish.
The chapel is completed with stained-glass windows depicting the decades of the rosary, three-dimensional Stations of the Cross and numerous paintings of Our Lady.
This imagery is important for children as they grow in friendship with the Lord, Fr. Maksym explained.
“Children look at images such as the beautiful Stations of the Cross we ordered from Italy, and they relate to God in a different way,” Fr. Maksym said. “You have to present Him to them in ways they can comprehend and enjoy, and the majesty of this chapel … grabs children. That’s what I want it to be for them — this safe harbor where they can find Christ.”
The chapel is not large enough for an all-school Mass; however, Mass will be held twice a week to give every class an opportunity to attend. Fr. Makysm said confession will be available and Eucharistic adoration will take place once a month.
Archbishop Vigneron said the baptismal blessing of the chapel transforms the school building. While it has always been a place of learning, the presence of the Eucharist adds a whole new dimension to the gift of education.
“This chapel is a symbol of what’s special about the way we in the Church go about education,” Archbishop Vigneron explained. “This doesn’t mean we have some special kind of algebra to teach, but we teach algebra in a very special kind of way. That's what it means to come to a Catholic school; yes, algebra is algebra, but we know that algebra works because God is all wise and God has made the world to be ordered.”
Everything that excites us when we learn, whether it be algebra or simply the alphabet, is a manifestation of God, Archbishop Vigneron added.
“When we bless this chapel, we’re making the statement that we are preparing you for a life of serving Jesus Christ to the best of your ability,” Archbishop Vigneron said. “We understand the blessing of this chapel to mean that you are sent out into the world from St. Mary’s School to be agents of the new creation and to spread the kingdom of Christ wherever you go. And that’s why we believe that your education is so important: because of our faith in Jesus Christ.”
With the chapel as the new center of the school, Fr. Maksym hopes to see the school and all those who pass through it be transformed.
“I want it to be the very center and heart of the school so that not only is it used for liturgy but also for class purposes,” Fr. Maksym said. “I am so pleased that I have the privilege on a daily basis to take care of my most important parishioners — my school students.”
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