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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. A highlight for the seminarians: The college Class of 1943 raised funds through a "Movie Drive" to purchase two 35 millimeter feature film projectors. 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. (The vintage projectors remain today in the rear loft of the auditorium, although they no longer function.)
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. 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). 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.
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. 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.
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.
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. 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.)
Campus improvements Dorm renovations As the seminarian and lay student enrollment continued to increase beginning in the late 1990s, Sacred Heart's leadership decided to invest resources into upgrading the campus building and grounds. Twenty-nine new rooms and a priest's suite were added to the graduate dormitory in 1997. "That we have outgrown the seminarian residence rooms originally set up for the Theologate when it opened in 1988 is a great sign that God is blessing Sacred Heart's service to the Church," said rector Bishop Allen Vigneron at the time. Work began in fall 2010 to demolish and renovate Immaculate Heart of Mary dormitory, which had been shuttered since the early 1970s. Over the following two years, ten new seminarian dorm rooms were added, along with a lounge, a new bathroom, and a laundry.
Technology and building improvements Beginning in 2003, the seminary began to upgrade its educational technology by installing "smart classroom" technology in all of its classrooms. This first wave of technological advancements (a project which is ongoing today) included constructing a distance learning suite composed of two classrooms with videoconferencing technology: a large lecture hall with arena-style seating and a smaller seminar room. The first interactive courses were broadcast to satellite locations for fall term 2004. The liturgy lab was updated in 2004 with an instructional whiteboard, new sound system, and a digital camera with video monitor to record and playback students homilies. To better simulate a church setting, the renovated lab incorporated a full-immersion baptismal font, fully furnished altar area, confessional, and pews. These 2004 renovations, endorsed by Cardinal Adam Maida, archbishop of Detroit, and led by rector Fr. Stephen Boguslawski, also included expanding office space so that faculty could be located in a more central place. A lower level quadrant, which formerly housed obsolete heating and cooling equipment and a laundry room, was demolished. Replacing this "dead space" were twelve new faculty offices and a reception alcove. Offices for the new Licentiate in Sacred Theology program were located in this area.
Running track Through the donation of an alumnus/benefactor, the seminary was able to break ground in May 2014 to construct a quarter-mile running track for the use of students, resident priests, faculty, and staff. The Bishop Walter J. Schoenherr Memorial Track which circles around the campus athletic field was dedicated in November 2014. It is named after the late auxiliary bishop of Detroit, a Sacred Heart high school and college alumnus and accomplished athlete. Beyond its general use, the seminarians have begun an annual track meet held in the fall, in which the men compete among themselves in athletic events.
Property expansion Another significant benefactor donation allowed Sacred Heart to "expand its footprint" by purchasing six vacant city plots totaling 2.5 acres directly west of the seminary campus, in March 2016. The land was cleared of debris and an abandoned apartment building and dedicated by Archbishop Allen Vigneron in April 2017. The seminary will use the land to increase available parking space as its programs continue to expand. "By clearing the property of derelict buildings," said rector Msgr. Todd Lajiness, the purchase will help to beautify the area and stabilize property values, as well as improve campus security. As such, the rector said, the purchase "is a sign of hope for the neighborhood." A second phase of the project will include relocating the seminary's main entrance to Chicago Boulevard by fall 2017. Ironically, the 2.5 acres once was owned by Sacred Heart but had to be sold to keep the seminary solvent during the Depression. == Architecture ==