1600 to 1700 The first Catholic presence in present-day Michigan was that of the French Jesuit missionaries,
Charles Raymbaut and
Isaac Jogues. The two priests stopped near what is now
Sault Ste. Marie in 1641 to visit the
Chippewa Nation. In 1670,
Claude Dablon established the first Catholic mission in the region on
Mackinac Island.
Jacques Marquette moved the mission off the island in 1671 to the mainland by the
Straits of Mackinac. By the late 1600s, Jesuit priests were setting up missions throughout the region. When the British took control of New France after the
French and Indian War ended in 1763, the Diocese of Quebec retained its jurisdiction there. After the end of the
American Revolution, the British transferred control of Michigan to the new United States.
1800 to 1850 The new
Michigan Territory was transferred in 1808 from the Diocese of Baltimore to the
Diocese of Bardstown. It was reassigned in 1821 to the
Diocese of Cincinnati. Ste. Anne became the cathedral for the diocese. At the time, the new diocese covered a vast area in the
American Midwest and
Great Plains, extending through
Michigan, Wisconsin,
Minnesota and the Dakotas to the
Missouri River. Gregory XVI recalled him to Rome and appointed
Peter Paul Lefevere as
coadjutor bishop to assume its operation. When Lefevere arrived in Detroit, the city had only two parishes, with the rest of the diocese having only 25; the diocese was served by only 18 priests. To improve the administration of the diocese, Lefevere established its first set of policies in 1843. That same year, the Vatican reduced the Diocese of Detroit to the State of Michigan, transferring the out-of-state territories to the newly-formed
Diocese of Milwaukee. Lefevere and the
Four Sisters of Charity established four orphanages, a medical hospital and a mental hospital. The
Daughters of Charity became the first religious order of teaching sisters to come to Detroit. He presided over the first diocesan synod in 1859. In 1877, he invited
Jesuits to establish the
University of Detroit Jesuit High School in Detroit.
1880 to 1900 In 1882, the Vatican erected the
Diocese of Grand Rapids in west central Michigan, taking its territory from the Diocese of Detroit. These controversies and his poor relationship with his priests led Borgess to submit his resignation to the Vatican as bishop of Detroit as early as 1879. However, the Vatican would not let him resign his post until 1887. In 1889, John A. Lemke was ordained to the priesthood at St. Casimir Church in Detroit. He became the first American of Polish descent to become a priest.
1900 to 1930 In 1907, St. Francis's Home for Orphan Boys opened in Detroit, built at a cost of $250,000. The development of the automobile industry in Detroit led to a massive increase in population, and the number of Catholics in the diocese more than tripled during Foley's tenure. Although the number of diocesan priests nearly doubled, there still insufficient to minister to the growing population. Despite his popularity and personal charm, Foley was generally regarded as an ineffective bishop with an unsuccessful administration. Foley died in 1918, after 30 years as bishop of Detroit. In 1921, the archdiocese published a
poster prohibiting sterilization and abortion services in its hospitals. This became the basis of the
Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, published by the
US Conference of Catholic Bishops in 1971
. In 1919, Gallagher opened
Sacred Heart Major Seminary in a temporary structure in Detroit to alleviate the priest shortage. In 1924, after a $4 million fundraising effort, the diocese constructed a permanent facility with a capacity for 500 seminarians. In 1926, Gallagher appointed
Charles Coughlin as pastor of the
Shrine of the Little Flower Parish in
Royal Oak, Michigan. Coughlin soon started a radio ministry, with Gallagher's approval. As Coughlin started gaining a large national audience for his program, his incendiary comments against Jews and capitalists became more pronounced.
1930 to 1940 In 1930, the
apostolic delegate for the United States, Cardinal
Pietro Fumasoni Biondi, asked Gallagher to curb Coughlin, but Gallagher refused. "I made no mistake and have never doubted my judgment in putting him before the microphone," Gallagher said about Coughlin in 1933. Again in 1935, Cardinal
Amleto Cigognani, the new apostolic delegate, tried to stop Coughlin, but Gallagher still protected him. It was rumored that
Pope Pius XI refused to raise
Detroit to an archdiocese due to his displeasure over Coughlin. In August 1936, Gallagher travelled to Rome. While he was en route, Coughlin denounced US President
Franklin Roosevelt as a liar. Gallagher forced Coughlin to apologize. While meeting with Pius XI, Coughlin's activities arose in the discussion. Gallagher convinced the pope not to censure Coughlin or force him to cease broadcasting. In May 1937, Detroit Diocese was made an Archdiocese. The
Diocese of Lansing was established in south central Michigan with territory taken from Detroit. Bishop
Edward Mooney from the Diocese of Rochester became Detroit's first archbishop. In October 1937, Mooney publicly rebuked Coughlin for calling Roosevelt "stupid" over his nomination of Senator
Hugo Black to the
U.S. Supreme Court. This reprimand from Mooney led Coughlin to cancel his contract for 26 radio broadcasts, though he resumed broadcasting in 1938. (Coughlin's anti-Semitism became more blatant with the outbreak of World War II, leading Mooney to repeatedly rebuke him and radio stations refusing to air his broadcasts. By 1940, Coughlin had virtually no access to the airwaves, though he continued to publish his views.) In February 1938, the Vatican erected the Diocese of Saginaw, taking territory in northeastern Michigan from the Archdiocese of Detroit and the Diocese of Grand Rapids. The Vatican also transferred three more counties from the archdiocese to the Diocese of Lansing. In a 1939 meeting of all the archdiocesan priests, Mooney proposed the establishment of labor schools in the parishes to help "Christian workers to train themselves in principle and technique to assume the leadership in the unions which their numbers justify". An avid golf player, Mooney once remarked to his priests "If your score is over 100, you are neglecting your golf—if it falls below 90, you're neglecting your parish". Every year, he would take a group of
altar boys to the opening game of the
Detroit Tigers major league baseball team.
1940 to 1950 In 1942, the
US Department of Justice informed Mooney that it was planning to indict Coughlin on charges of
sedition, based on his espousal of Nazi doctrines. As part of a deal to avoid Coughlin's prosecution, Mooney ordered him to end his political activities and work solely as a parish priest. Mooney stated, "My understanding with him [Coughlin] is sufficiently broad and firm to exclude effectively the recurrence of any such unpleasant situation."
Pope Pius XII created Mooney as
cardinal priest of the
Church of Santa Susanna in Rome in 1946. As the northern suburbs of Detroit grew after World War II ended in 1945, Mooney added parishes in
Oakland County. In 1948, he appointed
Frederick Delaney to begin opening additional parishes in the rural areas of the county. That same year,
Pope Pius XII named Bishop
John Dearden from the
Diocese of Pittsburgh as
coadjutor archbishop to assist Mooney. In 1965, Dearden helped inaugurate Project Equality, an interfaith program that asked businesses to pledge to a policy of non-discrimination in hiring and hire employees. He also announced that the archdiocese would give preferential treatment to suppliers who provided equal employment opportunities to minority groups. When voters amended the
Michigan State Constitution in 1970 to bar all taxpayer aid to private schools in 1970, Dearden ordered all parishes to examine their finances in light of this decision and determine if their schools would be a financial drain due to reduced enrollment. Dearden ultimately ordered the closing of 56 parish schools. That same year, the Vatican transferred two counties from the Archdiocese of Detroit to the Diocese of Lansing. In 1989, Szoka closed 30 parishes within the archdiocese and ordered 25 other parishes to improve their financial situation or face closure. The plan resulted from a five-year study that analyzed parish maintenance costs, priest availability, parish income, and parish membership. Szoka resigned as archbishop in 1990 to assume a position in the
Roman Curia. The next archbishop of Detroit was Bishop
Adam Maida from the
Diocese of Green Bay, appointed by John Paul II in 1990.
2000 to present In 2007, Maida relieved Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus
Thomas Gumbleton of his pastoral duties at St. Leo Parish in Detroit. Gumbleton claimed that Maida was punishing him for his outspoken views on sexual abuse crimes by clergy. Maida said that he was following the Vatican rules on the retirement age of bishops. Maida retired in 2009.
Pope Benedict XVI then named Bishop
Allen Vigneron from the
Diocese of Oakland as Maida's replacement. In 2012, Vigneron announced a new plan to consolidate parishes in order to address declining parish membership and clergy availability within the archdiocese. Under the plan, two parishes would close in 2012 and 60 others were to consolidate into 21 parishes by the end of 2013. The archdiocese asked six additional parishes to submit plans to either repay their debts or merge with other parishes. The remaining 214 parishes were asked to submit plans to share resources or merge. In 2019, Vigneron published the pastoral note "The Day of the Lord". This note ended required Sunday sports practices and games in Catholic schools so that students could spend that day focused on prayer, family and rest. Vigneron announced in June 2020 that the archdiocese was restructuring 200 parishes into 60 to 80 parish families to deal with the shortage of priests. On February 11, 2025,
Pope Francis accepted Vigneron's retirement as archbishop of Detroit and named Bishop
Edward Weisenburger from the
Diocese of Tucson to succeed him.
Sexual abuse In 2002,
Wayne County prosecutors indicted Harry Benjamin, Robert Burkholder, Edward Olszewski, and Jason E. Sigler on criminal sexual conduct charges. The four priests, all residing outside of Michigan, had previously been incardinated in the Archdiocese of Detroit. They were all accused of sexually molesting 11 to 13-year-old boys. In May 2019, Michigan Attorney General
Dana Nessel indicted two priests who had previously served in the archdiocese: • Neil Kalina, a former priest at St. Kiernan Parish in Shelby Township, was indicted on four counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct in 1984 with a boy between the ages of 12 and 14 and for supplying the boy with
cocaine and
marijuana. He had left the priesthood in 1993 after a 1985 conviction in Michigan for drug possession. Kalina was convicted and sentenced in July 2022 to up to 15 years in state prison. • Patrick Casey was charged with raping a 24-year-old man in 2013. At the time of the assault, Casey was counseling the victim, who was experiencing suicidal feelings. In October 2019, Casey pled guilty to a
misdemeanor charge of
aggravated assault and was sentenced to 45 days in jail. In July 2019, Joseph Baker was indicted on first-degree criminal sexual conduct with someone under age 13. The archdiocese had previously placed limits on his public ministry. Baker was convicted in October 2022 and sentenced to up to 15 years in prison. In September 2020, Gary Berthiaume was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old at Our Lady of Sorrows Parish in Farmington during the 1970s. He was additionally charged in June 2021 with sexually assault two young teenagers at St. Joseph Catholic Church in
Wyandotte during the same time period. Berthiaume pleaded guilty in November 2021 to two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct and
no contest to one count of gross indecency in the two cases. He was sentenced to 16 to 17 months in prison.
LGBTQ community In 1974, Brian McNaught, a reporter and columnist for the
Michigan Catholic newspaper, revealed in a
Detroit News article that he was gay. The
Catholic then dropped his column, citing space issues in the publication. In response, McNaught filed a complaint against the
Catholic with the
Human Rights Commission for the City of Detroit, claiming
sexual discrimination. The newspaper ultimately fired him. McNaught later founded the Detroit chapter of
DignityUSA, a support organization for LGBTQ Catholics. Vigneron in 2013 stated that he would not allow Catholics who support
same-sex marriage to receive
communion in the archdiocese. He said that taking communion while disagreeing with the church on this issue was "double-dealing that is not unlike
perjury." In 2020, the archdiocese fired Terry Gonda, the music director at St. John Fisher Parish in
Auburn Hills, for being married to another woman. In August 2020, Vigneron banned DignityUSA and Fortunate Families, a ministry for families of LGBTQ Catholics, from gathering at archdiocesan churches or having priests perform mass for them. He stated that the two groups were incompatible with the virtue of
chastity. Vigneron wrote a
pastoral letter in 2024 to the leaders of Catholic schools and other institutions in the archdiocese. It stated that all their employees, students, and youth program participants must "...respect their God-given biological sex." This meant that
transgender individuals had to use restrooms and follow dress codes that corresponded to their
biological sex. VigneIn a
podcast following his letter, Vigneron called acceptance of transgender individuals by society as "...a toxin that's been deposited in our culture" and compared transgenderism to a virus. ==Bishops and archbishops==