Catholic church in Detroit becomes mosque (did we not see this coming!)

Closed Cafeteria ^ | October 29, 2006 | Gerald Augustinus

[NYer]

The neighborhood already is predominantly Islamic. From Detroit News:
The Islamic Center of North Detroit has a purchase agreement with the Archdiocese of Detroit for Our Lady Help of Christians' five buildings, which tentatively are planned to be used for an Islamic community center, larger worship space and possibly a school.

The conversion of the Detroit buildings, on the Hamtramck border, from church to Muslim center underscores how much the community's makeup has changed. Long-entrenched Catholic churches have had to downsize as their congregations moved to the suburbs and other immigrant groups moved in.

Hamtramck and nearby Detroit neighborhoods flourished in the early 1900s when automotive jobs attracted Eastern European immigrants, primarily from Poland. The Poles brought their culture, foods and Catholic faith to Hamtramck and soon Polish-themed restaurants, markets and churches sprung up in the area.

But in a trend familiar to immigrants in scores of other neighborhoods across the country, the Poles eventually started moving to the suburbs, especially to Sterling Heights and Warren.
...

The pending sale of the building to a mosque is a first for the Archdiocese of Detroit, though it has already leased one of its properties to Muslims. Officials declined to say where.

Meanwhile, the neighborhood has evolved from a predominantly Polish one to a neighborhood with many immigrants hailing from Bangladesh, a mostly Muslim nation near India, and India.

Census data shows the neighborhood's Asian population exploded from 249 people with Asian ancestry in 1990 to 421 Bangladeshi and 530 Indian residents in 2000. In contrast, the Polish population slid from 878 to 394 in the same period.

Among the new residents is Mohammed Moshon, who is from Bangladesh. He is looking forward to the expansion of his mosque, where upward of 300 parishioners attend Friday prayers. He's especially glad there might be a school that could be an alternative to Detroit Public Schools for his two sons and daughter.

"It's going to be good for the neighborhood," said Moshon, "because (the mosque) is going to take care of the community."

John Gorman, who has lived across the street from the Catholic complex for 13 years, is glad the buildings vacated by the Catholics won't stand empty.

"We've got enough abandoned buildings in the world," said Gorman, who is not a member of the church or mosque. "We don't need any more."

Gorman has watched his neighborhood change over the years and says the Bangladeshis are nice, quiet neighbors who have brought the laughter of children back to the aging neighborhood. But not everyone is pleased.

Watching the mosque take down the crosses, Polish icons and other Catholic symbols is going to be difficult for Bart Nowak.

"They are going to destroy the place," said Nowak, who moved to the neighborhood from Poland with his parents in 1999.

[ELS]

Who is the bishop? (or archbishop?)

Maida

[NYer]

God bless your priest and parish!

Thank you so much for your prayers!!!

As you can imagine, whenever the State is involved, things get quite complicated but ... these are matching, reimbursable grants designated for a specific purpose ... the restoration of the stained glass windows and exterior masonry. They will boost the timeline for the future Dedication and Consecration of this Church as a Catholic Church. The state will not fund anything of a religious nature. Mercifully, the stained glass windows are considered an 'art form' and the historian who examined them labeled them an 'important collection', thus qualifying them for the grant award.

We still have a long way to go but this is a major injection of monies. Your prayers are still needed.

[NYer]

Congratulations! You were my all-night prayer intention more than once. One of those saints with a lot of kids was obviously listening ... maybe a Lebanese mother we won't hear about until we get to Heaven :-).

Thank you so much!!

The Lebanese love children and produce some absolutely beautiful offspring. They (the Lebanese) are quite religious and bring their children not only to Mass but also to devotions, regardless of how young they are. Father has thanked our patroness, St. Ann, for interceding on our behalf.

[livius]

Well, it's true that it's all about money. Even so, I wish they had for once thought about the symbolic implications of what they were doing. Of course, in Maida's diocese, it seems like awhile since anybody in the clergy has thought about the implications of anything they did.

[mckenzie7]

I'm with you on that. Whether they steal them or pay for them, it is still a satanic cult!

[mckenzie7]

That is an excellent response!

[Tax-chick]

I struggle with taking the young children to Mass, not to mention optional devotions. People can be so cranky about babies and preschoolers, and right now, we have to take James to the bathroom every half hour, Or Else. I took Anoreth and Vlad to a Greek Orthodox Lenten devotion this year, and I have to say they were very polite about Vlad's rather noisy grumps. (He's not as bad now.)

During Mass for one of the Marian holidays last year, Patrick Zotted Father Hawker with a beeber-like device; and Bill, who was serving at the altar, turned puce and hyperventilated; and Tom fell into hysterics, and the whole congregation had to sit down while Father recovered himself. People just aren't used to kids anymore!

[Maeve]

I'm sorry you've encountered that with people uncomfortable with your children. But it is there own fault for rejecting Humanae Vitae. You take those children with you and when someone fusses, ask them, "So where are your kids?"

I'm sorry, but I'm just an in your face Irish redhead who obviously belongs on the wrong side of the tracks.

[PghBaldy]

I assume they will just do their terrorism in other cities.

[Tax-chick]

One reason we're in our present parish, liturgically flighty as it is, is that they've generally been so positive about our family. The older people, who often had large families themselves, are especially kind. In the spring, after Vlad was born, an old gentleman I only knew by sight put an envelope in my pocket after a holy day Mass (Annunciation, I guess), and when I got home, I found it was a check for $500.

I hope to set an example for other couples who are afraid of having children. Sometimes I wish I could say, "What do you mean, you can't afford more than two children? I know what you paid for your house!" but my mother would teleport over here and whomp me upside the head with a frying pan!

(p.s., I do miss your mother here - rather like mine, if Old Tax-lady had been Catholic!)

[Tax-chick]

Who let the Muslims in?

Uh, that would be the United States Congress. Please let them know how you feel about it when you vote.

[F.J. Mitchell]

Ain't that the truth. The money from the sale of the church to Muslims, is reminiscent of the 30 pieces of silver paid to Judas, multiplied by many times over.

[Campion]

I struggle with taking the young children to Mass, not to mention optional devotions. ... People just aren't used to kids anymore!

It feels really strange when we travel, and go to Mass where there aren't scads (or sometimes any) little kids around. Our regular parish seems to have concentrated all of the serious Catholics in Nashville. Most of them have a least one baby, and practically every family has multiple kids. It doesn't sound or feel like "church" anymore without lots of kids around.

(We went to lunch with another family after church today ... we said, "We're the 'Campion' party, we have a reservation for a party of 13." And that's just two families, not 4! If we'd taken another family from the same parish we know, we could have asked for "a table for 24" ... oh, except their eldest son is at college and their youngest is too tiny to sit at the table, so I guess it would have been just 22. :-))

[Tax-chick]

There's a boom of some kind in our parish, because the RE program has doubled in size since we moved here. People are having babies all over the subdivision, too.

[Mrs Ivan]

Did you see this one?

[NewCenturions]

""What do you mean, you can't afford more than two children?"

LOL! When I was growing up, I thought 7 kids was a MEDIUM-sized family! In our parish, many families had more than 10 kids. And it was normal.

[Tax-chick]

I grew up around mostly small families, so I understand people's being a bit shocked at our eight - my parents are rather stuned, too :-).

I know there are lots of reasons why people might have only a couple of children, and it's none of my business unless they make it my business, by expecting me to believe in the "can't afford more" line! Do they think we're Rockefellers, or something?

[incredulous joe]

The older, traditional structures could possibly be deconstructed and shipped to replace some of the hideous Catholic architechture begotten in the 70's.