On life support, Assumption Church needs $10M to avoid permanently closing

Detroit — Living in Detroit, it can sometimes be easy to forget there’s another city just across the river.

But for parishioners of the historic Ste. Anne de Detroit Parish near the Ambassador Bridge, one look across the waters offers a visual reminder of a centuries-old French-Catholic heritage shared with Windsor, Ontario.

Now, that symbol — Windsor’s 169-year-old iconic Assumption Catholic Church — is in danger of being shuttered for good unless the parish is able to raise at least $10 million for critical restoration work.

Starting as a French Jesuit mission in 1728 — just two decades after Ste. Anne was founded on the banks of the fledgling town of Detroit — Assumption is the oldest Canadian Catholic parish west of Montreal. The current church building dates to 1845, which is older than Ste. Anne’s current church and just one year younger than Detroit’s oldest still-standing church, SS. Peter and Paul (Jesuit) near the Renaissance Center.

At the time of Assumption and Ste. Anne’s founding, Detroit and Windsor were one community, with no border between them. Today, those on both sides of the border are hoping to revive that sense of sisterhood in an effort to save Windsor’s crown Catholic jewel.

“The news from Assumption is not good,” said John Cooper, a member of a group called Encore Detroit, which promotes the Detroit River region’s French heritage. “The entire history of our region is connected to those two churches.”

Cooper, a Rochester Hills native and member of Christ the Redeemer Parish in Lake Orion, said he often attends Ste. Anne because of his deep appreciation of its history. Assumption was originally a “spin-off” of Ste. Anne, he said, set up to cater to the native population.

Assumption Church held its unofficial “last Mass” on Nov. 2, but London Bishop Ronald Fabbro told parishioners that he hoped the parish would still be able to raise the money to reopen. The parish has said an anonymous donor has offered to contribute a significant amount to save the church, but that the offer was still being reviewed.

Encore Detroit is planning to host a fundraiser Dec. 7 at Ste. Anne to benefit the restoration efforts at Assumption, but Cooper admitted more will be needed to put a dent in the Canadian sister church’s needs.

“Until the whole thing works out, it ain’t over ‘til the fat lady sings,” Cooper said. “Who knows if it’s going to happen (with the anonymous donor), but what we’re trying to do is swing interest and public pressure so that it does happen.”

If the money isn’t able to be raised, the church will be consigned to a slow death by deterioration; because of its designation as a historical site, it would not be razed for the foreseeable future, but boarded up in the hopes of future restoration.

Such a fate would be all the more unfortunate because Assumption Parish is not financially struggling, said Basilian Fr. Don McLeod, parish administrator at Assumption, with healthy collections and parking fees successfully covering regular bills.

Instead, the issue is the church’s safety, which includes a partially collapsed foundation, asbestos concerns and emergency equipment such as fire alarms, lighting and sprinkler systems in need of critical updates. Other issues, such as a crumbling façade, simply come with age.

“The parish is one thing, the building is another thing,” said Fr. McLeod, who in the 1990s also served as associate pastor of Ste. Anne de Detroit. “If in fact the building had to be shuttered — and I sincerely hope it wouldn’t be — the parish can and must continue.”

In the meantime, the parish community is celebrating Masses at nearby Holy Name of Mary Church, which closed as a parish in 2012 and was “blended” with Assumption, he said. Additionally, the Rosary Chapel connected to Assumption Church will continue to be used. On most weekends, the parish averages nearly 1,100 Massgoers.

Assumption’s dire situation is also a reminder of the mortality of some of Detroit’s own historic Catholic churches, including Ste. Anne. While the recent Mass Mob movement has served to call attention to some of those needs, expensive steeple repairs at churches like St. Josaphat and Sweetest Heart of Mary are bound to become more common as the years roll by.

Cooper said Ste. Anne “desperately” needs the second half of its roof redone, and said part of the Dec. 7 fundraiser will benefit the Detroit parish.

“We’re hoping we can create a synergy here and make people on both sides of the river aware,” he said, adding such awareness has been lacking in recent years. “Canadians are kind of afraid of Detroit, and Americans if they don’t have a passport don’t think of even going across the river, and I’m just trying to open up people’s eyes on both sides.”

Still, Cooper has faith in the bi-national community’s efforts to pull together in honor of its history of service to God and neighbor.

“We’re hoping to raise awareness, gather attention and make people realize that here in the Detroit River region, we have something really special,” he said.

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 Fundraiser for Assumption Church

Encore Detroit, a group dedicated to promoting Detroit and Windsor’s historic French roots, will host a fundraiser Dec. 7 to benefit Assumption Church’s ongoing restoration efforts.

What: French-Canadian Christmas choir concert, French-Canadian cuisine dinner and tour of Ste. Anne de Detroit

Where: Ste. Anne de Detroit Church, 1000 St. Anne St., Detroit (near Ambassador Bridge)

When: 4 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 7

More: For more information or to register, visit www.facebook.com/EncoreDetroit