Rector blesses site of future Holy Paws Dog Park, part of cathedral’s master plan to be more welcoming, present in community
DETROIT — Man’s best friend became man’s blessed friend during a pet blessing at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament on Oct. 6 at the parish’s soon-to-be-built dog park.
Fr. J.J. Mech, rector of the cathedral (and proud human to his dog, Annie), invited parishioners, guests and neighbors in the Boston-Edison neighborhood to the site of the soon-to-be Holy Paws Dog Park at the corner of John R and Belmont streets for a blessing of the pets and ground.
Fr. Mech went around the dog park and the 20 or so people assembled with their pets and began to bless them with holy water. Pet owners were given a St. Francis of Assisi — the patron saint of animals — prayer card and tickets to a raffle drawing for gift cards to Petco.
The Doggie Social food truck was present, selling treats and toys, as dogs barked in approval as Fr. Mech gave the blessing.
“Let’s ask God for His blessing on this beautiful day as we work to contribute to building up the kingdom of God across the neighborhood, across the city, across the archdiocese,” Fr. Mech said. “We want to build up our neighborhood, to have others come join us, to bring themselves and their pets together in a spirit of fellowship, because it is Jesus who showed us the way of bringing people together.
“We ask God, who created us and placed us on this earth to be stewards of all living things. Think about the little ones you have brought here today, the joy they bring you, a joy that God wants all of us to have when we care for His creation.”
Holy Paws Dog Park is the cathedral parish's newest initiative to respond to the needs of the North End community. The Cathedral Arts Apartments across the street from the cathedral is set to welcome residents this month, and plans are being considered to reconfigure the church grounds to be more welcoming and less “fortress-like,” Fr. Mech said.
“If you’ve never been to the cathedral, you’re all welcome to come here anytime,” said Fr. Mech, who has been cathedral rector since 2015. “A few years ago, they put a fence all around, and they made it kind of fortress-like, and that is not what we’re about; we want to be inviting.”
Fr. Mech, who often is seen with Annie strolling the cathedral grounds or going for a walk, said the dog park would be a welcomed addition to the entire neighborhood.
When Detroit Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron assigned Fr. Mech to become the cathedral rector, the then-pastor of St. Anastasia Parish in Troy first thought of Annie.
“When the archbishop said, 'I want you to become the rector of the cathedral,' my mind was going 400 miles a minute, and I thought, 'There is no backyard; what will I do?'” Fr. Mech said. “The first words out of my mouth were, ‘You know I have a dog, don’t you?’ So he literally put it in a backyard. We have an archbishop who lives on the corner here who is a real supporter of what we are about because he wants to draw everyone in.”
The dog park is situated on one of 10 small pieces of property the cathedral owns around the main parish grounds. The cathedral has also started a pollinator-habitat park across John R, and in the future, hopes to examine the potential of the currently unused and underkept gymnasium that served Cathedral High School in Detroit before the school closed in 1970, said Mark Garascia, project manager at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament.
“The cathedral owns several properties like this in the area, vacant residential lots that have been empty for years,” Garascia told Detroit Catholic. “The thought was to transform these vacant lots for something good for the neighborhood. Across the street on Trowbridge and John R is another park that we are developing at the same time, a pollinator-habitat park, which we think will be a great benefit to the neighborhood.”
Garascia said dog parks are the fastest-growing amenities in the nation, with 68% of American households having at least one dog. Dog parks serve as a place not only for dogs to run around and play, but also a third space for dog owners to meet one another, congregate and socialize, something the cathedral parish wants to encourage.
“The cathedral has a master plan that was developed just around 2020 as a result of Synod 16 and the letter from Archbishop Vigneron, Unleash the Gospel,” Garascia said. “This master plan was developed to fulfill Fr. J.J.’s mission, charged by the archbishop, to transform the cathedral into an apostolic center for arts and culture. Part of that mission is to be a top destination to encounter the arts, to be a good neighbor and to revitalize the North End community.”
Construction of the dog park is expected to be completed by spring 2025 and is based on Rose Dog Park, located next to Scrips Park on Trumbull and Grand River, with a simple black perimeter fence, a divider to create separate spaces for big dogs and small dogs, benches and wastebaskets. The park will keep its natural grass surface.
“We have a lot across the street on East Boston and John R that is one of our properties, and it happens to be a fenced-in lot,” Garascia said. “We got the idea from (Rose Dog Park) because saw a lot of people would let their dogs run around in that space because their own properties don’t have a fenced-in area. So, we got together with the community to get some feedback and asked what they wanted from this space.”
Mary Zatina, a 34-year Boston-Edison neighborhood resident and dog owner, said she and her husband thanked the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament and the Archdiocese of Detroit for reaching out to pet owners with the planning and establishment of the dog park.
“You’ve invited us to engage with the church in this way,” Zatina said. “We may not be religious or grumble when the church doesn’t engage with the community, but let me tell you, there are people in the Church who want to connect to the community and reach out, especially to us who see the spirit of God in our pets.”
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