DETROIT (WXYZ) — For more than a century, Catholic families have walked through the doors of Most Holy Redeemer in southwest Detroit.
The church, built in the 1920s, was once a predominantly German parish and the country's largest English-speaking parish. Over the decades, the neighborhood around it transformed into what is now affectionately known as Detroit's Mexicantown.
Watch Sara Molina's video report below:
Father John Robinson came to lead Most Holy Redeemer two years ago after preaching in Mexico. He says Latinos now make up about 95% of the parish.
"People really started moving out and it was — this place was really depressed and quite dangerous... and Hispanics started moving in and really building the place up," Robinson said.
Today, he says, the connections formed inside the church walls stretch back decades and across borders.
"You'll have people that'll tell me oh, I went to school with this guy but in Mexico like 30, 40, 50 years ago. So, and then now, they're neighbors or they see each other at mass," Robinson said.
For younger, second and third generation Latinos, the bond between faith and culture runs just as deep. Parishioner Pilar Slonkosky said the connection is woven into everyday life.
"The Catholic church is webbed very intricately," Slonkosky said. "There's just a greater understanding at large and so for the parish as a whole, there's an easier sense of family."
That sense of family extends beyond the church itself and into Most Holy Redeemer Catholic School. Sister Mary Elizabeth, a nun with the school, said the community's identity shapes the experience from the moment you arrive.
"Having Mexican American Catholics as your primary community, it's just kind of like you get inserted into a family right away," she said.
But that sense of family is also at the center of a much harder conversation. Federal immigration enforcement has touched the lives of some parishioners, and Robinson said the impact has been deeply felt.
"It's been difficult, especially for some that have lost one of the family members. That's the saddest part is whendad gets deported, mom gets deported, but their whole life is here. People come to me often asking for prayers or for a letter saying so and so has been in the parish for this long," Father John said.
Hispanic Heritage Month runs through Oct. 15 and is a time to celebrate the languages, traditions and stories that make up Latino communities across the country. In southwest Detroit, that culture can be found just about anywhere — but at Most Holy Redeemer, you can feel it.
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