A Polish-American Landmark on Russell Street
Sweetest Heart of Mary Church rises at 4440 Russell Street on Detroit's east side, a brick and stone Gothic landmark that has anchored a Polish-American Catholic community for more than a century. Walking its long center aisle, beneath stained glass figures and the soaring tones of the Austin Opus 2 pipe organ, visitors step into one of Detroit's most photographed sacred spaces and a parish that has kept Polish devotional traditions, sacred music, and historic worship at the center of its life. Together with St. Josaphat Church a few miles north, Sweetest Heart of Mary forms Mother of Divine Mercy Parish in the Archdiocese of Detroit.
Mass and Confession Times
All weekend and weekday Masses are celebrated at Sweetest Heart of Mary unless otherwise noted. The Sunday schedule is one Mass at 10:00 a.m. A Saturday Vigil Mass is offered at 4:00 p.m. at St. Josaphat Church. On the first Sunday of each month, the Divine Mercy Chaplet is recited after the 10:00 a.m. Mass; on the day after the first Saturday of each month, the chaplet is prayed after Mass as well. Weekday Masses are celebrated on Thursday at 12:00 p.m., followed by the Novena to the Black Madonna, and on Friday at 12:00 p.m. (except during Lent), followed by the Sacred Heart Novena. During Lent the Friday schedule becomes Stations of the Cross at 6:00 p.m. and Holy Mass at 6:30 p.m., celebrated ad orientem (facing the altar, as in older usage). The Holy Rosary is prayed before the Sunday 10:00 a.m. Mass, with a lay leader at the microphone. Confessions are heard approximately thirty minutes before Mass. Masses are livestreamed on the parish YouTube channel, and recordings remain there for later viewing.
A Parish Born in Controversy and Reconciliation
The story of Sweetest Heart of Mary begins in 1885 in the upheaval surrounding Father Dominic Hippolytus Kolasiński, the charismatic fifth pastor of St. Albertus Parish, the original Polish parish in Detroit. Removed from his pastorate and suspended from priestly duties by Bishop Casper Henry Borgess, Kolasiński and his loyal followers refused to accept what they saw as a procedurally defective discipline. By August of 1886 his adherents had opened a school for their children, an act that parish historians mark as the unofficial genesis of the new community. In February 1889 Kolasiński formally incorporated the parish under the title Sacred Heart of Mary Parish, and construction soon began on a combination church and school on Canfield Avenue. The 1890s were difficult years. A national depression forced the sale of the unfinished building at auction for $30,000, and only after parish families mortgaged their homes and secured a loan through the Montreal branch of the Bank of England was the church repurchased for $45,000. Reconciliation with the Diocese of Detroit came in a solemn ceremony on February 18, 1894, when Archbishop Francesco Satolli, the first Apostolic Delegate to the United States, oversaw the reception of Kolasiński and his congregation of some 4,000 families back into the diocese. The parish properties remained uniquely under the control of their own Board of Trustees.
The Building, the Organ, and the Longest Aisle in the City
Sweetest Heart of Mary is celebrated locally as having the longest aisle of any church in Detroit, a fact that draws brides and photographers to its doors year-round. The sanctuary houses a magnificent Austin Opus 2 pipe organ, the sound of which fills the nave during Mass and wedding processions. Above and around the worship space, the church's most photographed feature is its collection of 101 stained glass windows, currently being restored panel by panel through the parish's Preserving Sweetest Heart Capital Campaign. Eight windows have already been removed and shipped to Minnesota for restoration, with white paneling temporarily marking their place. The campaign, which also addresses the original roof that still tops the building, has been the subject of an EWTN News nightly feature, a Detroit Catholic profile, and a WXYZ report documenting three years' worth of repair work made possible by community support. When new stained glass was revealed behind decades of organ pipes, the discovery made national Catholic news.
The Relic Collection
Few parishes anywhere in the country can claim a treasury comparable to the relic collection at Sweetest Heart of Mary. The display, expanded each year for an annual self-guided tour, includes relics of the True Cross of Our Lord, the Holy Manger, the Flagellation Pillar, the Holy House of Loreto, and the Veil of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Fourteen first-class relics of the apostles are present, from Andrew and Barnabas to Peter, Paul, James, John, Jude Thaddeus, Matthew, Thomas, and Simon the Zealot. Hundreds of first-class relics of saints round out the collection, among them Augustine companions, Alphonsus Liguori, Benedict, Blaise, Catherine Labouré, Catherine of Siena, Clare of Assisi, Dominic, Dorothy, Dymphna, Elizabeth Ann Seton, Francis of Assisi, Francis Xavier, Gemma, George, Gerard Majella, Germaine, Helen, Hilary, Ignatius of Loyola, Jerome, John the Baptist, John Berchmans, John Kanty, John Neumann, Pope John XXIII, John Vianney, Josaphat, Joseph Cupertino, Lawrence, Lucy, Margaret Mary Alacoque, Maria Faustina Kowalsska, Maria Goretti, Martin de Porres, Maximilian Kolbe, Michael the Archangel, Philomena, Pope Pius X, Rita, Robert Bellarmine, Rose of Lima, Stanislaus of Kraków, Stanislaus Kostka, Thérèse of Lisieux, and Vincent de Paul. A first-class relic of St. Philomena, the Wonder Worker, is venerated at her statue inside the church on the last Sunday of every month, when the relic is processed through the sanctuary after Mass. The Polish icon of the Mother of Mercy, also known as Ostra Brama or Gate of Dawn, depicts the Blessed Mother venerated in Vilnius since 1630 and has its own special place in the devotional life of the parish.
Sacred Music and the Schola Cantorum
Music at Mother of Divine Mercy is directed by Ronald R. Weiler II, who has served as Director of Music for the parish since its reorganization in October 2016 and previously provided music at Sweetest Heart of Mary from May 2014. Mr. Weiler is a long-time choirmaster, formerly Director of Middle and Upper School choirs at Detroit Country Day School, and he and his wife Theresa co-own Weiler Creative Media, which records and livestreams parish liturgies. The Schola Cantorum, the parish's advanced choir, sings Gregorian chant, sacred polyphony by composers such as Palestrina and Mendelssohn, classical works by Mozart, and traditional settings of the Mass ordinary and propers. The ensemble rehearses every other week at 7:00 p.m. and sings at weekend Masses that rotate between the two churches, as well as at Holy Days, Solemnities, and both the Ordinary and Extraordinary Forms of the Roman Missal. Auditions are open to all interested singers with a basic grasp of sight reading and a willingness to blend. The liturgical program regularly uses incense, the Communion rail, the Propers of the Mass in Latin or English, and chant drawn from the Church's musical heritage.
The Liturgical Year at Sweetest Heart of Mary
Worship at Sweetest Heart of Mary draws on older Catholic traditions while embracing the full rhythm of the Roman liturgical calendar. The parish celebrates Mass in both the Ordinary Form and the Traditional Latin Mass (Tridentine or Extraordinary Form), the latter introduced at St. Josaphat in 2004 and continued after the two churches were joined into one parish. Special devotions include the recitation of the Divine Mercy Chaplet after the first-Sunday Mass, monthly veneration of the relic of St. Philomena, Lenten Stations of the Cross (offered in both St. Alphonsus and Mary's Way of the Cross versions), the Polish Gorzkie Żale Lenten lamentations, and the Tenebrae service of darkness. A perpetual novena to Our Lady of Czestochowa is prayed every Thursday after the noon Mass at St. Josaphat. The parish has its own in-house recording and livestream operation, producing an online rosary, chaplet, Stations, and Tenebrae for those unable to be present.
The Pierogi Festival and Community Life
Every August the parish grounds fill with thousands of neighbors and visitors for the Annual Pierogi Festival, the parish's signature community event and a celebration of Detroit's Polish-American heritage. The festival, which fills Russell Street with music, food, and fireworks, is also the parish's largest volunteer opportunity and a major fundraiser. The Sweetest Heart of Mary Ladies' Guild, the Bishop Plagens Knights of Columbus Council #13318 (which meets on the third Monday of every month), and the Knights of St. John International Sweetest Heart of Mary Commandery #171 all play key roles in keeping the parish's social life running. The Knights of Columbus and the Ladies' Guild are joined by parish men, women, families, and young adults in the altar societies, lectors, ushers, greeters, gardeners, altar servers, wedding coordinators, and the Holy Name Society. The festival grounds are also the setting for parish fish fries during Lent and other seasonal gatherings.
The Food Pantry and Outreach to the Neighborhood
Mother of Divine Mercy operates a parish food pantry that distributes non-perishable food, grocery gift cards, and other assistance to families in five surrounding zip codes. Donations are accepted at both churches, and food is distributed on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month. A recent $5,000 grant from the Catholic Foundation of Michigan's Church in the City Endowment enabled the pantry to widen its outreach to the Forest Park neighborhood surrounding both churches and to expand advertising to reach new clients. The parish also participates annually in the Catholic Services Appeal of the Archdiocese of Detroit, and online giving is available for the weekly collection and for the Preserving Sweetest Heart Capital Campaign through myEoffering and GiveButter.
Marriage at Sweetest Heart of Mary
Couples preparing for the Sacrament of Matrimony often choose Sweetest Heart of Mary for its grandeur and for the procession down its famously long aisle. The parish has hosted more than 850 weddings under its current photographic guidelines, developed over a decade of experience. Music for weddings is coordinated through Director of Music Ronald Weiler, who arranges the Schola Cantorum, organists, and other musicians, and provides couples with an online music selection form. Couples must be practicing Catholics registered with a parish and work with parish staff through a series of forms: a preliminary registration, a wedding contract, a priest permission letter, a timeline and checklist, and a wedding selection form. The parish publishes a full set of Nuptial Guidelines.
Parish Leadership and Safeguarding
The parish is led by Rev. Fr. Grzegorz (Greg) Tokarski, a native of Poland and priest of the Archdiocese of Detroit. Ordained in 1995 in Rome, where he also taught classical languages and linguistics at the Pontifical Institute of Higher Latinity, Fr. Tokarski taught Biblical Greek, Ecclesiastical Latin, and Patrology at SS. Cyril and Methodius Seminary in Orchard Lake, serving for three years as academic dean. He was appointed pastor of the newly formed Mother of Divine Mercy Parish in 2013 and has served the community since. Deacon Joe Lennon, ordained in 1983 and a retired Ford Motor Company employee, assists in liturgical and pastoral ministry. Mr. Weiler directs music and audiovisual operations. The parish adheres to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People and the Archdiocese of Detroit's safe environment requirements; all volunteers working with minors must complete VIRTUS Protecting God's Children training, authorize a background check, and sign the volunteer code of conduct, with recertification every three years.
Becoming Catholic, Sacraments, and Getting Involved
Parishioners and newcomers are encouraged to register by completing a parish registration form, available online or at the parish office, and dropping it in the collection basket. The parish celebrates all seven Catholic sacraments: Baptism (with at least one practicing Catholic Godparent who has received Baptism, Eucharist, and Confirmation), First Holy Communion, Confirmation (with formation rooted in Acts of the Apostles), Reconciliation (offered before and after most Masses), Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders (with referrals to the Archdiocese of Detroit's vocations office), and Matrimony. Those interested in becoming Catholic are invited into the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. Funeral Masses are arranged through the parish office, with music selected online. The bulletin, calendar, and ongoing announcements are kept current, and online giving, livestreamed Masses, the parish YouTube channel, the MoDM Facebook page, and the Sweetest Heart of Mary Pierogi Festival Facebook page keep the community connected week by week.