New parish names include St. Mary, Our Lady Queen of Families; and St. Andre Bessette

DETROIT — The weekend of June 30-July 1 will mark new beginnings as four parishes celebrate Masses of Unity and merge into two, and four other parishes will officially merge, with Masses of Unity scheduled later.

St. Clement Parish, Center Line, and St. Teresa of Avila Parish, Warren, will officially become one parish during a Mass of Unity at 4 p.m. June 30 at the St. Clement site, 25330 Van Dyke, with a reception following at the St. Teresa of Avila site, 12255 Frazho Road. Bishop Michael Byrnes will celebrate the Mass, and the new parish will be renamed St. Mary, Our Lady Queen of Families Parish. Fr. Robert Bauer will be pastor of the new parish.

On July 1, Bishop Francis Reiss will celebrate a Mass of Unity for St. Genevieve and St. Maurice parishes, both in Livonia, at the St. Genevieve site, 29015 Jamison. The Mass will be at 11 a.m. The combined parish will be called St. Genevieve-St. Maurice Parish, and Fr. Howard Vogan will continue to be its pastor. The final Masses for the individual parishes will be June 30 at 4 p.m. at St. Genevieve and 6 p.m. at St. Maurice.

Masses of Unity involve special elements uniting the merging parishes, which can include the blessing and renaming of the parish, as well as rites combining sacred items and sacramental records.

Additional mergers taking effect June 30 include Our Lady of Lourdes, River Rouge, and St. Francis Xavier, Ecorse, which will become St. Andre Bessette Parish and will use the St. Francis Xavier site, 4250 Jefferson Ave. The new parish’s pastor will be Fr. Cornelius Okeke.

Also, St. Joseph and St. Elizabeth parishes, both in Wyandotte, will merge and take the name of St. Joseph Parish, with Fr. Michael Cremin, SAC, as pastor. The final Mass at St. Elizabeth will be 4 p.m. June 30.

Masses of Unity for those parishes will be announced at a later date.

Finally, St. Donald Parish, Roseville, will close with a final Mass to take place 11:30 a.m. July 1.