January 26, 2009
Paulist leaders and St. Andrew’s priests celebrate Mass as the Paulist Fathers officially take over the pastoral care of St. Andrew’s Cathedral.
Father Mark-David Janus, C.S.P.As he opens the door of the new Catholic Information Center in Grand Rapids’ Cathedral Square, Father Mark-David Janus, C.S.P., the center’s director and new rector of St. Andrew’s Cathedral, is amazed at the promise the future holds.
“We have the tools, we have the space,” he said. “We are now only limited by our imagination. We are still learning our potential.”
It has indeed been a time of wonder and change for Paulist community in Grand Rapids since the Catholic Information Center’s move from its longtime home to Cathedral Square and the Paulists assuming the pastoral care of the cathedral, its parish and evangelization for the Diocese of Grand Rapids.
The Catholic Information Center now boasts an Internet café and utilizes state-of-the-art technology in its classrooms specially designed for adult education. Video streaming on the Web, podcasts and video conferencing are only a few of the tools the center now has at its disposal.
“We now have the technological capacity to hold classes at the center, have our staff go on the road to parishes, have information on the Web and offer teleconferences so people throughout this 11-county rural diocese can participate,” said Father Janus. “We have lots of young adults utilizing the Internet café and engaging in conversation. It’s traffic we haven’t had before.”
And last but not least, the center’s new facilities also offer the ability of hosting diocesan events for hundreds of people.
“That is another form of outreach,” Father Janus said. “It gives us a strong, regional appeal.”
The forward momentum in Grand Rapids mean the center’s worshipping community has now been melded with that of St. Andrew’s Cathedral.
After six months, “we are still getting to know each other,” Father Janus said, noting some 700 families are now registered at the cathedral. “We are working together and making slow, steady progress. People are excited about the future.”
And that future includes the cathedral being the center of Catholic life in Grand Rapids, including special Masses for those involved in health care, law and public safety.
The cathedral is also becoming the “center of ecumenical and interfaith life’ in Grand Rapids and shared with all people of faith. Ecumenical services have already taken place, and leaders of churches in the downtown area meet at the cathedral monthly.
The vibrant and growing Hispanic population also means the cathedral and center now offer adult faith formation in Spanish to serve this expanding part of the Catholic community.
“Those are all very exciting things,” said Father Janus. “[Bishop Walter A. Hurley of Grand Rapids] has entrusted the Paulist Fathers with the prime evangelization church, the mother church, in the diocese because of the charism of the Paulist mission.”
The commitment the diocese and the Paulists have made to one another show a great mutual respect, said Paulist president Father John F. Duffy.
“We are impacting that region with Paulist mission direction,” he said. “The bishop recognizes the credibility of our work in these areas.”
The history of the Paulists in Michigan began just after the Paulists themselves were founded in 1858. From October through December of that year, Paulist founder and Servant of God Father Isaac Thomas Hecker were traveling on the new Michigan Central Railroad, which ran from present-day Kalamazoo to Ann Arbor. People traveled by horse wagon or on foot to hear the Paulists preach in Catholic parishes along the rail line.
“The Paulists would teach the basics of the faith in the morning and preach conversion during the evening service,” said Paulist historian Father Paul G. Robichaud, noting the Paulists had brought some 2,000 Michiganders back to the faith and made some converts by Christmas 1858.
While the Wolverine State continued to be visited by the Paulist missionaries, it wasn’t until the 1940s that they would find a permanent home in Michigan. Bishop Francis Hass came to shepherd the Diocese of Grand Rapids in 1943, and had visited the Paulist Information Center in New York City. The bishop was undoubtedly impressed by this new form of outreach, and asked the Paulists for “two good men” to serve in Grand Rapids.
Father Janus inside the new Catholic Information Center. ENLARGE PHOTO “It was at St. Andrew’s Cathedral that Father Paul Maloney, C.S.P., and Father John Ritizus, C.S.P, first held a series of nine weekly public dialogues on the basic belief of Catholics,” Father Robichaud said.
The Paulists officially opened the Catholic Information Center at 346 Monroe Avenue in a three-story office building that had formerly housed Jack’s Cut-Rate Men’s Clothing. It was a good location near the Grand Rapids’ shopping district, so foot traffic was assured. Almost 6,000 people were received into the Catholic Church during the center’s 16 years at the Monroe location.
Urban renewal led the center to move to 246 Ionia Avenue in 1964. The downtown location provided an opportunity for additional forms of evangelization and renewal, and the chapel provided Mass for downtown workers, shoppers and visitors. The loyalty and support of the people made the center into a regular worshipping community.
And now the history of the Paulists in Grand Rapids comes full circle with the Paulists taking over the care of St. Andrew’s, the very place the Paulists introduced themselves to the city in 1947.
“The bishop has placed a lot of confidence and trust in the Paulists,” Father Janus said. “It is very exciting, but a big challenge and a great responsibility. There is a very strong partnership with the diocese.”