Sad, Reflective Goodbye for Closing Royal Oak Church
St. Dennis held final mass Sunday.
On Sunday, parishioners at St. Dennis Catholic Church gathered for the final time to say goodbye to their closing church. The closing is the result of the Archdiocese of Detroit's Together in Faith plan, which was initiated in 2011 as a way to deal with financial challenges, a shortage of priests, and changing demographics in the archdiocese. Founded 62 years ago by Edward Cardinal Mooney, Sunday's 3 p.m. mass marked the final service for the parish that merged with St. Vincent Ferrer, in Madison Heights, in June. "I remember attending Sunday mass in the gymnasium of Lockman Elementary School, while St. Dennis was being built," wrote Patch reader Ruth Lehman. "I was married there in 1969, and my first child was baptized there." The …
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