History and continuity...

Our Lady Help of Christians Polish Roman Catholic Church in Detroit, Michigan conducted its final Mass on October 29, 2006. The reason for this is that the Archdiocese of Detroit decided to close down this Parish. The Archdiocese also decided to sell the OLHC Church Complex to the Muslim Community of Michigan. It was a money for real estate transaction pure and simple. As I said in an earlier post the farther away from the grass roots of the Parish the farther you get from the real purpose of the church. A Black Church

on the next street over, on the NE corner of Mitchell and Halleck Sts. wanted to buy the Our Lady Help of Christians Church Complex but they didn’t have the “Benjamin’s” to buy the complex.

The good news in all of this bad news was that Fr. George A. Rutkowski, the last pastor of OLHC, found a needy church in Poland to donate all of the statues, relics, pews, furnishings and icons associated with the 83 years of this venerable old church. The good Fr. Swierad Pettke, CCG, Pastor of Our Lady of Fatima in the region of Włocławek in Plocka, Poland is going to take charge of all these items for his Parish. The photo includes Fr. George A. Rutkowski in the back, center and in the right back is Fr. Swierad Pettke, CCG.