Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2007 / New church dedicated for Brown City mission
New church dedicated for Brown City mission
Robert Delaney of The Michigan Catholic
Published November 23, 2007
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Robert Delaney | The Michigan Catholic
Glenn Kreiner, president of the pastoral council, hands the keys to the new Sacred Heart Church, Brown City, to Auxiliary Bishop Daniel Flores, as pastor Fr. Paul Czarnotota watches. |
Brown City — The dedication ceremony for the new Sacred Heart Church in Brown City began outdoors in the chilly November weather last Sunday, with the ringing of its bell.
And as the congregation of 350 or more people watched, Glenn Kreiner, president of the mission's pastoral council, handed the keys to the new church to Auxiliary Bishop Daniel Flores.
And just as that symbolized the mission's membership in the Archdiocese of Detroit and the Catholic Church worldwide, Bishop Flores further illustrated the delegation of pastoral authority by handing the keys over to Fr. Paul Czarnota, the mission's administrator.
Sacred Heart Mission
Address: 7080 Cade Road, Brown City
Telephone: (810) 346-4800
Founded: 1897
Founding priest: Fr. Peter Esper
Current administrator: Fr. Paul Czarnota
Families: 90
Ministries: Altar Society; youth group; religious education; support for food pantry at Sacred Heart, Imlay City.
The new Sacred Heart Church in Brown City. | As the dedication Mass continued inside, every pew was filled, every movable chair occupied, and at least a couple of dozen people were standing against the back wall – not to mention a cry room filled to capacity.
But the ramifications of the event went even beyond the mission's Thumb-area community, Bishop Flores told them in his homily.
"The Church all over the world is a happier place because of what is happening here tonight," he said.
"It's not every day we dedicate a new church, and it is a great joy for the Church, because it is a building up of the Body of Christ," Bishop Flores continued.
He acknowledged the "great sacrifice" of all who made the building of the $1 million facility possible. "This building is the work of many hands. It's also the work of those who have contributed in any way to make the work of those hands possible," Bishop Flores said.
"We say to God, 'Here, take this that you might have a fitting dwelling place on Earth.' It's God who is doing something here tonight, because He takes it and He consecrates it to His purposes," the bishop said.
And he concluded his homily, "As we continue these sacred rites, we all have many reason to be thankful, for tonight God accepts the work of your hands. Amen."
A replacement for the old church had been discussed for some time, and there were those in the Thumb Vicariate who thought Sacred Heart Mission simply ought to close, but Fr. Richard Schmidberger got people motivated to raise money for a new church after he was called out of retirement to once again function as the mission's administrator from 2004 to 2007, as he had from 1996 to 2000.
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The new church replaces this 1897 structure that is considered too small and has serious structural problems. |
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Fr. Richard Schmidberger is former pastor who promoted the effort to build a new church. |
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Auxiliary Bishop Daniel Flores anoints the altar of the new Sacred Heart Church in Brown City, as Fr. Paul Czarnota and altar servers stand by. | The old church, built in 1897 had serious structural flaws, and salvaging it was out of the question because there was no room to expand it, explained Fr. Paul Czarnota, administrator since June 1.
Stan Maksymiuk, who chairs the mission's stewardship commission, said the success of the fund-raising effort came from the way members of the congregation "accepted the challenge" required to keep Sacred Heart open.
One couple in the parish, Bob and Norma Kohler, donated 7.5 acres of land for the new church, and 80 families together donated the $1 million it took to build it. "It was not an easy thing," Maksymiuk said.
Fr. Czarnota also expressed gratitude to Fr. Bernard Fraser for donating the pews from St. Cyril of Jerusalem Church in Taylor.
And some parishioners lent a hand with their skills in woodworking and carpentry, he added.
Parishioner Lucy Coulson said she especially appreciates the new church's cry room, as she held 7-week-old Kylie.
"I like the new church, and I think we'll attract a lot of new people. I think we'll grow," she said.
Kreiner said, "This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We were either going to grow or going to close, and the church council chose to grow instead of close."
Sacred Heart Mission is in the rural north end of the Archdiocese of Detroit, just off M-90 about four miles east of Van Dyke.
With about 90 families, it is the smallest member of a cluster that includes Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish, Emmett, and Sacred Heart Parish, Yale.
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