Media Kit

Download PDF

Catholic history in southeast Michigan formally began with the landing of Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac on the banks of what is now the Detroit River in July 1701, although the documented Catholic presence dates to the 1680s. Cadillac, two priests and French soldiers and traders established Ste. Anne, the first Catholic Church in Detroit. Ste. Anne Parish, now in its eighth building near the Ambassador Bridge on Ste. Anne Street, continues to serve the faithful of the area.

In the earliest part of its history in Michigan, the area that is now the Archdiocese of Detroit was the responsibility of the Diocese of Quebec. As time passed and the state and the Church grew, responsibility for the Catholics of the area changed several times. By the time Detroit was being considered for the status of diocese, the most notable priest in the area was Rev. Gabriel Richard. Fr. Richard brought the first printing press to the region, co-founded what is now the University of Michigan, and was the pastor of Ste. Anne Parish in Detroit. His death from cholera prevented him from being named bishop.

The Detroit Diocese was established on March 8, 1833 and included all of Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the Dakota Territory east of the Mississippi River. Rev. Frederic Rese was named the first bishop on October 8, 1833. When Michigan became a state in 1837, the boundaries of the diocese were redrawn to correspond to the new state’s boundary. At the time, there were 20 parishes in the state.

Bishop Peter Paul Lefevere led the diocese from 1841 to 1869. He was succeeded by Bishop Casper Henry Borgess, who served as bishop until 1887. By the time Bishop John Samuel Foley came to Detroit in 1888, he led a diocese with 136 priests, a Catholic population of over 116,000, and 60 parochial schools. During this time, a number of religious communities came to the diocese, joining the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary who had established residence in the diocese in 1845.

Bishop Foley was the first American-born bishop to lead the diocese, and his 30 years as Detroit’s shepherd remains the longest episcopate for Detroit. During his time, there was a great deal of immigration to the area and a great many churches were built; in the 1920s, 46 churches were founded in the city of Detroit. The first Hispanic parish was begun in 1920 and as the African American population rose more missions and parishes were founded to serve this growing community; the first mission for African Americans had been established in the post-Civil War era.

Bishop Michael James Gallagher led the Detroit Diocese from 1918 to 1937. Bishop Gallagher led two successful fights against state attempts to require all children to attend public schools, a requirement that would have decimated a vibrant parochial education system which by 1920 was educating almost 62,000 students.

On May 22, 1937 Detroit was elevated to an archdiocese and the bishop of Rochester, Edward Aloysius Mooney, was named Detroit’s first archbishop. In 1946, Archbishop Mooney became Detroit’s first Cardinal. Archbishop Mooney was a leader of the National Catholic Welfare Conference and an advisor to both the Vatican and leaders of the US government during World War II. He died in Rome as the conclave that would elect Pope John XXIII was starting.

John Francis Dearden served as archbishop of Detroit from 1958 to 1980. He attended all the meetings of the Second Vatican Council and played a significant role in the documents it produced. In 1969, he was elevated to the College of Cardinals. Cardinal Dearden was the first president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. He died in 1988.

In 1981, Edmund Casimir Szoka was installed as the eighth head of the Church in Detroit. He came from Gaylord, Michigan, where he was the first bishop of that diocese which had been established in 1971. In 1988, Archbishop Szoka was made a Cardinal. Two years later, he was called to Rome to serve as President of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See. In 1997, Pope John Paul II appointed Cardinal Szoka as President of the Governatorate of the Vatican City State. In 2001 he also assumed the role of President of the Pontifical Commission for the Vatican City State. He retired from both of his Vatican roles in 2006.

From 1990 to 2009, Adam Maida led the Archdiocese of Detroit. He was elevated to the rank of Cardinal in 1994. By the end of his episcopate, the Archdiocese of Detroit had 271 parishes, 10 Catholic hospitals serving over 1 million people annually, two seminaries, 21 Catholic high schools, and a Catholic population of over 1.4 million.

The current archbishop, Allen Henry Vigneron, is the first son of the diocese to serve in the role of archbishop. He was installed on January 28, 2009.

In November 2016, hundreds of clergy, laity and religious from across the Archdiocese of Detroit gathered for Synod 16 to discern the future of the Archdiocese. The fruits of this synod were published in Archbishop Vigneron’s 2017 pastoral letter, Unleash the Gospel, detailing the Lord’s call for the local Church to transform into a band of joyful missionary disciples. Following the synod, the Archdiocese embraced efforts to move from maintenance to mission, using the unique gifts of all the faithful to accompany each other on our shared journey to encounter Jesus, grow as joyful missionary disciples, and give witness to Him in the world.

As part of the Archdiocese’s commitment to aligning all structures to mission, its parishes joined together in 2021 and 2022 to form new groupings called Families of Parishes. These groups of three to eight parishes will share resources and enhance each other’s strengths to advance the mission, with multiple priests and deacons leading the way. This new model will allow the priests, deacons, and lay staff associated with each parish to better share their gifts and talents within their Family and into the surrounding community.

On February 11, 2025, Pope Francis appointed Bishop Edward Weisenburger of Tucson as the tenth bishop and sixth archbishop of Detroit.

General Information about the Archdiocese of Detroit

Established: 1833 as a diocese

Elevated: Made an archdiocese on May 22, 1937

Current Archbishop: The Most Reverend Edward J. Weisenburger

Current Auxiliary Bishops: Most Reverend Arturo Cepeda, Most Reverend Robert Fisher, Most Reverend Jeffrey Monforton

Number of Catholics: 901,640 self-identifying Catholics

Number of Parishes: 209

Square Miles: 3,903 (Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Monroe, St. Clair and Lapeer counties)

Number of Grade Schools and High Schools: 80

Number of primary and secondary students: 27,485

Number of colleges and seminaries: 5

Number of Priests: 483

Number of Deacons: 178

Number of Religious Sisters: 447

Number of Religious Brothers: 43

Click here to view and download

Born: Dec. 23, 1960
Ordained Priest for the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: Dec. 19, 1987
Appointed Bishop of Salina, Kansas: Feb. 6, 2012
Installed as Bishop of Salina, Kansas: May 1, 2012
Appointed Bishop of Tucson, Arizona: Oct. 3, 2017
Installed as Bishop of Tucson, Arizona: Nov. 29, 2017
Appointed Archbishop of Detroit: Feb. 11, 2025
Installed as Archbishop of Detroit: Mar. 18, 2025

Edward Joseph Weisenburger was born in Alton, Illinois, on December 23, 1960, to Edward John Weisenburger and Asella (Walters) Weisenburger, the third of their four surviving children. His father was a military officer, and his mother a homemaker. Weisenburger grew up primarily in Lawton, Oklahoma, but as necessitated by following his father’s career, his family also lived briefly in Kansas and Texas. Following high school graduation, he attended Conception Seminary College in Missouri, graduating with honors in 1983.

He was then assigned to the American College Seminary at the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium from 1983-1987, where he earned the Pontifical S.T.B. in Theology, an M.A. in Religious Studies and a Master's in Moral and Religious Sciences, M.MR.Sc. On December 19, 1987, he was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Oklahoma City.

Weisenburger served as parochial vicar of St. Mary Church in Ponca City from 1987 to 1990. He then attended the University of St. Paul in Ottawa, Canada, earning the pontifical J.C.L. degree in canon law in 1992. Upon his return home, he was appointed Vice-Chancellor and Adjutant Judicial Vicar. In addition to chancery and tribunal duties, he also did weekend parish and prison ministries from 1992-95 and served as an on-site chaplain for rescue workers in the weeks following the April 19, 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

In the fall of 1995, he began 17 years of service on the Council of Priests and the Archdiocesan College of Consulters. He likewise served as a member of the Seminarian Board for 15 years. In June 1996, he was appointed Vicar General of the Oklahoma City Archdiocese. He was an officer with the Archdiocesan Tribunal for almost 20 years and served as Promoter of Justice for the cause of canonization of Blessed Stanley Francis Rother. On October 2, 2009, he was appointed a Prelate of Honor to His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, with the title Reverend Monsignor. Weisenburger served as pastor of two Oklahoma parishes: Holy Trinity in Okarche (1995-2002) and the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Oklahoma City (2002-12).

On February 6, 2012, Weisenburger was appointed the eleventh Bishop of Salina, Kansas, by His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI. He was ordained and installed at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Salina, on May 1, 2012, with the Most Reverend Joseph Naumann, Archbishop of Kansas City, presiding over the Liturgy and serving as the principal ordaining prelate. On October 3, 2017, Weisenburger was appointed Bishop of Tucson by His Holiness, Pope Francis. He was installed as the seventh Bishop of Tucson on November 29, 2017.

Bishop Weisenburger serves the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) on the Committee on the Protection of Children and Young People and has previously served on the Committee for Migration and a Subcommittee of the Catholic Communication Campaign.

He currently serves as Episcopal Moderator for the National Association of Church Personnel Administrators (NACPA), is a member of Chicago’s Mundelein Seminary Board, and is a past Board Chairman of Catholic Rural Life.He enjoys Fourth Degree membership in the Knights of Columbus as well as the rank of Knight Commander with Star in the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem.

Bishop Wesienburger was appointed the tenth Bishop and sixth Archbishop of Detroit by His Holiness, Pope Francis, on February 11, 2025. Archbisho-designate Weisenburger will be installed on March 18, 2025.

Photos coming soon

Download PDF

Click here to view and download

Download PDF

The Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament, both a parish church and a cathedral church, is the seat of the Archbishop of Detroit and the mother church of the Archdiocese of Detroit. As such, it is the “second parish” of all the Catholic faithful in southeast Michigan, and the “first parish” of some.

“A cathedral is, of course, unique inasmuch as it takes its designation from the cathedra, or chair of the bishop, the place from which I and my successors will shepherd this local Church, presiding at the most Holy Eucharist and teaching the flock according to the pastoral needs of our times.”
– Excerpt from the homily of Adam Cardinal Maida at the re-dedication Mass of the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament, March 25, 2003

The Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament is the fifth Cathedral to serve the church in Detroit. The road to 9844 Woodward Avenue includes numerous twists, turns and even a few false starts.

A proud lineage of cathedral churches

Detroit was made a diocese in 1833. Ste. Anne de Detroit, the first church in Detroit, established July 26, 1701, served as Detroit’s first Cathedral church.

In 1848 Ss. Peter and Paul Detroit was consecrated and made the cathedral of the Diocese of Detroit. The church was granted to the Society of Jesus in 1877 as part of the foundation of Detroit College, now the University of Detroit Mercy. The building, the oldest surviving church building in Detroit, continues to serve the faithful in downtown Detroit from its location at Jefferson Avenue and St. Antoine.

From 1877 to 1890, St. Aloysius Church served as the temporary, or Pro-Cathedral, for the diocese.

St. Patrick Church at 124 Adelaide Street in Brush Park was consecrated on the Feast of St. Patrick in 1862 and elevated to cathedral status in 1890. St. Patrick would serve as Detroit’s cathedral until 1938.

From humble beginnings

In 1905, Bishop Foley authorized the construction of a new parish, named Most Blessed Sacrament, on land that was then outside the city limits, north of Grand Boulevard.

The Norman Gothic design for the church building was drawn by architect Henry A. Walsh, of Cleveland, Ohio. Construction on the church building began in 1913 and was completed in 1915. However, the interior of the church would not be complete until 1930. The church was dedicated on Thanksgiving Day 1930 at a solemn Mass celebrated by Bishop Gallagher.

Detroit was elevated to an archdiocese in 1938 and on February 20, 1938, Most Blessed Sacrament Parish became the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament by decree of Pope Pius XI. The Vatican representative who came to Detroit to inspect the proposed cathedral on Woodward Avenue was Giovanni Battista Montini, later St. Paul VI.

“Having viewed at first hand the extensive labors of renewal and completion of the Cathedral, I am happy in being able to congratulate you on their felicitous conclusion in time for the scheduled date for the consecration and the contemporaneous commemoration of your silver jubilee of Episcopal Consecration.
– Excerpt from letter to Cardinal Mooney from Blessed Paul VI on behalf of Venerable Pius XII upon completion of the Cathedral edifice, November 17, 1951

St. Pope John Paul II visited the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament on September 18, 1987

“It is indeed fitting that we greet each other here in this place of worship, in this cathedral dedicated to the Most Blessed Sacrament, since it is the Eucharist above all that expresses and brings unity with Christ and with one another… What great opportunities your city and its suburbs and rural areas give to the mission that is yours by baptism: To build up the body of Christ in unity by means of the gifts you have received.”
– St. John Paul II during his visit to the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in 1987

Click here to view and download