Our Lady of La Salette

Roman Catholic Church and School
2600 Harvard Road, Berkley, Michigan 48072
(248) 541-3762 • (248) 541-4250 Fax

About Our Parish

Old ChurchIn 1921, the few Catholics who lived in the Berkley area purchased land to build a church on Catalpa where Anderson Middle School is today. Within three years the new parish, named Our Lady of Refuge, was established and began to flourish. In 1927 the church was moved to a new site, on the corner of Coolidge and Harvard. A new rectory was built. The future looked promising. Then the Depression came. The parish lost what money it had in the bank, the parishioners lost their jobs, and everything came to a standstill. In 1932, the Archdiocese of Detroit asked the Missionaries of La Salette to come to Berkley and staff the parish. When the La Salette priests arrived, there was little furniture, no telephone and not even enough money to turn on the lights. They eventually sold the rectory. That building still stands at 1799 Coolidge.

 

During those years, when the people were out of work, they did what they could, by excavating a basement for the Church and bricking it in. All the work was volunteered. The pride it brought and the unity it preserved saved the parish. The original name of the church was also changed. It became Our Lady of La Salette.

 

As the country came out of the depression, life for the people and the parish became better. During those comeback years, the church acquired most of the property it owns today.

 

Our Lady of La Salette School started in 1943 with two classrooms in a garage. It was staffed by the Sisters of Mercy and its first enrollment was 100 children. The present school was built in three stages from 1947 to 1953. The early 1960’s saw enrollments well over 1000.

 

A new rectory was built in 1963, followed by the present church in 1967. From 1953 until 1967 the church was located on the present site of the Father Landry Parish Center, which was built in 1988.

 

In 1994, the La Salette Missionaries withdrew from the parish and responsibility for staffing Our Lady of La Salette Parish was returned to the Archdiocese of Detroit.

 

Brick and mortar do not make a church; people do. But the measurement of a parish’s faith can be judged by the sacrifices people make. Our parish has a record of giants in the faith.


The La Salette Cross

The La Salette CrossAt La Salette, Mary wore a crucifix suspended from a chain around her neck. On either side of it was an instrument used in Christ’s crucifixion. A hammer was on the right, and a pincers on the left.

The hammer was the tool used to drive the nails into Christ’s flesh. It symbolizes sin. The pincers were the pliers-like tool used to remove the nails when Jesus was taken down from the cross. They symbolize prayer and penance.

Mary’s message at La Salette was a tearful mother’s plea to her children. She asked the faithful to turn from habits of sin and to pray for the conversion of sinners. The Cross that landmarks our parish church symbolizes her message.