Detroit's 1st new Catholic chapel in more than 50 years rising at Loyola
Detroit's 1st new Catholic chapel in more than 50 years rising at Loyola
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The 200-seat chapel is the centerpiece of a $9 million campaign launched by the private Catholic school for boys on the city's northwest side. The campaign will also fund the construction of a new welcome center and student courtyard, scholarships and pay increases to help attract and retain teachers.
The goal is to cement the school's presence in the high-poverty, under-served neighborhood at Fenkell Avenue and Pinehurst Street, said President Dave Smith, who has led Loyola since 2019.
While the projects underway will benefit the school and its students, they are also designed to benefit the neighborhood as well, he said.During the pandemic, Loyola used its kitchen and commons area to launch emergency distribution of more than 2,000 meals a week to help meet need in the area.
"We're trying to reach out to more to the community with the new welcome center...and we have facilities we could make available to the community, if appropriate," Smith said. "We've tried to be good neighbors; we want to continue to do that. We've chosen to stay right here on this campus. This is where our young men are, and we're looking forward to serving the families and sons that come to us here." Founded in 1993 and co-sponsored by the Archdiocese of Detroit and the Midwest Province of Jesuits, Loyola High School is one of only three Catholic high schools still operating in the city, it said in a release.
It occupies the old St. Francis de Sales School, which opened in 1928 and grew to an enrollment of more than 1,000 students before its closure in 1971.
The new St. Peter Claver Chapel will be built on the school's campus on the same footprint as the former St. Peter Claver Church which was closed in 2018 after the roof caved in.
Loyola broke ground on the new chapel, a new courtyard between the chapel and school and a welcome center in mid-September as part of $6.5 million in capital projects, three years after planning and community engagement began.
Loyola staff and students will use the new chapel for daily prayers and monthly masses, and the St. Peter Claver Parish — created through the 2005 merger of the St. Francis de Sales and Precious Blood parishes — will bring Sunday masses back to the campus after holding them on the nearby Marygrove campus for the past six years. The new chapel will also include administrative space for the parish's pastoral associate and St. Vincent de Paul ministry which provides food and clothing to those in need, Smith said.
"With the new chapel, we're [[also) open to the idea of holding appropriate community events if the opportunity arises."
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