vehicles will accommodate the increasing
number of visitors to Sacred Heart’s many
events.
Phase 2 plans include integrating the
parking area into the existing campus by
closing Lawton Street to through traf-
fic, with the campus being accessed from
Chicago Boulevard and Lawton via a new
secured main entrance. (The existing
Linwood Avenue entrance will become a
service entrance). New landscaping along
Chicago Boulevard will visually link the
two properties.
Longer term planning, or Phase 3, in-
cludes the possibility of purchasing the
entire block, which extends south to Joy
Road. Additional campus buildings might
be built on the property to support expand-
ed seminary outreach in the future.
POSITIVE COMMUNITY IMPACT
At a reception following the property
blessing, Msgr. Todd Lajiness, Sacred
Heart’s rector, called the expansion project
“a sign of hope for the neighborhood and
the seminary.”
First of all, the property expansion “will
have a direct and positive impact on how we
carry out our mission.” As the seminary’s
programs continue to grow along with its
growing collaboration with the archdiocese
and the surrounding neighborhood, “the
acquisition gives us the necessary space to
increase our parking, enhance our green
space, and allow our programs to flourish,”
the rector said.
Second, the expansion signifies the semi-
nary’s desire to be “good neighbors” to the
surrounding community. “By clearing the
property of derelict buildings,” said the rec-
tor, “we are enhancing the beauty of the
neighborhood and its historic charm, while
helping to stabilize local property values.”
At the same time, the acquisition improves
the security of the campus.
HERE FOR THE LONG HAUL
The property expansion also signifies
Sacred Heart’s commitment to the city of
Detroit, Monsignor Lajiness continued. He
cited the presence of the famous “Black
Jesus” statue at the corner of Linwood Av-
enue and Chicago Boulevard—its extremi-
ties have been kept painted black since the
We have been proud to be
a part of the growth and
renewal of the city.
1967 Detroit civil disturbance—as a “daily
reminder of the great blessing the commu-
nity is to us, and that we have become to
the community.”
“We are here for the long haul,” said
Monsignor. “There is no better place to
form our future priests, deacons, and lay
leaders than right here.”
Archbishop Vigneron at the blessing
shared a little-known bit of seminary his-
tory. The property just purchased was once
part of the larger seminary campus. Bishop
Michael Gallagher, Sacred Heart’s found-
er, sold the 2.5 acres of campus during
the Great Depression to buy food for the
seminarians and to keep the seminary from
bankruptcy. Thus, the “re”-purchase, so to
speak, of the property is an example of “the
great swing of history,” said the archbishop.
“Through all times, we have been proud
to be here, proud to be a part of the growth
and renewal of the city,” Archbishop
Vigneron expressed at the blessing’s end.
This architectural rendering depicts Phase 1 of the seminary’s property expansion plans. The dotted line encloses the new parking lot. Trees will flank the
sidewalk along Chicago Boulevard, creating a canopy that will link the lot with the main campus.
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