Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2010 / Fr. James Hayes, longest-serving archdiocesan priest, dies at 97
Fr. James Hayes, longest-serving archdiocesan priest, dies at 97
by Robert Delaney of The Michigan Catholic
Published May 21, 2010
DETROIT — Fr. James L. Hayes was "a very smiling priest, a man of good cheer, and always looked healthy, too," Msgr. Ferdinand DeCneudt said Monday upon learning of the death last Sunday afternoon of the longest-serving priest in the Archdiocese of Detroit at age 97.
"We always used to say that Jim Hayes never gets old. He led a full life, and I'm so sorry he's gone," Msgr. DeCneudt added of the man who was a couple of months his junior but had been ordained one year earlier – in 1938.
Fr. Thomas Belczak was just 17 when he first met Fr. Hayes back in 1970 when his older brother, Fr. Edward Belczak, was serving his transitional diaconate at Shrine of the Little Flower Parish in Royal Oak.
"It's ironic, but I remember thinking of him then as this elderly pastor, and now, come December, I'll be as old as he was then," Fr. Belczak said.
He remembers Fr. Hayes as being a "gentle and gracious man" then, but it was 19 years later when he would begin to really get to know him. That was when Fr. Belczak became pastor of St. Valentine Parish, Redford Township, where the already retired Fr. Hayes was helping out.
"He would take one weekend Mass and two daily Masses, but not the same weekend Mass every week. He took the Saturday evening Mass the first weekend, then the 8 a.m., Sunday Mass the next week, then the 10 a.m., and then the 12 noon the next," Fr. Belczak recalled.
Although he eventually had to cut back some, Fr. Hayes helped out for 22 years at St. Valentine. "He knew the people by name, and was loved and revered by them as a kind of elder statesman," Fr. Belczak said.
And he added that Fr. Hayes would celebrate Mass two days a week for his fellow senior citizens at the Villa Marie Apartments in Livonia.
Fr. Hayes had been active and athletic in his youth, and "played excellent golf."
"He couldn't play 18 holes any more, but continued to play nine holes into his mid- to late 80s. And he drove places himself until he was 92," Fr. Belczak continued.
"He was always very disciplined, and made sure he got his exercise. My brother told me that, when Fr. Hayes was pastor of Shrine, they had a very early daily Mass at 6 a.m., and he would get one of the businessmen who attended that Mass to give him a ride up to 15 Mile and Woodward, then would walk back to Shrine (at 12 Mile Road).
"That way, he would get a three-mile walk in before breakfast every day," Fr. Belczak said.
During his time as Shrine's pastor, he encouraged the formation of the Love of God charismatic prayer group, which grew to about 360 members, with a youth group of about 70, and produced a number of vocations to the priesthood and permanent diaconate. Among those vocations were Msgr. Robert McClory, Fr. Steven Wertanen, Fr. Joe Horn, Deacon John Ball and Deacon Bob Ovies.
"Although he used to say that, temperamentally, he was 'not a hugger,' he was so open to the Holy Spirit. He was a really great priest and spiritual father," Deacon Ovies recalled.
Fr. Belczak said Fr. Hayes was never really sick, but moved to the Marywood Nursing Care Center in Livonia four years ago, because he needed help with the activities of daily living. He died there last Sunday afternoon.
"He just fell asleep, and when they went to check on him, he wasn't breathing. He died the way I think we all would want to die – take a nap and wake up in heaven," Fr. Belczak said.
James Hayes was born Nov. 1, 1912, in Detroit. Ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Detroit on June 11, 1938, he would have celebrated his 72nd anniversary next month.
Fr. Hayes served as assistant pastor at: Santa Maria Parish, Detroit (1938); Sacred Heart Parish, Dearborn (1938-43); St. Catherine Parish, Detroit (1943-48); Sacred Heart Parish, Roseville (1948-50); and Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament Parish, Detroit (1950-52).
In 1952 he was named to the faculty of Sacred Heart Seminary, where he served until his 1960 appointment as pastor of St. Michael Parish, Pontiac.
Fr. Hayes then served as pastor of Shrine of the Little Flower Parish, Royal Oak (1966-74), before being named associate pastor of Guardian Angels Parish, Detroit (1974-80).
He was associate pastor of St. Valentine Parish, Redford Township, from 1980 until 2000. He was granted senior priest status in 1982.
His ministry included service on the Archdiocesan School Board, the archdiocesan Metropolitan Tribunal; the Junior Clergy Examining Board; as a spiritual director at Sacred Heart Seminary; and on the President's Cabinet of Madonna University.
He was recipient of the Fr. John Farrell Award in 1970, which enabled him to study in Rome for three months; and he was the 1995 recipient of Sacred Heart Seminary's Outstanding Former Faculty Award.
A funeral Mass was to be celebrated Wednesday, May 19, by Archbishop Allen Vigneron at St. Edith Church, Livonia. Burial was to be in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Southfield.
He is survived by a sister-in-law, Elaine Hayes, and several nieces and nephews. Condolences may be sent to Elaine Hayes, c/o St. Kenneth Parish, 14951 Haggerty Road, Plymouth 48170.
Memorials to Marywood Nursing Care Facility, Livonia, or Madonna University, Livonia.
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