Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2009 / Cardinal Maida led through challenges, developments
Cardinal Maida led through challenges, developments
by Robert Delaney of The Michigan Catholic
Published January 30, 2009
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Larry A. Peplin | The Michigan Catholic
Cardinal Adam Maida discusses Protecting God’s Children, the archdiocesan response to the clergy sex abuse crisis, during a February 2004 press conference. |
Detroit — For 18 1/2 years Cardinal Adam Maida led the Archdiocese of Detroit as it faced the challenges common to Catholic dioceses in the United States, as well as additional problems caused by a sinking local economy.
He oversaw initiatives that will influence the archdiocese's course of development for years to come, solidified the position of the archdiocesan seminary as a center for clergy and lay education, and implemented a plan to minister to the growing number of Hispanic Catholics.
The cardinal brought area religious leaders together for dialogue or cooperation in facing various issues over the years, most recently to urge federal government action to stabilize the domestic automobile industry. And he sought to help the people of the archdiocese cope with the economic and financial crisis through his December 2008 pastoral letter, "Christ Our Hope."
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Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Nicholas of Detroit receives relics of St. Nicholas from Cardinal Adam Maida in December 2001. |
In the area of public policy, Cardinal Maida also saw that the Church's voice was heard on a number of ballot issues during his time, through his service as chairman of the Lansing-based Michigan Catholic Conference, the public policy voice of all seven Michigan dioceses.
Some of those efforts met with success, such as opposition to assisted suicide and partial-birth abortion, while others – such as support for school vouchers, and opposition to ending affirmative action or embryonic stem-cell research – did not. Praise for Cardinal Maida's leadership and accomplishments during his time in Detroit were forthcoming from those who worked with him.
"For nearly two decades Cardinal Maida has shepherded the Michigan Church's public policy voice with love for all human life by providing sterling leadership, insightful guidance and providential wisdom on many critically important issues of the day," said Sr. Monica Kostielney, RSM, president and CEO of the Michigan Catholic Conference.
She said the cardinal "leaves a legacy of kindness and strong public policy advocacy for the disenfranchised, the voiceless and the unborn populations of our state."
Michael Timmis, a prominent Detroit-area businessman and chairman of the Prison Fellowship ministry, said it was a real mark of Cardinal Maida's ministry that he reached out to the whole community in southeast Michigan. "No one has done more than he has to bring Christians, Jews and Muslims together," said Timmis, a member of St. Paul on the Lake Parish in Grosse Pointe Farms.
He expressed special appreciation to Cardinal Maida for his support of Prison Fellowship and for the Catholic men's movement, not only locally but as ecclesial adviser to the National Fellowship of Catholic Men. And Timmis predicted the cardinal will "continue to be a great presence in the Church," particularly for his commitment to evangelism and life issues.
Loretta Nagle Ryan, a member of Holy Name Parish in Birmingham, recalled how Cardinal Maida's support and encouragement helped her and four other women launch the Angels Place network of homes for developmentally disabled adults in the early years of his time as archbishop.
"His support gave us the credibility to do this. He embraced the idea, and he donated a beautiful home on Arden Park in Detroit," she said.
Angels Place has grown to 15 homes, with two more opening this June. "We couldn't have done it without him," Ryan said. John F.X. Browne, president of Michigan Catholic Radio – WCAR (1090 AM) – said Cardinal Maida gave the station "early support, and encouraged us at each step along the way."
"I'm grateful for his leadership," said Browne, a member of St. Hugo of the Hills Parish in Bloomfield Hills. "Hopefully, in retirement, he will be able to get some well-deserved rest and play lots of golf," Browne added. Striking a personal note, Bishop Earl Boyea of Lansing, a former Detroit priest and auxiliary bishop, said, "Cardinal Maida has been like another father to me."
He fondly recalled the cardinal's guidance of his priestly career, and the support he received when he had the opportunity to become rector of the Pontifical College Josephinum, a seminary in Columbus, Ohio, and later when he was named a Detroit auxiliary and then bishop of Lansing.
"Cardinal Maida is a man with a very big heart and a generous soul. It is a truism that God is never outdone in generosity, and so it is clear that God not only has blessed this servant of his but will continue to provide Cardinal Maida with much consolation and joy in his senior years," Bishop Boyea added.
Among his accomplishments as archbishop, Cardinal Maida authorized renovation of the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament, funded by a $15 million voluntary campaign, and redeveloped the former St. John's Provincial Seminary in Plymouth Township. The former seminary is now a multi-use center that provides facilities for retreats, banquets and special events, as well as having a hotel and public golf course.
Cardinal Maida continued the work begun by Cardinal Edmund C. Szoka at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, supporting its increasing role as a seminary of choice for other dioceses' seminarians and enhancing its role as a center for the education of lay ecclesial ministers. The seminary's standing was also raised with the addition of pontifically approved degree programs, such as the licentiate in sacred theology developed to advance the New Evangelization. "Given our times and our culture, the vitality and vibrancy of this institution is significant in the Church today and for tomorrow," Cardinal Maida said in a 2006 interview.
Cardinal Maida pushed for greater lay involvement in the life of the local Church through the wider acceptance of parish pastoral councils and development of functioning pastoral councils at the vicariate level.
He steered the archdiocese through the storms raised by the clergy sexual abuse scandal, which broke as a national news story in 2001, winning praise from local law enforcement for archdiocesan policies on the reporting of abuse allegations. "You think of young children being victimized, priests betraying a trust – a sacred trust – that's the most difficult thing that I've ever faced," Cardinal Maida said in that 2006 interview.
With regard to archdiocesan finances, he launched an effort in the mid-1990s to establish an endowment for the archdiocese through a campaign called Stewards for Tomorrow, which resulted in creation of an Archdiocese of Detroit Endowment Fund in excess of $100 million.
Later, difficult archdiocesan financial circumstances brought on largely by the global challenges faced by the local economy prompted tighter policies on loans and grants to parishes and schools. The archdiocese also carried out a reorganization aimed at reducing expenditures.
Cardinal Maida dealt with the difficulties brought on by a shrinking number of priests by involving the entire archdiocese in a process of self-evaluation, called Together in Faith, which sought to bring about a better allocation of the available priests in order to serve the sacramental needs of the faithful.
When the plan developed through this process was issued in 2006, some parishes were closed, some merged and some clustered as a result. A number of schools had to close, as well.
The TIF process also resulted in the archdiocese naming youth ministry and young adult ministry among its top priorities. The cardinal said the TIF process was about "making parishes and schools stronger and more responsive to the emerging needs of the Church and world at the beginning of this third millennium."
Throughout his time as archbishop, Cardinal Maida reached out to promote understanding with other Christians and with those of other religions, including the launching of the Religious Leaders Forum.
The Very Rev. Richard O. Singleton, former executive director of the Metropolitan Christian Council Detroit-Windsor, said of Cardinal Maida, "He has been a gracious and passionate leader in our common concern of upbuilding the Body of Christ and relating to people of other faiths."
In addition, a special covenant relationship with local Lutherans, signed in 1991, reflected progress in ecumenical relations at the international level. Then, in 1999, local Catholics and Lutherans celebrated the signing of the Lutheran-Catholic Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification.
The hope for Christian unity so often expressed by the late Pope John Paul II was reflected in several events with local Orthodox Christians during the Maida years.
"He has always been a gracious host and gracious listener as well," said Metropolitan Nicholas, leader of the area's Greek Orthodox believers.
In 1998 Cardinal Maida was able to enlist the help of other religious leaders in the campaign against a ballot proposal that would have legalized assisted suicide.
And following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, he made the first visit to an Islamic mosque by any American cardinal. Then, when remarks by Pope Benedict XVI stirred controversy in the Muslim world in 2006, Cardinal Maida again visited a mosque to talk with local Muslim leaders and so both sides could reaffirm their commitment to inter-faith dialogue.
"I believe Cardinal Maida sets the right example – of openness, sincerity and visionary leadership," said Imam Hassan Qazwini of the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn.
Recognizing soon after coming to Detroit that a great many of the students in urban Catholic schools came from non-Catholic families, he called for the formation of a system of Christ-centered schools of high academic excellence. His vision was realized with the formation of the Cornerstone Schools.
In the years preceding the Great Jubilee Year 2000, Cardinal Maida encouraged the people of the Archdiocese of Detroit to engage in a program of spiritual preparation for the coming of the third millennium.
In September 2000, the cardinal convoked an archdiocesan-wide Eucharistic Congress; the four-day event drew nearly 10,000 people to St. John Center for Youth and Family in Plymouth Township.
In March 2001, Cardinal Maida hosted the opening ceremonies for the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center, an occasion that brought national and international leaders to the new museum in Washington, D.C.
In summer 2001, the cardinal presided at liturgical and civic events celebrating 300 years of Catholic presence in southeast Michigan, as the City of Detroit marked its founding.
In September 2002, consistent with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People promulgated by the bishops of the United States, Cardinal Maida appointed a seven-member Archdiocesan Review Board to advise him on matters involving the sexual abuse of minors by clergy.
Since becoming a cardinal in 1994, Cardinal Maida joined Pope John Paul II at a number of his international appearances, at events such as World Youth Day, and on several occasions served as the late Holy Father's personal representative.
Last year, he joined Pope Benedict XVI during his historic first visit to the United States as pontiff.
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