Engle Article

by Diana Paiz Engle

If you haven't visited Ste. Anne de Detroit Catholic Church, you should. It is an architectural masterpiece of a vintage rarely seen in Michigan. The Neo-Gothic 1886 building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

But the heart of a parish is not found in its brick-and-mortar structure. Rather, the heart of a parish is its people. Ste. Anne is no exception.

The heart of Ste. Anne has continued beating for 299 years in a devout, committed-and changing-community. Since the early decades of the twentieth century, when Mexicans and Mexican Americans first came to Detroit, the parish has been home to an increasingly Hispanic faith community.

The geographic community surrounding Ste. Anne has faced many challenges-urban renewal, crime and poverty. But through it all, parishioners have found spiritual strength at Ste. Anne and have made the church a center for community development and enrichment.

If the church wasn't here ... this area would dry up," parishioner Cristina Huizar told The Detroit News earlier this year.

Father Robert Duggan, pastor of Ste. Anne since 1990, agrees. "if Ste. Anne had not been here through the years, this would be an industrial area," he says of his church's neighborhood in the southwest Detroit community known as Mexicantown. "Ste. Anne has stayed and it's kept people here."

Ste. Anne is involved in the community and the community is involved in Ste. Anne. Father Duggan sits on the board of several neighborhood associations, which, like the Bagley Housing Association, has Ste. Anne parishioners on its board, Cooperation among these groups has resulted in a twenty-million-dollar infusion for community development during the past five years. Among its projects is Rio Vista, a new senior citizen apartment building slated to open next summer. And for the first time in recent memory, newly constructed single-family housing is available in the area. "For many, this is the first time they've had an opportunity to own a home," says Father Duggan.

A number of programs at the church focus on restoring dignity to young people. GRACE (Gang Retirement and Education/ Employment) has been instrumental in helping local youth remove themselves from the trap of drugs and violence. Next year, Ste. Anne will host Ser Casa Academy, a Wayne County charter high school that serves the community's most at-risk children. Some of the students are parishioners who will be the first in their families to graduate from high school.

The church also serves as a cultural and recreational center for the local community. Individuals and families participate in activities as diverse as Mexican folk dancing and tae kwon do. How does Ste. Anne-a parish of 850 families-offer so many programs? "We're not alone," says Father Duggan. "A lot of people get involved." The parish needs the involvement of even more people as it tackles the restoration of its six-building historic complex. The Gabriel Richard Historical Society hopes to raise the ten million dollars needed to restore Ste. Anne's church, chapel, rectory, social hall, school and former convent.

So strong is the spirit of Ste. Anne's faith community that people living in neighboring counties drive into southwest Detroit to attend Mass and other parish functions. Macomb County resident Connie Meade says she maintains her lifelong membership at the nation's second-oldest continually operating parish because of “the sense of community and the warmth that I feel at Ste. Anne." The recent recipient of an Archdiocese of Detroit Juan Diego Award credits the "remarkable efforts" of parishioners and pastors for "really trying to keep life in that area. Ste. Anne has been through some hard times," Meade says, "but the community still thrives."

Father Duggan extends a warm welcome to people who are discovering Ste. Anne as a result of an interest in Detroit's tricentennial. And he offers a guarantee. "In a place where people have been praying for one hundred years and more, something remains. People don't go away empty.”