Detroit Gesu Catholic Church and School


Book Description

Explore the fascinating history of Detroit's Gesu Catholic Church and School through the images and stories of the people who were there. In a reconfigured farmhouse just a mile outside of the city limits of Detroit, a Jesuit priest and 25 men, women, and children gathered to celebrate Sunday mass on March 19, 1922. The Reverend John McNichols named the Catholic mission church Gesu, the Italian word for Jesus. Gesu became one of Detroit's landmark parishes. Its history illustrates the Motor City's boom, bust, resilience, and resurgence. It was the home parish of four Detroit mayors, powerful members of Congress, auto industry titans, sports legends, artists, authors, and actors. At its peak in the mid-1960s, Gesu School enrolled 1,600 students. Because of Detroit's decline and its racial and economic struggles, Gesu is one of only four Catholic elementary schools that remain in the city. But as Detroit rebounds, Gesu School is growing again. Author Patricia Montemurri is an award-winning Detroit journalist whose in-laws were the church's architects and stained-glass designers. Gesu's history unfolds here through vintage photographs from the parish archives, the Sisters Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the University of Detroit Mercy, the Walter P. Reuther Library, the Michigan Catholic, and the albums of Gesu parishioners and graduates.




Detroit Gesu Catholic Church and School


Book Description

In a reconfigured farmhouse just a mile outside of the city limits of Detroit, a Jesuit priest and 25 men, women, and children gathered to celebrate Sunday mass on March 19, 1922. The Reverend John McNichols named the Catholic mission church Gesu, the Italian word for "Jesus." Gesu became one of Detroit's landmark parishes. Its history illustrates the Motor City's boom, bust, resilience, and resurgence. It was the home parish of four Detroit mayors, powerful members of Congress, auto industry titans, sports legends, artists, authors, and actors. At its peak in the mid-1960s, Gesu School enrolled 1,600 students. Because of Detroit's decline and its racial and economic struggles, Gesu is one of only four Catholic elementary schools that remain in the city. But as Detroit rebounds, Gesu School is growing again.




Ss. Peter and Paul Jesuit: Detroit's Oldest Church


Book Description

No church building in Detroit is older than Ss. Peter and Paul Catholic Church, its cornerstone laid in 1844. The parish was entrusted in 1877 to the Jesuits, who, from this base in the city's heart, developed institutions of learning and service, such as the University of Detroit Mercy, the University of Detroit Jesuit High School, Loyola High School, and Manresa Retreat House. Detroit parishes such as Gesu, Holy Family, and St. Maron also have roots here. The church's acclaimed Homeless Jesus sculpture signifies both its long history of service to those in need and the current outreach of the Pope Francis Center. Today, the parish is a young, diverse, and welcoming Catholic community and a sturdy reminder of Detroit's faith-based roots. Located across from downtown's gleaming Renaissance Center, the parish is engaged in and committed to the revival of Detroit.







Immaculate Heart of Mary Sisters of Michigan


Book Description

Since 1845, along the River Raisin in the southeastern Michigan town of Monroe, the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM) have distinguished themselves as educators, activists, and Catholic pioneers. At the congregation's peak, the motherhouse dispatched nearly 1,600 nuns to more than 100 schools across metropolitan Detroit and several states. For 175 years, the sisters taught the three Rs and the meaning of faith to nearly 700,000 students and established important metro Detroit institutions such as Marygrove College, Immaculata and Marian High Schools, and St. Mary Academy. Widely known by their initials, the IHMs have extended their reach worldwide. Monroe IHM members have served in key roles at the Vatican, as leaders of organizations representing Catholic sisters in the United States, as missionaries in Third World countries, and as groundbreaking activists and theologians. The Monroe IHMs today also attract lay women and men who dedicate themselves to the congregation's values and goals by becoming IHM Associates.




Friendship and Faith, Second Edition


Book Description

This is a book about making friends, which may be the most important thing you can do to make the world a better place-and transform you own life in the process. Making a new friend often is tricky, as you'll discover in these dozens of real-life stories by women from a wide variety of religious and ethnic backgrounds. But, crossing lines of religion, race and culture is worth the effort, often forming some of life's deepest friendships, these women have found. In “Friendship and Faith”, you'll discover how we really can change the world one friend at a time.




Mercy High School of Michigan


Book Description

Some 15,000 women are graduates of Mercy High School in southeastern Michigan. Since 1945, when it opened as Our Lady of Mercy High School in northwest Detroit, its graduates have embodied the school motto: "Women Who Make a Difference." In 1965, the school moved from its original building on the Mercy College campus to a mid-century modern building 11 miles away in the Detroit suburb of Farmington Hills. The school was established by the Sisters of Mercy, a Roman Catholic religious order with 6,200 sisters worldwide. Among its graduates are luminaries in the arts, medicine, sports, business, government, and military service. The Mercy Marlins sports teams have won numerous state championships in swimming, basketball, hockey, softball, lacrosse, golf, and other sports. This book commemorates Mercy High's 75th anniversary and reflects the impact of "Mercy Girls" on their communities, country, and around the world.




Baby Girl: Better Known as Aaliyah


Book Description

"By twenty-two years old, Aaliyah had already accomplished a staggering amount: hit records, acclaimed acting roles, and fame that was just about to cross over into superstardom. Like her song, she was already "more than a woman" but her shocking death in a plane crash prevented her from fully growing into one. Now, two decades later, the full story of Aaliyah's life and cultural impact is finally and lovingly revealed. Baby Girl features never-before-told stories, including studio anecdotes, personal tales, and eyewitness accounts on the events leading up to her untimely passing. Her enduring influence on today's artists--such as Rihanna, Drake, Normani, and many more--is also celebrated, providing Aaliyah's discography a cultural critique that is long overdue. "--Provided by publisher.




For Faith and Fortune


Book Description

Even before the massive European immigrations of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Detroit had a tradition of Catholicism. Multiple immigrant groups became part of the city and considered it important to educate their daughters as well as their sons within the Church. JoEllen McNergney Vinyard's comprehensive examination of parochial education in Detroit within the broader context of that city's urbanization patterns yields a richly detailed addition to our understanding of the European immigrant experience. For Faith and Fortune will be of interest to historians and scholars of urban studies, particularly immigration, schooling, and the Catholic experience.




Blessed Solanus Casey


Book Description

Whenever there was a knock at the Capuchin Monastery door, Fr. Solanus Casey answered. The Capuchin friar's prayers brought comfort and healing to visitors he greeted at friaries in Michigan, New York, and Indiana. On September 12, 2012, inside St. Bonaventure Monastery in Detroit, where Casey's remains are interred, a miracle happened. Minutes after a pilgrim knelt at Casey's tomb, signs of her lifelong genetic skin disease disappeared. Pope Francis declared the healing a miracle, and nearly 70,000 people filled a Detroit football stadium on November 18, 2017, for Casey's beatification ceremony, when the Catholic Church honored him with the title of "Blessed." The Wisconsin-born Casey, a onetime prison guard who died in 1957 at the age of 86, is now one step and one more miracle away from becoming a saint. The photographs in Blessed Solanus Casey illustrate the arc of his life and legacy, including images from his early years and ministry to the poor, of those who say they have been healed by his prayers, and of the stirring Catholic rituals accompanying the friar's path to possible sainthood.