Livonia— “We’ve made our memories for the first 50 years. Now, let’s start making our memories for the next 50 years.”
Indian Pallottine Fr. Theodore D’Cunha was all smiles, and rightly so, as he spoke to the overflow congregation in a Mass closing out a yearlong celebration of St. Priscilla Parish’s 50th anniversary Sunday, Oct 16. Archbishop Allen Vigneron presided, and a number of former pastors were present, along with its current pastor Fr. D’Cunha.
Founded by Fr. Frank Cushing in 1961, the Livonia parish’s 50th anniversary celebration began with a celebratory Mass in January with Auxiliary Bishop Francis Reiss.
“The first pastor, Fr. Cushing… He was the one who re-married us here in the church,” said founding parishioner Eleanor Cushing. “We were not married in the Church at first, so that’s how we ended up being here and married, just before the parish was a year old. We got married in ’62, and the parish was started in June of ’61.”
Smith, along with her husband, Alan, who died just a month ago, raised three children in the parish.
“They’re not just a community, they’re a family to me,” Smith said, “I’ve known so many of them. I don’t call them neighbors and friends. They’re family.”
At the end of Mass, Smith, along with about three dozen other founding parish members, were presented with white shawls and crucifixes from Fr. D’Cunha and Archbishop Vigneron, which had been blessed by the archbishop.
The shawls, said Fr. D’Cunha, are from Indian tradition, often given to dignitaries as a sign of warmth and affection. They were given to the women who founded the parish. The crucifixes were given to the men.
Fr. D’Cunha, who has been at the parish for nearly a year, spoke highly of the energy and sense of community at St. Priscilla.
“Here, everyone gets involved,” he said after the anniversary festivities. “In every celebration, there are so many volunteers in this parish. For every occasion we have groups taking charge and doing a lot of volunteer work. And they have a lot of concern for each other.”
|
The last several years have been eventful ones for the parish. In 2005, the community grew with the closing of nearby St. Agatha Parish in Redford Township. Many of the parish’s members followed Fr. Jim McNulty to St. Priscilla. The community grew more a few years later with the closing of St. Catherine of Siena nearby in Detroit.
For the past year, the parish has been staffed by the Indian Pallotine religious order, which also pastors three Catholic parishes inRedford Township.
The parish is host to a number of committees and organizations including a Knights of Columbus council, a Society of St. Vincent de Paul and several outreach ministries such as Gleaners and Habitat for Humanity. There is also “Sew Simple,” a ministry where parish members meet on Mondays from 1-3 p.m. to sew clothing (dresses, shorts, pants) and blankets for children in orphanages in Latin America.
These ministries are the answers to Archbishop Allen Vigneron call, who said it was “our duty to work with Jesus and to be the voice for the heart and the mind of Jesus.”
“None of us here is a spectator,” the archbishop said during his homily. “Each of us has to carry our part of that load.”
“You did not establish this parish,” Archbishop Vigneron added. “Indeed, not even Cardinal Dearden established this parish … Every cell of the Church exists as a gift from God. You exist, have existed, in this parish community through the grace of God.”
