Catholics across southeast Michigan are bracing for major changes as part of a restructuring process within the archdiocese of Detroit.
New models show at least 58 Catholic churches in southeast Michigan might no longer host weekend Mass. This comes as part of a broader consolidation effort that will group most churches into "pastorates" with nearby or similar churches. The pastorates will share a single pastor and usually one or more associate pastors. After that grouping is decided, some churches will merge or close.
The Reverend Mario Amore is the executive director of parish renewal for the archdiocese. He said a 40% drop in Mass attendance, $94 million in unfunded building costs, and fewer men entering the priesthood have made the restructuring necessary.
“We know that this is very difficult, and it's not something that we want to be doing,” Amore said. “We are not a business, but we do live in the world, and we are subject to all of those things, many times, that businesses are subjected to. We have to be good stewards of our resources.”
As part of the restructuring, the diocese has been split into 15 planning areas. For each area, the archdiocese has proposed several draft models with different pastorate groupings, and different churches slated to stop hosting weekend masses.
The archdiocese is in the process of holding a public listening session at each parish in the diocese to solicit feedback on the various options.
“We're trying to be as attentive as we can to the needs of the diocese, and we know that at the diocesan level there are particular nuances to each community that we don't know, and that we have to be open to to hearing,” Amore said.
“You feel like you are in somebody else’s house.”
Frank Nemecek attends Saints Peter and Paul Church on the west side of Detroit. Two out of three models for his planning area have the church slated to stop offering weekend Mass. He is concerned for some of the older members of his parish, who he said benefit from the Polish-language Mass the Church offers — some of the only of their kind in the area.
“I would be very disappointed,” Nemecek said. “This is a place that has been part of my life for so long. On a personal, emotional level, there would be a certain amount of sadness to losing that.”
According to Amore, buildings will be closed as a result of the process, but the specifics have not yet been determined. The final grouping of pastorates will influence which buildings may be closed, used for weekday or special occasion Mass, or repurposed for things like religious education or community outreach.
“We'll be able to start the next conversation to say, ‘Okay, what does that mean for these buildings that no longer have weekend masses?’" Amore said. “Will they continually be used for the other things, or do we need to look at the next step in perhaps closure, or what might those alternative uses look like?”
While the restructuring is the most comprehensive consolidation within the archdiocese since 1989, the same pressures that prompted it have already closed several parishes across the Archdiocese.
Jeff Stawasz’s lifelong Church, St. Christopher, closed its doors in January due to financial constraints and dwindling attendance. Stawasz said he had attended the Detroit Church since he was an infant.
“The Church was our everything,” Stawasz said. “It was our identity. When people asked ‘where do you live?” you would tell them your parish.”
Stawasz is worried for the other Catholics who will lose their places of worship. He said when trying to move to a new Church, “You feel like you are in somebody else’s house,” and he worries that some people might give up going to Mass altogether.
"There's going to be a lot of tears shed, a lot of grief, a lot of bitterness,” Stawasz said. “I pray it doesn’t happen, but I know we are going to lose a lot of Catholics, at least going to Church. They are going to throw in the towel and say enough is enough.”
“What is the plan afterwards to bring people back to the faith?”
Following decades of steady decline, many dioceses nationwide are reporting significant jumps in Sunday Mass attendance. This leaves Nemecek wondering why the same doesn't seem to be true in metro Detroit.
“We can move which churches are open all the time, but if we don't look at those underlying issues, then we are set to come back in another couple of years and do another restructuring," Nemecek said.
Ryan Dolley attends Church of the Holy Spirit in Highland, Michigan. He said the surge in popular Catholic voices online and increase in Gen Z men joining the faith are proof Catholicism can offer young people community answers in an increasingly individualistic culture — and that churches should be taking advantage of that to draw in new parishioners.
“The number of adults entering the Catholic Church is skyrocketing right now. I don't get the sense that the Church in general, or the Archdiocese of Detroit really knows why,” Dolley said. “If you go to any local Catholic parish, you may see that kind of energy and new life, or you may not.”
While there are about 900,000 Catholics in the archdiocese, only about 150,000 attend Church regularly. Dolley grew up Catholic, but became an atheist as a young man. He returned to the Church about three years ago. He said he wants to see a widespread effort from the archdiocese to reach lapsed Catholics.
“Restructuring is painful. I recognize we have to do it. What I have seen less of from them is like, okay, then what? What is the plan afterwards to bring people back to the faith?”
