Latin Liturgy Association in Detroit

Tridentine Community News (July 18, 2010). The following is from the column in the St. Josephat Church bulletin for the occasion of yesterday's Pontifical High Mass celebrated by Chicago Auxillary Bishop Perry. The church was filled with hundreds of visitors.

We wish to extend a special welcome to those who are attending the Latin Liturgy Association National Convention this weekend, especially those visiting our churches for the first time. There is close cooperation between St. Josaphat Church, its cluster partners St. Joseph and Sweetest Heart of Mary, nearby St. Albertus, and Windsor’s Assumption Church. Latin Liturgy has a prominent role at all five of these churches, all of which are beautiful, historically intact edifices ideally suited for the traditional celebration of Holy Mass.

The Extraordinary “Tridentine” Form of Holy Mass is offered every Sunday at 9:30 AM and Monday at 7:00 PM at St. Josaphat Church; every Sunday at 2:00 PM and Tuesday at 7:00 PM at Windsor’s Assumption Church; and on Fourth Sundays at Noon at St. Joseph Church. St. Albertus offers the Extraordinary Form four times per year at Noon, with the next Masses scheduled for August 29 and November 14. Sweetest Heart of Mary offers the Extraordinary Form of Mass on special occasions and feast days. Confessions in the Extraordinary Form are heard at Assumption-Windsor every Sunday at 1:30 PM. Weddings, Baptisms, and funerals in the Extraordinary Form are available.

The Ordinary “Novus Ordo” Form of Holy Mass is offered in Latin at St. Joseph Church all Sundays except the fourth at 10:30 AM. Assumption-Windsor also offers an English Mass accompanied by chant and polyphonic Latin compositions every Sunday at 11:00 AM.

We invite you to read the complete schedule of Masses and special events posted at www.detroitlatinmass.org and www.windsorlatinmass.org and hope you will be able to join us again as often as time permits.

Jason Grossi Appointed Lead Architect
for Assumption Church Restoration

On May 25, 2010, the board of the Assumption Heritage Trust Foundation selected Jason Grossi as lead architect for the restoration of Windsor’s Our Lady of the Assumption Church. The AHTF is the entity established by the Diocese of London, Ontario to oversee the fundraising for and administration of the $9,800,000 restoration project of this historic church.

The project is mostly a structural one, to restore the decaying exterior walls. It will also encompass a redesign of the campus to make better use of the spacious grounds for garden and parking areas. The sacristy, which is structurally unsound and not historically significant, will be replaced with a new one with more convenient storage for the Latin Mass supplies on the ground floor. A new and larger social hall will also be built.

Jason and his family are active members of Assumption’s Tridentine Mass Community. Many of our readers already know of Jason’s talent via his design of the Latin Liturgy Association Convention brochure.

Jason’s firm, Studio g+G, has offices in Windsor and in Moscow, Russia. His team has undertaken projects ranging from an art institute, to a high-rise hotel, to a 1,200,000 square foot multifunction retail, office, and condominium tower development near the Kremlin. His own office building in Windsor is an historic restoration of the former Walkerville electrical station.

Jason has taught architecture at Lawrence Technological University and is also an accomplished composer and musician. His works for ensemble and orchestra have been played several times on CBC Radio, and he has put his skill on the trumpet to use accompanying our closing hymns at Assumption on occasion.

We congratulate Jason and thank the Assumption Heritage Trust Foundation board for their vote of confidence in someone not only with the appropriate talent and experience, but also with a vested interest in preserving the various historic elements of the church so essential to the Traditional Latin Mass.

Vocations News: Joe Tuskiewicz

We are pleased to announce that familiar face Joe Tuskiewicz has been accepted as a seminarian for the Archdiocese of Detroit. Joe recently retired from a career as a globe-trotting advertising executive and will be attending the “second-career vocation” Blessed John XXIII National Seminary in Weston, Massachusetts, near Boston.

Joe is active on numerous fronts on the local Catholic scene: He is one of the lead altar servers for the Extraordinary Form Masses at St. Josaphat, Assumption-Windsor, St. Joseph, and St. Albertus; a lector for the Saturday afternoon Mass at Old St. Mary’s in Detroit; and a catechism instructor and occasional altar server at Ss. Cyril & Methodius Church in Sterling Heights. Joe has also taught catechism at other parishes in metro Detroit through the years and has mentored numerous individuals.

Joe’s quiet dedication to his faith has been an inspiration to those around him. His strong prayer life and attention to detail in his tasks leave us no doubt that he will make an excellent priest.

Joe will be departing for the seminary in late August. God willing, he may be able to celebrate the Extraordinary Form of Holy Mass for us one day. Please pray for him and for all of our future priests.

[Comments? Please e-mail tridnews@stjosaphatchurch.org. Previous columns are available at www.stjosaphatchurch.org. This edition of Tridentine Community News, with minor editions, is from the St. Josaphat bulletin insert for July 18, 2010. Hat tip to A.B.]

P.S. Joe Tuskiewicz, by the way, has all the makings of a terrific priest. Several of my classes at Sacred Heart Major Seminary were graced by his presence last school year, and many of the seminarians, as well as I, have come to know and appreciate him for his quiet intelligence, good sense, good humor, and disciplined practice of his faith in all things Catholic. God Speed, Joe!