According to the article in the Detroit Catholic (a partial screenshot of the article is included to the right as a reference), the decree also said that by closing St.Albert’s and St. John the Baptist it would allow the new parish to pay past due notices and obligations and also provide capital for needed renovations to the St. Sebastian site. Very Rev. Canon Walter J. Ptak, who was currently serving as pastor of St. Sebastian’s and acting as administrator for St. Albert’s and St. John the Baptist, would continue to be pastor of the newly founded St. Maria Goretti Parish.
A certified copy of the decrees may be obtained from Saint Sebastian Parish office upon request. The Detroit Catholic article can be found here.
This decree was not a surprise to the parishioners of St. Albert’s as they were informed by the Very Rev. Canon Walter J. Ptak in the March 1st St. Albert Chronicle of 2020 what was planned by the transition team and the reasoning for their decision.
In the March 15th St. Albert Chronicle of 2020, Deacon Regis followed this article with a follow up article regarding bitterness, grieving, and how parishioners should not look at this as “they won, we lost”. Both of these articles have been reprinted here on previous pages.
After the details were all ironed out it was determined that St. Albert’s final Mass would be Sept 27th at 5pm. The Archbishop Allen Vigneron issued a decree closing St. Albert the Great Church permanently effective Monday September 28, 2020.
