History of Sacred Heart Parish
The first known missionary to serve the Bangor area was Fr. Louis Baroux who came to the region in 1847. Mass was celebrated in the homes whenever a priest was available. Bangor, along with South Haven and Grand Junction, was a mission of St. Augustine’s in Kalamazoo.
In 1884 St. Basil’s parish dedicated their new church, and three years later Bangor and Grand Junction were transferred to Paw Paw St. Mary’s. From there Bangor was served by the Reverend Fathers O”Rourke (1887-1892). Wall (1893-1899), Clarson (1899-1920), O’Toole (1920-1923), Higgens (1923-1930), Bona (1930-1936)….
Fr. O’Toole obtained from Bishop Gallagher of Detroit permission for the 32 Bangor families to build a church but it had to be debt-free! This took some doing, but in 1924 the building on the southeast corner of Center and Douglas Sts. was dedicated as Sacred Heart Church. The final thousand dollars was provided by the Catholic Extension Society through a donor who stipulated the church so named.
It was 1932 before the mission achieved the status of a parish with a resident priest, Fr. Michael Sajnaj, who also served the missions of St. Cyril’s at Grand Junction and Holy Family in Decatur. A furnished house on the northwest corner of Center and Douglas was rented for a rectory.
Fr. Sajnaj was not well and the following year he was replaced by Fr. Casimer Korjeniecki who served from 1933 to 1952. In 1937, the fifteen counties of southwest Michigan were cut off from the Diocese of Detroit and became the new Diocese of Lansing.
Fr. Stanislaus Nowakowski (1952-1954) was followed at Sacred Heart by Fr. Robert Taffee (1954-1960); he, in turn, by Fr. Linus Ceru (1960-1972).
Sometime after 1933 the Broadwell home at 208 N. Center St. was purchased for a rectory and land around the parish was acquired. When St. Basil’s opened their parish school in 1950 Sacred Heart purchased a school bus and transported students there until 1955.
By that time Sacred Heart Parish had outgrown the original church and felt the need of its own school. The present building containing four class rooms and temporary church was erected on S. Walnut St.. The church was dedicated October 14, 1956 but, because of failure to obtain teaching sisters for that year, the school was unable to open then and the use of the class rooms was turned over to the public school system until their elementary building was ready. In the spring of 1957 a general contractor constructed the basic portion of a convent and the men of the parish completed the interior.
On September 3, 1957 Mother Everista, Sister Rita Agnes and Sister Elizabeth of the Sisters of St. Joseph from Nazareth, MI opened Sacred Heart School to ninety-nine pupils in grades one through five. Each year a grade was added until June 1961 when eighteen pupils completed the eighth grade.
In May of 1966 the Sisters sent notice that they would be unable to staff the school after June 1967. In October word was received from the chancery that Sacred Heart School would close in June. One hundred fifty-four students were then in attendance.
In August 1970 the parish received the bishop’s permission to hire an architect and plan a new church to be connected with the existing building. In 1973 the new church was build and the convent converted into the rectory.
History of St. Cyril - Grand Junction
Fr. Louis Baroux in the year 1847 started years of devoted service to the scattered Catholic population of southwestern Michigan, including the settlement of Grand Junction. The territory at the time was part of the Diocese of Michigan and the Northwest later to be known as the Diocese of Detroit.
In the year 1886 the first Mass was celebrated at what was then known as St. Caspar’s Mission Church. The building was donated to the Mission by the late Frank Rozinska Sr.. At that time, St. Caspar’s, now St. Cyril’s was compromised of six families. Monsignor Francis O’Brien who came to Kalamazoo on December 14, 1883, was often celebrant at the Mission which was then attached to St. Augustine’s, Kalamazoo.
In 1887 St. Cyril’s was transferred as a Mission to the parish of St. Mary, Paw Paw. The Rev. Father O’Rourke served as pastor. It was during the assignment to Paw Paw that a 12 foot addition was built on the east end of the church as well as a 10x12 foot sacristy.
In 1896 a one acre plot of land for a cemetery was purchased from Dewey Rogers by Mr. And Mrs. Jacob Bean and donated by them to St. Cyril’s to be known as St. Francis Xavier Cemetery.
When in 1931 the Most Reverend Michael Gallagher recognized Sacred Heart Mission of Bangor as a parish, and when on February 1, 1932 Fr. Michael Sajnaj arrived as its first resident pastor, the Missions of St. Cyril and Holy Family, Decatur were assigned to his charge.
It was during the pastorship of Fr. Korzeniecki (1932-1952) that the last 25 foot addition was built onto St. Cyril’s and the sacristy was moved. The seating capacity thus had been increased to 159.
With the formation of the Lansing Diocese and the instillation of Bishop Joseph Albers on August 4, 1937, St. Cyril’s became a member of the new Diocese.
In 1956 Bishop Albers gave St. Cyril’s permission to purchase five acres of land on the east limits of the Village of Grand Junction.
In 1977 following years of discussion a meeting was held in July to plan the building of a new facility on the purchased five acres. In 1979 the land was cleared and the new building completed in late summer. The new church was dedicated and consecrated by the Most Rev. Paul V. Donovan, Bishop of Kalamazoo on August 21.
In 1980 Bishop Donovan deeded St. Cyril’s original property and church to the First Congregational Church of Grand Junction. The church was subsequently torn down.
For many years St. Cyril’s Mission has only been open in the summer for services to accommodate Catholic families living in the Grand Junction area as well summer visitors.