Detroit’s SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral celebrates feastday with Garden Party Celebration
DETROIT, MI [MW Diocese Communications] — On the Feast of Saint Peter and Paul, a festive celebration was held at Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral here — a Garden Party!
The cathedral was blessed to receive a grant from the Diocese of the Midwest and worked hard in partnership with Orthodox Detroit Outreach and the Greening of Detroit to create a garden paradise in southwest Detroit — an area that has been in decline for many years. The garden serves as a “home” for the ministry to the neighborhood needy and homeless.
A beautiful festive Divine Liturgy was served with guest clergy Fathers Andrew Yavornitzky, Paul Albert, John Wehling, and Dimitrie Vincent. Almost 100 faithful and guests from the parish, sister parishes, Youthworks volunteers, and the neighborhood attended the Liturgy, after which festivities were moved outside to the community garden that has been developed on vacant lots owned by the parish. The clergy and people processed from the church to the garden while singing the troparion of the feast.
The Garden of the Saints/Jardin de los Santos was blessed, and following the blessing, a BBQ picnic was held for guests and neighbors. Lunch was free and open to all, prepared and donated by parishioners. The Garden is aptly named; a large mural of Our Lady of Guadalupe greets visitors, and many icon shrines adorn the garden.
It is not unusual to see abandoned and burned out houses and storefronts in the area. Drugs and crime are commonplace. Despite this, the Hispanic community has worked hard against many odds to create a viable neighborhood where our Slavic immigrant ancestors once lived and built an Orthodox Church in 1907. Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral is committed to staying in the neighborhood as long as God wills us to be there. A new paradigm is beginning to take root where we, in partnership with other groups — Orthodox Detroit Outreach, Greening of Detroit, Detroit Hunger Alliance, Detroit Youthworks and Bezalel Youth project — continue to build up, beautify, and serve our neighbors in southwest Detroit.
Photos of the event may be viewed here.
