St. Joseph Catholic Church, Detroit

Infobox_nrhp | name =St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church
nrhp_type =

---

caption = Facade of St. Joseph's
location= Detroit, Michigan
lat_degrees = 42
lat_minutes = 20
lat_seconds = 43
lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 83
long_minutes = 2
long_seconds = 8
long_direction = W
locmapin = Michigan
area =
Structure built = 1870
architect= Francis X. Himpler; Donaldson & Meier
architecture= Late Gothic Revival; German Hall Church
added = December 08, 1972, January 28, 1992
governing_body = Private
refnum=72000670, 91002013 cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2008-04-15|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service]

Saint Joseph Detroit, founded in 1855, is a historic German Catholic parish with a landmark church located at 1828 Jay Street in the Eastern Market-Lafayette Park neighborhood just outside of downtown Detroit. Its building is on the National Register of Historic Places and deemed 'of national importance', and noted for its stained glass.Cite book | author=Hill, Eric J. and John Gallagher | title= AIA Detroit: The American Institute of Architects Guide to Detroit Architecture| year=2002 | publisher= Wayne State University Press | id=]

The German-inspired Gothic structure had its cornerstone laid in 1870 and was dedicated in 1873, making it one of the oldest extant churches in Detroit. Francis G. Himpler, a Munich-born New York architect, designed the building which is considered one of the Midwest's best displays of Victorian gothic architecture, especially due to the fact that the structure is effectively unaltered. The building is distinguished by its stained glass, notable in its intricate designs and wide usage. Also of note is the woodwork, statuary, and original stone high altar in the interior. Located at 1828 Jay Street, the church is still in full operation today, with two Masses every Sunday and Daily Mass on certain weekdays.

Traditional worship

St. Joseph Parish has kept up traditional worship throughout its history, maintaining the Latin language, alongside vernacular German and English, in its Novus Ordo Masses after the Second Vatican Council. In Fall 2007, after a 37 year absence, the parish reinstated the Latin Tridentine Mass which was effectively replaced, but never banned, when the Catholic Church created the Novus Ordo Mass in 1962. St. Joseph joins nearby St. Josaphat Parish and Assumption Grotto Parish as one of the few midwestern parishes offering the old Mass. St. Joseph offers it on the fourth Sunday of every month and on some feast days. St. Joseph also maintains German language Masses on the fourth Sunday of every month, being a historically German parish.

The parish is known for its musical heritage, offering orchestral Masses composed by the likes of Mozart, Haydn, and lesser known composers on certain Sundays and Holy Days, and maintaining traditional choir and organ music. The St. Joseph organ is a powerful instrument in a fine acoustical space. Contemporary worship songs are not used by St. Joseph music ministry, and the ministry has often trended toward simple chanted ordinaries, especially at the Latin masses.

While not unique in being respective of tradition and creating solemnity in this manner, St. Joseph Parish lies outside the mainstream of contemporary American Catholic worship.

The parish today

St. Joseph's Church was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972; the buildings in the surrounding complex were added in 1992. St. Joseph is clustered with two neighboring Polish-heritage parishes, St. Josaphat and Sweetest Heart of Mary, both on nearby Canfield Street, and both also on the National Register. Due to tight archdiocesan finances, a priest shortage, and metro Detroit sprawl which has dispersed Catholics, one pastor services these three parishes, with some help from other archdiocesan priests. They coordinate their Mass schedules such that daily Mass is at various churches throughout the week.

ee also

*Archdiocese of Detroit
*Architecture of metropolitan Detroit

Notes

References and further reading

*Cite book| author=Godzak, Roman|title= Archdiocese of Detroit (Images of America)|year=2000|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|id=ISBN 0738507972
*Cite book| author=Godzak, Roman|title= Catholic Churches of Detroit (Images of America)|year=2004|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|id=ISBN 0738532355
*Cite book| author=Godzak, Roman|title= Make Straight the Path: A 300 Year Pilgrimage Archdiocese of Detroit|year=2000|publisher=Editions du Signe|id=ISBN 2746801450
*Cite book| author=Muller, Herman Joseph|title= The University of Detroit 1877-1977: A Centennial History|year=1976|publisher= University of Detroit|id=ASIN B0006CVJ4S
*Cite book| author=Tentler, Leslie Woodcock with forward by Edmund Cardinal Szoka
title= Seasons of Grace: A History of the Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit|year=1992|publisher=Wayne State University Press|id=ISBN 0814321062
*Cite book|author=Tutag, Nola Huse with Lucy Hamilton|title=Discovering Stained Glass in Detroit|publisher=Wayne State University Press|year=1988|id=ISBN 0-8143-1875-4

External links

* [http://www.saint-joseph-detroit.org/ St. Joseph Catholic Church website]