Sacred Heart Major Seminary is a private Catholic seminary in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is affiliated with the Archdiocese of Detroit.
In 2016–2017, 107 seminarians, representing eleven dioceses and two religious orders were enrolled in classes,Seminarian Directory 2016–2017. Sacred Heart Major Seminary. October 2016. along with 426 lay students (full and part-time).Admissions office, Sacred Heart Major Seminary, email to editor, May 21, 2017. Sacred Heart Major Seminary has been accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools since 1960. The School of Theology degree programs have been accredited by the Association of Theological Schools since 1991."Accreditation." Sacred Heart Major Seminary, June 6, 2017
History
Early years Between 1804 and 1886, the leadership of the Diocese of Detroit tried three times to establish a seminary to educate and form the diocese's own priests. Each attempt failed, the last one being St. Francis Diocesan Seminary in Monroe, Michigan. It opened in 1886 and was closed by Bishop John Foley in 1889 because of the financial stress on the diocese of maintaining a seminary.Boyea, Earl. "The Four Attempts at Founding a Diocesan Seminary." Mosaic: The Newsletter of Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Fall/Winter 1999, 14–15.
The fourth attempt at founding a seminary succeeded. On September 11, 1919, Bishop Michael J. Gallagher established Sacred Heart Seminary on Martin Place in Detroit."History" from Sacred Heart Major Seminary. The Catholic population of the city of Detroit and surrounding communities was exploding as people were emigrating to Detroit to service the expanding automobile industry. Bishop Gallagher, who became bishop of the Diocese of Detroit in July 1918, realized he could not rely on priests borrowed from other dioceses, nor priests imported from Europe, to staff his parishes and meet the spiritual needs of the faithful under his care. He needed a diocesan seminary to train his own "homegrown" priests.Theisen, Edwin. "The Long Black Line." Sacred Heart Seminary, 25. The publication was produced in 1969 to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the seminary's founding.
This first incarnation of Sacred Heart Seminary offered the first two years of high school. Junior and senior classes were added the next two years, and the first class graduated in 1922. College-level classes were added in the fall.
New building Enrollment soon outstripped the capacity of the two cramped houses on Martin Place and later an apartment building on nearby Alexandrine Avenue. After a successful fundraising campaign in 1920–1921, Bishop Gallagher purchased twenty-four acres of farmland in February 1923"Sacred Heart Seminary, Detroit, Mich.: Donaldson & Meier, Architects." The American Architect, October 5, 1927, 427. and began construction of a new facility at the corner of Chicago Boulevard and Linwood Avenue. "It's God's work! God wills it!" the bishop exclaimed.Theisen. "The Long Black Line," 27. The new building, designed in Gothic Revival style (see "Architecture" below), opened on September 22, 1924, at the end of the trolley line across the street from one of the earliest Detroit suburbs, the exclusive Boston-Edison subdivision. The first college class graduated in 1926; these graduates were ordained in 1930.
Major donors to the construction of the seminary included prominent Detroit families such as the Fishers, Crowleys and Van Antwerps.
Mid-century years Some significant happenings during Sacred Heart's mid-century decades include the granting of the academic charter and first degrees awarded, 1931; the seminary celebrates as the Detroit diocese becomes an archdiocese and Edward F. Mooney becomes the first Archbishop of Detroit, 1937; and the seminary community exceeds ninety percent participation in the federal war stamp and war bond program and receives the "Minute Man" flag, 1944. John Donovan and Henry Donnelly are consecrated Detroit auxiliary bishops in 1954, the first Sacred Heart alumni to be elevated to the episcopacy (there have been thirty-one since, see "Bishop alumni" below."Sacred Heart Major Seminary: 80 Years of History." Mosaic: The Newsletter of Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Fall/Winter 1999, 8-9.
World War II enlistment and the installment of the draft had a significant effect on enrollment and subsequent graduation numbers. Throughout the 1930s, college graduation numbers averaged in the mid-to-upper thirties. In 1941, that total dropped to twenty-five, and in 1946, the college had only six graduates. The number of graduates jumped to forty-eight in 1950 and averaged around fifty per year throughout the 1950s.Numbers derive from graduation class composite photos that line the seminary's walls, the first composite being of the class of 1924.
The student body and faculty contributed to the war effort by raising money to purchase two ambulances for use by the armed forces. To accommodate the post-war jump in enrollment, the seminary converted three open dormitories into private rooms, adding fifty-two more rooms to house the 110 philosophy students.Theisen. "The Long Black Line," 49–53.
A highlight for the seminarians: The college Class of 1943 raised funds through a "Movie Drive" to purchase two 35 millimeter feature film projectors.Boyea, Earl. "Glimpses from the past taken from seminary archives." Mosaic: an occasional newsletter published by Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Fall 1995, 7. The carbon arc projectors were installed in the seminary auditorium to provide entertainment for seminarians who rarely were permitted to leave the seminary grounds during the school year. The Movie Drive was one of the culminating projects to celebrate Sacred Heart's Silver Anniversary year of 1944.Theisen. "The Long Black Line," 47. (The vintage projectors remain today in the rear loft of the auditorium, although they no longer function.)Gallio.Daniel. "Decade of Drama: Tradition of yearly plays is capture by auditorium 'graffiti." Mosaic, Summer 2010, 35.
High school expansion The seminary continued to grow and, by 1959, it became apparent that housing both high school and college programs in one building was infeasible. Construction was begun on another building, the Cardinal Mooney Latin School, on the southeast corner of the seminary grounds. This building was completed in 1961. However, in 1970, the seminary high school was closed, leaving only the college-level program.
Papal visit The persistent lobbying of the Vatican by Cardinal Edmund Szoka, archbishop of Detroit, paid off. Pope John Paul II included a visit to Detroit during his papal trip to the United States, September 18–19, 1987. The Holy Father's first stop: Sacred Heart Seminary. He arrived by helicopter, no less, touching down on an improvised heliport on the seminary grounds, after flying into Detroit Metropolitan Airport from Rome. The pope emerged from the helicopter and greeted each seminarian individually after being welcomed by then-Fr. Allen Vigneron, who was filling in for Sacred Heart's ailing rector, Msgr. Gerald Martin.Michigan Catholic, Delaney, Robert. "Pope's visit still etched in area's memory. September 6, 2012, June 22, 2017.
The Holy Father's visit to Sacred Heart was followed by an address to deacons at Ford Auditorium, an address on social justice at Hart Plaza, a visit to Hamtramck, and Mass before 100,000 worshipers at the Pontiac Silverdome.
Educational advancements In 1969, the seminary instituted the formation program for permanent deacons. Sacred Heart's charter was expanded in 1980 so to offer associate, bachelor and graduate-level degrees. The Association of Theological Schools accredited the seminary's graduate degree programs in 1991: the Master of Divinity (M.Div.), Master of Arts in Theology, and Master of Arts in Pastoral Studies (MAPS)."80 Years of History," 10.
A significant Lilly Endowment grant allowed the Institute for Ministry's leadership, faculty members Dean Patricia Rennie Sr. Mary Lou Putrow, and Dr. Patricia Cooney Hathaway, to revamp the MAPS curriculum to include pastoral and spiritual formation for the program's lay ministry students. The endowment also provided financial aid for students. In April 2000, the first three students graduated with the revised MAPS degree."Revised MAPS Program Honors First Three Graduates." Mosaic: A Publication of Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Summer 2003, 12.
Refounding With the closing of the archdiocese's graduate-level St. John's Provincial Seminary in 1988, Sacred Heart was re-founded under Cardinal Edmund Szoka, archbishop of Detroit. The seminary added a Graduate School of Theology to its College of Liberal Arts and was renamed Sacred Heart Major Seminary.Sacred Heart Major Seminary website, "History." Cardinal Szoka commissioned extensive rehabilitation and renovation to the seminary building that included replacing 2,400 windows, replacing the electrical wiring, sandblasting the exterior, carpeting and plastering the classrooms, and expanding the parking lot to accommodate 250 vehicles."Seminary Facts: Renovation." Sacred Heart Major Seminary. One of a series of four handouts for visitors, 1993.
Institute for Ministry This same year, 1988, saw the establishment of the Institute for Ministry (IFM). Under the guidance of rector Msgr. John Nienstedt, the IFM's mission is to recruit, educate, and train lay pastoral ministers for the archdiocese. Programs offered to lay students are basic and intermediate diplomas in pastoral ministry, Associate in Ministry, MA in Theology, MA in Pastoral Ministry, and the diaconal academic program.
The institute was renamed the Institute for Lay Ministry (ILM) in September 2016, to better "reflect the core work of the institute: to form effective lay ecclesial ministers according to the norms in Coworkers in the Vineyard,” said rector Msgr. Todd Lajiness."Dr. Gerlach Is New Dean of Institute for Lay Ministry," Mosaic monthly e-newsletter, September 2016.
Licentiate in Sacred Theology Two educational milestones were reached in 2004. The seminary established six academic chairs, including a chair of life ethics, under the leadership of rectors Most Rev. Allen Vigneron and Fr. Stephen Boguslawski. The Holy See's Congregation for Catholic Education that year approved Sacred Heart's offering of a Bachelor of Sacred Theology (STB) and a Licentiate in Sacred Theology (STL). The STB and STL are "ecclesiastical" degrees, as they are authorized by the Congregation under the seminary's aggregate relationship with the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome.
The STL has a specialization in what has become known as the "New Evangelization." Popularized by John Paul II, the New Evangelization calls Catholics into a more personal, life-changing relationship with Christ, while calling the Church to proclaim the basic gospel message to the people of the secularized first world nations who have been losing their Christian identities.United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, The New Evangelization., June 8, 2017
Sacred Heart's STL is considered a "pastorally-focused" program. The curriculum stresses social analysis from a Catholic perspective, family and bio-ethical issues, and modern catechetical techniques, so that graduates can express in fresh ways the teachings of the Church. At the same time, the STL is a strenuous academic program that fully prepares students for doctoral studies, the seminary maintains. (Since 2014, the program has been offered in an online/limited residency format and exclusively to priests, see "Ecclesiastical" below.)"The Licentiate in Theology in the New Evangelization." A brochure produced by Sacred Heart Major Seminary's Office of Advancement, February 2017.
Campus improvements Dorm renovations