Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2009 / Local Franciscans mark dual anniversaries
Local Franciscans mark dual anniversaries
by Robert Delaney of The Michigan Catholic
Published July 3, 2009
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Robert Delaney | The Michigan Catholic
People pour out of St. Aloysius Church in downtown Detroit after last Sunday's Franciscan anniversary Mass. |
DETROIT — More than 300 people joined the Detroit contingent of the Order of Friars Minor last Sunday to celebrate the 150th anniversary of their province and the 800th anniversary of the order.
The Franciscan friars at St. Aloysius Parish in downtown Detroit played host to other area Franciscans – not only the local Capuchin Franciscans, but members of Franciscan women's communities and members of the Secular Franciscan Order – for a Mass in the church, followed by a reception.
The Franciscans who staff St. Aloysius and also Transfiguration Parish in Southfield belong to the Cincinnati-based Province of St. John the Baptist.
The province grew out of a request from Cincinnati Archbishop John B. Purcell in 1844 to the Franciscans' St. Leopold Province in the South Tyrol area of Austria to send friars to minister to German-speaking immigrants in the city.
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Robert Delaney | The Michigan Catholic
Fr. Alex Kratz, OFM, and Bro. Richard Merling, OFM Cap., chat outside the St. Aloysius Community Center after last Sunday's Franciscan anniversary Mass. |
The first to arrive, Fr. William Unterthiner, came in July 1844, and eventually more friars joined him. Even in the early days, their ministry extended to other states, and even as far as Chatham, Ontario.
Although Fr. Unterthiner was recalled to Austria in 1854, most of the friars stayed, and the Custody – later Province – of St. John the Baptist was established in 1859.
Friars first served in Detroit in the late 1870s or early 1880s at St. Mary Parish, a German parish in what was to later become the city's Greektown neighborhood, explained Fr. Tod Laverty, OFM, pastor of St. Aloysius Parish.
They also served at Sacred Heart Parish, at the north end of Detroit's Eastern Market area, which was also a German parish in those days.
"They left Detroit after some years here, but returned in 1927-28 to start building Duns Scotus," Fr. Laverty continued.
The founding of the college seminary in what was then Southfield Township came about as part of a reorganization of the Franciscans' seminary education program so that friars could earn certified degrees.
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Robert Delaney | The Michigan Catholic
Bernardine Franciscan Srs. Gemma Legel and Miriam MacKillop attend the reception following last Sunday's Franciscan |
"Duns Scotus opened in 1930, and right away became an important center for us. While its primary purpose was to do a college program, it also became a center for one-day retreats, a base for preaching programs and a mission house," Fr. Laverty said.
The college chapel also served as the first home of the congregation that would become St. Michael Parish – now merged with St. Bede, St. Ives and St. Beatrice parishes to form Transfiguration Parish.
They also served at the former Our Lady of Victory Parish in Detroit, a parish in the black community.
While declining vocations caused the closing of the college seminary program at Duns Scotus in the late 1980s, and the friars sold the property in 1992, they took on a new ministry at St. Aloysius Parish at the invitation of the Archdiocese of Detroit.
Besides staffing St. Aloysius Parish, they began an outreach to the homeless with the opening of a hospitality center in a building the archdiocese acquired for the parish across Washington Boulevard from the church.
The friars saw it as a way of "situating ourselves among the poor" in the Franciscan tradition, Fr. Laverty said.
That outreach to the homeless is now called the Canticle Café. The friars also reach out to the many senior citizens who live in apartments and converted office buildings in the area. St. Aloysius Parish has also attracted new members from among the younger residents of downtown's apartment and condominium buildings.
All Franciscans trace their history ultimately to St. Francis of Assisi (c.1181-1226), whose plan for the Order of Friars Minor was approved by Pope Innocent III in 1209.
Over the years, the Conventual Franciscans and the Capuchin Franciscans became the principal offshoots of the order for men. The Poor Clares were the first Franciscan community for women, but many others have also been inspired by the charism of St. Francis and St. Clare.
It is a charism that still attracts people today. Bro. Michael Radomski, OFM, said it was "Francis' embracing all people as equals – no discrimination, no one person better than another, and looking out for those who need a little extra support in life" that attracted him to join the Province of St. John the Baptist back in 1997.
Describing himself as a "jack of all trades and master of none here at St. Aloysius," he added, "I couldn't ask for a better group of brothers."
Bro. Richard Merling, OFM Cap., says it was probably meeting the Venerable Solanus Casey as a teen-ager that was most influential in his joining the Detroit-based Capuchin Province of St. Joseph when he began to feel attracted to the vowed religious life in his early 20s.
"I went to see him with my family when I was about 15 to ask for prayers for a brother who had been in an accident. We were concerned that a leg might have to be amputated, but he simply said, 'Oh, don't worry about it – things will be all right.'
"Then he began telling us about his youth, and how he used to play the fiddle at barn dances, and he got his fiddle and played for us," Bro. Merling recalled.
Many healings have been attributed to the prayers of the simple Capuchin friar during his lifetime and to his intercession since his death, including the healing of Bro. Merling's brother.
Bro. Merling said he little dreamt at the time of that encounter he would wind up joining the Capuchins or that his ministry would be working with the Father Solanus Guild, which promotes the friar's cause for sainthood.
Sr. Gemma Legel, OSF, recalled how she first encountered the Bernardine Franciscan Sisters when she was about 18 or 19, "and it was love at first sight."
"They were just so friendly, outgoing, loving and kind," she said.
Sr. Legel, who is director of faith formation at Divine Savior Parish in Westland, said "living the Gospel" is how she would characterize the Bernadine Franciscans' charism.
Many lay people have also been inspired to adopt a Franciscan rule of life by joining the Secular Franciscan Order (formerly known as the Third Order).
Mary Bittner, SFO, who is minister of the Divine Mercy Region, 35 Secular Franciscan fraternities in lower Michigan and the Toledo, Ohio area, said it was "Francis' enthusiasm and joy" that she found most attractive.
"I felt God was asking me if I would serve him in this way," the Ypsilanti resident said about joining the Secular Franciscans.
Roger Raupp, SFO, a member of St. Elizabeth of Hungary Parish in Wyandotte, said it was "a hunger I had to learn more about Francis and to live my Catholic faith more deeply" that led him to join.
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