New Apostolate for the ICK in Detroit - First Mass This Sunday

Our thanks once again to Teresa Chisholm, this time for sending in this report on the newest apostolate of the Institute of Christ the King, in the Archdiocese of Detroit. A special first Mass will with some very good music be celebrated tomorrow in the St Joseph Oratory (details in the article and in the poster below); the church has been featured many times in our photoposts for their exemplary Masses in both forms of the Roman Rite.

This week the Archdiocese of Detroit officially announced that Archbishop Allen Vigneron has created a new parish at historic St. Joseph in the heart of Detroit. Called St. Joseph Oratory, this new parish is under the pastoral care of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest.

From the press release: “We are grateful for the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest and the dedication they have to evangelizing through use of the Extraordinary Form,” said Archbishop Vigneron. “The Institute has shown tremendous energy in conveying a sense of the sacred through their ministry around the country and the world. We are especially encouraged that their ministry may also be instrumental in preserving St. Joseph, one of the Archdiocese of Detroit’s most beautiful and historic worship sites.”

St. Joseph Oratory is the Institute’s thirteenth church in the United States. Rev. Canon Michael Stein has been appointed rector, assisted by Deacon Jonathon Fehrenbacher. They will reside in the rectory, a stately building dating to 1896 which has not been home to a priest in over ten years, since St. Joseph was clustered in 2004 and then merged in 2013 with two historic Polish churches in Detroit, St. Josaphat and Sweetest Heart of Mary.

The rectory and church

Rev. Canon Michael Stein and Deacon Jonathon Fehrenbacher arrived in Detroit on October 11.

The festive First Mass of the Institute is Sunday, October 16 at noon, celebrated by the Very Rev. Msgr. R. Michael Schmitz, vicar general of the Institute. Also present will be Rev. Canon Matthew Talarico, the provincial superior. St. Joseph Cappella, Soloists and Chamber Orchestra will present Mozart’s Missa Brevis in G major and Jubilate Deo, Bruckner’s Locus Iste, and the Gregorian chant propers. A celebration to welcome the Institute to Detroit will follow in the hall. The weekly St. Joseph Oratory schedule, including two Sunday Masses, daily Mass and confession, Vespers and Benediction, and catechism classes for all ages, will be announced shortly.

St. Joseph was founded in 1855 by German immigrants. The present church, dedicated in 1873, was designed by German-American architect Franz Georg Himpler, whose works include, among others, Ss Peter and Paul in St. Louis (located a mile and a half from the Institute’s St. Francis de Sales Oratory) and St. Francis de Sales in Cincinnati.

side altar of the Virgin Mary

The exquisite interior of St. Joseph has remained virtually unchanged. The church celebrated a Latin Novus Ordo Mass ad orientem on Sundays since the post-Conciliar liturgical changes; over the decades, the regular schedule also included English and German Masses. The Ordinary Form Masses were enriched by the spirituality of the Extraordinary Form, and beginning in 2007, EF Masses were celebrated on certain feast days, most notably Christmas Midnight Mass, and for a time even monthly on Sundays. In recent years, the sole weekly Sunday Mass was the Latin Novus Ordo with polyphonic, orchestral, or chant Mass settings, polyphonic motets, Gregorian chant propers, and use of the Gregorian Missal as pew book. Traditional vestments, beautiful sacred vessels, incense, bells, altar server men and boys, and reception of Holy Communion at the altar rail were standard.

Final Latin Novus Ordo Sunday Mass on October 9

Archbishop Vigneron’s invitation to the Institute is being hailed as a miracle for St. Joseph and an answer to prayer. Parishioners look forward with hope to a full and vibrant parish life, continued and expanded devotions to St. Joseph, and a campaign to support critical restorations. The community which has celebrated the Tridentine Mass every Sunday at St. Josaphat for the last twelve years is grateful now to have a parish where all the sacraments will regularly be celebrated according to the old rite. For the faithful of St. Joseph, it will be a fascinating spiritual journey to move from the weekly Latin Novus Ordo to the Traditional Latin Mass with the Institute of Christ the King.

side altar of St Joseph

As was noted in the press release from the Archdiocese, “Deeply grateful to Archbishop Vigneron for his gracious invitation, our entire Institute family is very glad for this new apostolate in Detroit. St. Joseph Oratory will be a unique spiritual home offering Masses with sacred music, daily confessions, days of recollection, classes in spirituality and doctrine, and youth formation activities among others,” said Canon Matthew Talarico, provincial superior of Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest. “With the help of God and the prayerful support of His people, the Institute seeks to carry on the traditions of St. Joseph with the truth and charity of Christ so very much needed in our world of today.”

St. Joseph Day of Prayer in Detroit

Historic St. Joseph Church, Mother of Divine Mercy Parish in Detroit will hold an all-day St. Joseph Day of Prayer on the Solemnity of St. Joseph, March 19, 2015. The day includes four Masses, Confession, devotions, an organ recital, church tours, meal, and St. Joseph's Altar providing for the poor. Music for the Noon Novus Ordo Mass includes Missa Rosa Mystica, Carnevali; Ave Maria, Bonnet; O taste and see, Vaughan Williams; Laudate Dominum, Mozart; Gregorian Chant Propers. For the 6pm Extraordinary Form Mass the music includes Missa Collegium Regale, Darke; O crux Ave, Palestrina; O quam gloriosum, Victoria; Ave verum corpus, Byrd; Gregorian Chant Propers.

A new recording of Catholic Liturgical Music from the St Joseph Cappella, Detroit

The St. Joseph Cappella, an all-volunteer church choir at Mother of Divine Mercy Parish - St. Joseph Church (located on Jay Street off Gratiot near Eastern Market) in Detroit, Michigan, has released its first album of sacred music entitled Liturgical Year Latin Motets. The first 12 tracks take the listener on a journey through the Catholic liturgical year, with translations and commentary on the pieces including their relation to both the Ordinary Form and Extraordinary Form Liturgical Calendars. Most of the music is a cappella, while a few pieces are accompanied by organ played by the Director of Music, Michael Semaan. The final five tracks are a Mass setting by prolific Italian composer Baldassare Galuppi (1706-1785). In addition to pieces by well-known composers such as Mozart and Palestrina, two of the tracks were written specifically for the St. Joseph Cappella by the late Thomas M. Kuras who founded the choir and served as the Director of Music at St. Joseph from 1974 - 1997.

The CD includes a 16-page color booklet full of stunning images of the architecture, stained glass windows, statutes, altars, and organ of St. Joseph Church, along with translations, commentary, and a history of St. Joseph. "The combination of sacred art and music in Liturgical Year Latin Motets is truly a feast for the soul," said Rev. Gregory Tokarski, pastor of Mother of Divine Mercy Parish. "We are blessed by the sacred music the St. Joseph Cappella presents throughout the year during Holy Mass at St. Joseph, and I am so pleased that more people now are able to hear this heavenly music. After listening, I hope they will be moved to visit and pray with us."

One may purchase the CD directly at Mother of Divine Mercy Parish or by emailing stjosephcappella@gmail.com. The recording is also available for sale from www.cdbaby.com/cd/stjosephcappella (physical CD and digital), iTunes and other major online digital retailers, local Catholic bookstores in the Detroit metro area, and more retailers to come.

St. Joseph Church is known for its musical heritage and traditional worship, and proceeds from the sale of the CD will be used to maintain a vibrant music program at St. Joseph Church. St. Joseph is one of the oldest churches in Detroit and is the only one in Detroit to be listed in the National Register of Historic Places at the “national level of significance.” Designed by German-American architect Francis G. Himpler, the church was dedicated in 1873.

The seventeen tracks on Liturgical Year Latin Motets are as follows:

1. Ave Maria - Joseph Bonnet

2. O Magnum Mysterium - Tomás Luis de Victoria
3. Scriptum est - Thomas M Kuras
4. O Bone Jesu - Marco Antonio Ingegneri

5. Sicut cervus - Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
6. Regina Coeli - Gregor Aichinger

7. Jubilate Deo - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
8. Ego Sum Pastor Bonus - Thomas M Kuras

9. Cantate Domino - Giuseppe Pitoni
10. Factus est repente - Gregor Aichinger
11. Panis Angelicus - Claudio Casciolini

12. Ave Verum - Camille Saint-Saëns

13. Missa in C: Kyrie - Baldassare Galuppi

14. Missa in C: Gloria - Baldassare Galuppi

15. Missa in C: Credo - Baldassare Galuppi
16. Missa in C: Sanctus & Benedictus - Baldassare Galuppi
17. Missa in C: Agnus Dei - Baldassare Galuppi

Mother of Divine Mercy Parish - St. Joseph Church Detroit, Michigan

www.motherofdivinemercy.com