Warren — There was a new aspect to this year’s local observances of the feast of St. Anne, now that the mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary has been officially recognized as patroness of the Archdiocese of Detroit.
Although St. Anne Parish in Warren celebrated July 26 just as it has been doing in recent years, this year it had a bishop as celebrant — new Auxiliary Bishop Michael Byrnes — and a congregation more than twice as large as last year for its 8 a.m. Mass.
Among those in attendance were people like Marlene Grobbel, a St. Anne parishioner for 50 years, who said of its namesake’s new patronal status, “I, for one, always thought she should be.”
Grobbel, 72, said St. Anne, the grandmother of Christ, had taken on added meaning to her in recent years. “Now that I’m older, I pray more to St. Anne, because she’s a grandmother,” she said, adding that she has nine grandchildren of her own.
And Grobbel mentioned that her own grandparents, Louis and Barbara Schoenherr, were among the founding families of the Warren parish.
But the Mass also attracted people from outside the parish, such as Gayle Mazurkiewicz, a member of SS. Cyril & Methodius (Slovak) Parish, Sterling Heights, who had learned about the Mass from The Michigan Catholic.
“I came to participate in the joy of the archdiocese at having a special patroness we can go to who cares about us as a city and, in particular, as a people,” said Mazurkiewicz, 27, who had attended St. Anne Church as a young girl in the 1990s.
Although she acknowledged that she had been pulling for St. Joseph to be declared patron of the archdiocese, she said St. Anne “is intriguing for me, because I knew little about her, so this is an opportunity for me to attain a better appreciation of her.”
Mazurkiewicz said she had been surprised to learn just how much devotion there is to St. Anne and how important she had been to the French who founded Detroit.
“It kind of provides a spiritual camaraderie between Detroit and Quebec, and with France and anyone who has a special devotion to St. Anne,” she added.
In his homily at the Mass, Bishop Byrnes said St. Anne and St. Joachim, her husband, are examples of the “holy men and women” who were faithful to God even before hearing the Gospel.
Noting the tradition that they brought the Virgin Mary up to know God’s commandments and to embrace such virtues as honesty, justice, prudence, patience, temperance, charity and kindness, he said the couple serve as a model for parents today.
And he reminded the congregation of about 250 that such teaching is not only done through words, but also by example. “It hass been said that ‘faith is more often caught than taught.’”
He spoke some about the Church of St. Anne in Jerusalem, situated near the site of the Temple and adjacent to the Sheep Pool mentioned in the Gospels, where Christ healed a lame man.
After Mass, there was a reception in the sacristy of the church.
Bishop Bynes stayed to greet some of the congregation, and talked a bit about his experience of contemplating St. Anne while in prayer in that church, which had been built by crusaders in the 12th century.
“I contemplated on the simplicity of that church, and how that simplicity reflected the simplicity of the life she lived. It is the simplicity of an approach to life that sees what is important and doesn’t get cluttered with disturbances,” he said.
Last Sunday, July 24, another St. Anne Parish, Monroe, began celebrating St. Anne’s feast day two days early.
At St. Anne Church, in Monroe’s Detroit Beach area, they had to open up the folding doors and set up some chairs to accommodate the overflow congregation.
As in past years, the theme of Oblate Fr. Robert Mossett’s homily was family, a theme underscored by the recognition of all couples in the parish who are marking milestone wedding anniversaries and the baptism of two children.
Drawing on the day’s Gospel, with its parable of “the pearl of great price,” Fr. Mossett urged those in the congregation to “dig deeper and find the treasure buried in family life.”
After Mass, many in the congregation processed to the parish’s St. Anne shrine for additional prayers and hymns.
Asked afterwards whether St. Anne plays any special role in the spirituality of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, Fr. Mossett said, “Basically, we have the spirituality of St. Francis de Sales, which Elizabeth Stopp described as ‘inspired common sense.’ Well, grandmothers have a lot of common sense.”
Arlene Stoddard, 89, a founding member of the parish back in 1946, said praying to St. Anne was definitely a part of her prayer life.
Arnold Metdepenningen, 77, was an altar boy at the first Mass in St. Anne Church in 1947, and even before that when the parish’s first Mass was celebrated in the Detroit Beach clubhouse.
“I say the rosary daily, and I ask St. Anne for different blessings all the time,” he said.
