01/10/2022
The Detroit Catholic School Heritage Project
https://www.bishopgallagher.org/?fbclid=IwAR3sT4LXFtqV85GEVBVmcDjKixh-lGAosnTiQ2fFxHS8UctV5MVRff_afZs
“…I grew up in a Detroit Catholic culture, where your identity was your parish and your Catholic school. A Catholic church, with its grade school, and nearly always its high school, seemed to be on every Detroit street corner. The parish was the glue that held the neighborhood together. The parish complex of church, school, convent, rectory and community center was most often just a short walk from home. You saw your classmates at school, at Mass on Sundays, at football and basketball games on the weekend, and during social events at night. You didn't need fancy uniforms with your names on the back. Heck, you didn't even need your school name on the front. Everyone knew you were from St. Anthony, Visitation, St. Leo, St. Cecilia and on and on. But, deep down, our Catholic faith connected us all.
My parents' generation was born in during the Roaring 20s (when they couldn't build churches and schools fast enough), grew up during the Depression, fought in World War II and gave birth to and raised the Baby Boomers. They sent those Boomers in their thousands to Catholic schools in the city and in the suburbs of Detroit.
Then in the late 60s, things started to unravel. There were many causes. We spread out too much, vocations virtually disappeared, our communities became polarized, we began to think too much about ourselves. No doubt, the fabric of Detroit's Catholic culture has weakened and the patterns have faded. We constantly work to reclaim, rebuild and strengthen that culture, but it is a difficult task. Definitely worth the effort.
While many feel we have lost our connection to a great heritage, we have not. But those connections are fast disappearing. I am not talking about closed parishes, closed schools and vandalized buildings. I am talking about the people who were a part of those parish and school communities…” READ MORE HERE:
https://www.bishopgallagher.org/?fbclid=IwAR3sT4LXFtqV85GEVBVmcDjKixh-lGAosnTiQ2fFxHS8UctV5MVRff_afZs
The Detroit Catholic School Heritage Project
https://www.bishopgallagher.org/?fbclid=IwAR3sT4LXFtqV85GEVBVmcDjKixh-lGAosnTiQ2fFxHS8UctV5MVRff_afZs
“…I grew up in a Detroit Catholic culture, where your identity was your parish and your Catholic school. A Catholic church, with its grade school, and nearly always its high school, seemed to be on every Detroit street corner. The parish was the glue that held the neighborhood together. The parish complex of church, school, convent, rectory and community center was most often just a short walk from home. You saw your classmates at school, at Mass on Sundays, at football and basketball games on the weekend, and during social events at night. You didn't need fancy uniforms with your names on the back. Heck, you didn't even need your school name on the front. Everyone knew you were from St. Anthony, Visitation, St. Leo, St. Cecilia and on and on. But, deep down, our Catholic faith connected us all.
My parents' generation was born in during the Roaring 20s (when they couldn't build churches and schools fast enough), grew up during the Depression, fought in World War II and gave birth to and raised the Baby Boomers. They sent those Boomers in their thousands to Catholic schools in the city and in the suburbs of Detroit.
Then in the late 60s, things started to unravel. There were many causes. We spread out too much, vocations virtually disappeared, our communities became polarized, we began to think too much about ourselves. No doubt, the fabric of Detroit's Catholic culture has weakened and the patterns have faded. We constantly work to reclaim, rebuild and strengthen that culture, but it is a difficult task. Definitely worth the effort.
While many feel we have lost our connection to a great heritage, we have not. But those connections are fast disappearing. I am not talking about closed parishes, closed schools and vandalized buildings. I am talking about the people who were a part of those parish and school communities…” READ MORE HERE:
https://www.bishopgallagher.org/?fbclid=IwAR3sT4LXFtqV85GEVBVmcDjKixh-lGAosnTiQ2fFxHS8UctV5MVRff_afZs