On December 15 at 3:30 PM the Detroit Concert Choir, the 75-voice choir founded in 1987 and known for performing in Detroit historic churches, will give a concert “Home for Christmas” at the Sweetest Heart of Mary Church in Detroit.
It will be the Detroit Concert Choir’s fourth consecutive annual performance at the Sweetest Heart of Mary Church. Although the Choir has some Polish carols in its repertoire – it sings in 40 languages – this time they are not a part of the program.
But even without Polish Christmas carols, due to the beautiful venue, and the superb quality of the singing, the performance might be of interest to our readers. It is worth mentioning that the Sweetest Heart of Mary Church, in addition to its primary religious use, has been a concert venue for many years now. Among the concerts recently performed there: last year’s Christmas concert by the Lira Singers of Chicago (sponsored by the Polish Institute of Culture & Research at Orchard Lake) and the 2020 Golec uOrkiestra’s (sponsored by the Polish Mission of Orchard Lake).
The Sweetest Heart of Mary Church, on the National Historic Sites register since 1978, was dedicated on Christmas Eve 1893, and during its 130 years of serving the Polish American community went through many ups and downs. This impressive Gothic Revival church was designed by Frederick Spire and William Roans and features beautiful stained-glass windows made by the Detroit Stained Glass Works. It was built by former parishioners of St Albertus Church, led by the charismatic pastor, Father Dominik Kolasiński.
This magnificent landmark almost miraculously avoided closure in 1989, when 31 other churches in the Detroit Archdiocese were closed and sold – some were even demolished – due to the low number of parishioners. Again, it was threatened with closure in 2017 after its steeples were badly damaged by wind.
In 2013, Sweetest Heart of Mary joined with St. Josephat to form Mother of Divine Mercy Parish. This merger reflects a larger trend and the Archdiocese’s efforts to consolidate parishes during a time of dwindling church attendance and shortage of priests.
However, while other parishes have been shrinking, Mother of Divine Mercy Parish has been growing, and numbers now close to 900 families. The parish is very diverse, but Polish Americans still constitute its core. It has strong ties to the community, which is not predominantly Roman Catholic. It is also known for devotions and streaming of the Sunday mass. In addition, many historical tours come to visit the Sweetest Heart of Mary Church and last year 90 couples get married there.
In this context, performances by the Detroit Concert Choir, which draw audiences from all over Metropolitan Detroit, could be also viewed as a part of a very smart approach to the mission of preserving the church. The more that people, not only parish members, or even Polish American community members, feel a connection with the church, the more successful will be the efforts to preserve this important historical landmark.
The Sweetest Heart of Mary Church is an old, big, historical building, so the cost of maintaining it and keeping it in good shape has to be enormous. Every homeowner knows – and dreads – expenses connected with replacing such big-ticket items as the roof, windows, or furnace. In the case of the church, these can cost millions of dollars.
Earlier this year the Sweetest Heart of Mary Church started advertising its ambitious and impressive capital campaign to raise funds to renovate the stunning stained-glass windows, which – together with the church roof – are in very bad need of repair.
The preparations for this huge project were under way for at least last five years and already back in 2020 the decision was made to hire Willet Stained Glass Studios, operating out of Winona Minnesota, a very reputable company almost as old as the Sweetest Heart of Mary Church, to do the work, which will be extensive and very costly.
Altogether there are 101 windows to be renovated and the price per window ranges from $2,000 (for a small window; there are 12 of them) to $582,000, for each of the two most spectacular large windows located in the church transept, while the restoration of each of the eight windows located in the church nave will cost $132,000 per window.
Last summer the first ten windows – which had sponsors who paid for their restoration – were removed and shipped to Minnesota. They have already been returned to Detroit and are being reinstalled. Attention has now shifted to the church’s roof, which needs to be replaced (cost: $1.2 million.) It is quite unbelievable, but the church still has most of its original slate roof which is now over 130 years old. The roof replacement is also being done in stages and it is coordinated with the renovation of the stained-glass windows, so the new roof portions are above the newly renovated windows. The first quarter of the roof has been already finished.
It is truly awe-inspiring that all of the work connected with managing these immense projects is done by volunteers. So far only individuals have donated money to the projects. The volunteers working on the capital campaign simply did not have time yet to look for organizations or grant-granting institutions for help.
If you want to help the enthusiastic people of the Sweetest Heart of Mary Church in their mission to preserve one of the most beautiful churches the Polish Americans have built, your help, in any shape or form – be it by donating money or helping to find grants which the Church might be eligible to apply for – will be greatly appreciated.
Tickets for “Home for Christmas” are priced at $25 (adult), $20 (senior) and $15 (student) and are available at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/home-for-christmas-with-the-dcc-dec-15-sweetest-heart-of-mary-church-tickets-1029582327457?aff=oddtdtcreator as well as at the door before the performance. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the church, so attending the concert will be also a way of supporting this architectural and cultural gem.
Text and photos: Alina Klin
The photo of the church exterior: https://www.motherofdivinemercy.org/#home-section
For information about how to get involved in the efforts to preserve the Sweetest Heart of Mary Church: https://www.motherofdivinemercy.org/campaign
The author thanks Marianne Peggie (nee Wojdan), the Sweetest Heart of Mary operations manager for generously providing information for this text.
