St. Christopher Church on Detroit’s west side is set to close on Sunday, Jan. 11, with its final Mass and a homily written to remind the faithful that a church is more than just “stone and wood,” it also is “flesh and spirit.”
As attendance dwindled and maintenance costs rose, there was speculation that the church, at 7800 Woodmont Ave., would have to close. In recent months, Pastor Noel Emmanuel Cornelio told the Free Press, the rumors became reality.
The Archdiocese did not say whether the closure was part of a larger, two-year effort underway to evaluate Michigan’s Catholic churches to determine which ones should be closed, but it is likely to factor into it.
“We really didn’t want to close St. Christopher,” Cornelio said, but an analysis made clear that in addition to high costs and low attendance, there was too much neighborhood crime, and not enough parking. He added: “I’m sad.”
In November, the Archdiocese of Detroit announced plans for a process that is expected to lead to more resource shuffling and church closures. In a letter, Archbishop Edward J. Weisenburger invited “every Catholic in our Archdiocese” to join it.
He blamed the need to reorganize and restructure on significant declines over the years in the number of Catholics in Southeast Michigan, dwindling participation in sacraments and fewer priests.
“Many of our churches were built during a time of tremendous growth, when more than 1.5 million Catholics called this Archdiocese home,” he wrote. “Today, our Catholic census is closer to 900,000.”
In St. Christopher’s case, the pastor said there just were too many challenges.
Overflowing with visitors and love
St. Christopher likely benefitted from Detroit’s post-war boom.
The parish began in the 1940s, and the church was named after the patron saint of travelers, who, legend has it, devoted his life to carrying travelers ― including Christ as a boy ― across a river.
It’s unclear, Cornelio said, what will happen to the building after Sunday, many are expected to start worshipping at nearby church, St. Thomas Aquinas, 5780 Evergreen Road.
A mid-century structure, St. Christopher’s interior has a contemporary design, with colorful, stained glass windows that depict the church’s namesake saint and various modes of transportation, including a train, plane, boat and bicycle.
For its last Sunday, the 9 a.m. Mass in English — which had only about 20 attendees weekly — and 11 a.m. service in Spanish — which sometimes had as many as 350, but filled less than a third of the auditorium — was canceled.
Instead, a combined service at noon in both languages was planned.
The service also is expected to include some nods to its first parishioners from Poland; and judging by the many inquiries about the final Mass, Cornelio said, the final Mass will be overflowing with visitors — and love.
‘Brick by brick, prayer by prayer’
Cornelio, who became pastor in 2024, said he will miss the parishioners.
For his final homily, “The Building Will Be Silent, The Gospel Will Not,” the pastor plans to tie the story of St. Christopher with the story of the church, which in his view was born in a city “shaped by labor, migration, struggle and hope.”
The church, Cornelio will tell the Sunday worshipers, was built “brick by brick, prayer by prayer” as a “shelter for souls, a school of mercy,” and “a refuge where Christ was carried on the shoulders of ordinary people who believed that faith must be lived.”
In 1965, the cornerstone was laid, a sign for decades “that God’s people intended to stay, to persevere, to claim sacred space in a world that too often displaces the vulnerable.”
As attendance numbers declined, St. Christopher and St. Thomas Aquinas parishes merged. In 2019, the parish was renamed after St. Juan Diego. And after Sunday, Cornelio said, St. Christopher will be a church building no more.
It’s a moment Cornelio said he expects to be “heavy with grief,” but also one which he intends to use to remind the faithful that wherever they go, they will be carrying the gospel forth.
Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: St. Christopher’s in Detroit to close, with its final Mass on Sunday
Reporting by Frank Witsil, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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