My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

I am grateful for your fervent prayers during this first year of culture change in the Archdiocese of Detroit following our 2016 archdiocesan synod. We are no longer waiting in the Upper Room. The Holy Spirit is at work among us. He is alive in our archdiocese leading us on a transformative journey to become a joyful Church on mission.

As we mark the one-year anniversary of the release of Unleash the Gospel, my pastoral letter on the New Evangelization, I offer the following as an annual report, of sorts. In this first year of missionary transformation, I can already clearly see the green shoots of renewal taking hold in our archdiocese. Our efforts to Unleash the Gospel are much like a flywheel. Coming from a dead stop, at first it takes enormous effort and toil to put the flywheel into motion. If we all continue to push together in the same direction, the flywheel steadily gains momentum. Eventually, there’s a breakthrough! Then the flywheel requires practically zero effort and will almost propel itself under its own inertia. My prayer is that our efforts will follow a similar pattern. We have much work ahead, but over time, the effort will lessen as we build a sustainable renewal in the Archdiocese of Detroit.

I thank all of the parishes, schools and faithful within the archdiocese, as well as those praying with and for Unleash the Gospel, both near and far.

May almighty God bless you and those you love.

Fraternally yours in Christ,
Allen H. Vigneron
The Most Reverend Allen H. Vigneron Archbishop of Detroit