Homily , November 16, 2025
From The Pastor
This weekend you will hear a video from Archbishop Edward Weisenburger regarding the restructuring of the Archdiocese of Detroit. Although this may feel like a surprise, this necessary initiative has been anticipated for ten years or more. You are familiar with the Family of Parishes model we are now working under. This was initiated by Archbishop Vigneron to fast track a better coordination of the Archdiocese due to the impact of the Covid pandemic. The Family of Parishes model was never intended to be a long-term solution to the decreasing number of priests and the significant decrease of people who attended Mass during and after the pandemic. A long-term response to these impactful concerns is on the minds of Bishops around the country.
Archbishop Weisenburger has engaged the Catholic Leadership Institute to design and implement a restructuring of all the parishes, buildings, and resources in our Diocese. This Institute has worked in several other Diocese, including Boston, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, as well as others around the country. Our Archbishop has recently returned from Rome after review and approval of the proposed framework for the plan. This is intended to be an eighteen-month process with resulting decisions and implementation by July of 2027. This initiative was made known to the priests about a month ago in a general meeting with the Archbishop, his leadership team, and the team with Catholic Leadership Institute. Subsequently, some parish staff, and Archdiocesan employees were informed of the initiative.
In the early years of our Diocese, founded in 1833, the Church was thriving and growing rapidly. Churches, parishes, and schools grew up overnight, vocations were thriving in the priesthood and religious sisters. Today, the landscape and demographics have changed dramatically. Through the sixties and seventies, vocations fell across the board, parish schools began to struggle with increasing costs with the loss of many religious sisters. At its peak, the Archdiocese served 1.5 million Catholics. Today, this number is closer to nine hundred thousand with only 150,000 going to Mass regularly. This leaves hundreds of unused schools, buildings, and other properties no longer needed costing parishes and the diocese money it does not have.
Through the seventies and beyond, many Catholics moved away from the city of Detroit for more northern and western communities. Larger and more populated parishes and schools now reside in these locations. Older well-established parishes in the closer rings around the city of Detroit are struggling for parishioners, income, and priests to serve them. This is a snapshot of the broadest reasons it is necessary to restructure the parishes and resources of the Archdiocese as they exist today. Without singular blame or fault, this is the reality of the social, demographic, and spiritual change over the course of time. To do nothing and hang on as we are, is imprudent and dangerous for the wellbeing of the whole.
All parishes will have a voice and be represented in this process. Each parish has identified five or more key parish leaders who will serve as listeners and discussion moderators in this process. At SFV, we are blest to have eight leaders willing to serve in this role. They have and will attend meetings for training and program information. We are at an early stage in this process and many of the details have not yet been made known.
What I do know is there will be listening/sharing sessions, input from pastors and parish personnel, as well as statistical demographics, finance, parish size, and priest availability used to determine the model(s) used in preparing the final proposal. Again, we are early in the process, and I am not aware of how these details will play out. Despite my years beyond retirement age, I am motivated to participate with other pastors and key parish leaders to work toward the best solution(s) possible.
An obvious question most people will ask is, will my parish remain open? I do not know the answer to this question. Obviously, we want our parish to remain open and viable as we continue the good works and strong faith active in our community. All parishes and pastors will feel the same. It is a time to practice the faith we hold with trust and steady hearts as we move through this historic work. Pray. Be at peace. Do what you can to keep the gossip and rumors under control. Please pray for our eight parish leaders who will actively serve in the process. Ask the Holy Spirit what you can do personally to be a light of hope in this time of change.
I personally support this necessary process and pray it will be directed wisely, justly, and compassionately to serve the needs of all believers in the Archdiocese of Detroit.
Father John Esper
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