THE LOSS OF ANOTHER GREAT PASTOR
MSGR.
THOMAS J. FINNIGAN, "CLERIC EMPOWERED BLACKS."
Monsignor Finnigan's Spartan living quarters in the rectory of St. Cecilia's Catholic Church on Detroit's west side held just a few mementos.
A crucifix hangs over his bed, a shillelagh rests on a small table nearby and a vase holds golf tees and those spare white tabs that tuck into a priest's Roman collar. Pictures of family and friends are everywhere and in the dining room are miniature replicas of two buildings dear to his heart: the Vatican and Tiger Stadium.
But Msgr. Finnigan "loved people, not things," said his brother John Finnigan, a Monsignor in Canton, Ohio.
Msgr. Finnigan a stalwart in the Archdiocese of Detroit who empowered black Catholics to take leadership roles in the church, died Thursday, June 15th, 2000 of cardiac arrest at his church rectory. He was 70, had been a Catholic priest for 45 years and had suffered from emphysema.
A native of Trenton, Thomas Joseph Finnigan - known for some reason as Jimmy to childhood friends - entered Sacred Heart Seminary High School at age 13.
He was the most generous person I ever met," said the Rev. Norm Thomas, pastor of Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Detroit.
Msgr. Finnigan, Father Thomas, the late Father William Cunningham, and the Rev. Anthony Kosnik were called the "Bad Boys" of the Class of 1955 at St. John Major Seminary in Plymouth - seminarians are often in trouble for rebelling against the status quo.
After stints as associate pastor at St. Mary Magdalene in Hazel Park, St. Robert Bellarmine in Redford Township, St Francis De Sales in Detroit and Our Lady Star of the Sea Parish in Grosse Pointe Shores, Msgr. Finnigan was named pastor at Presentation/Our Lady of Victory parish in 1970.
In 1973, Msgr. Finnigan transferred to St. Cecilia Catholic Church, home of Ceciliaville, the nationally renowned summer basketball program started by the late Sam Washington.
"Father Finnigan was an extension really of what that program was all about, always giving and giving and giving," said Dick Vitale, former basketball coach at University of Detroit and now commentator for ESPN. "We need more people like Father Finnigan."
An athletic man who participated in many sports, Msgr. Finnigan through himself wholeheartedly into whatever it took to run the parish, including climbing scaffolding to paint the towering walls at St. Cecilia, using a chainsaw to fell a tree or mowing the meticulously groomed lawn outside the church complex on Livernois north of Grand River.
Msgr. James Robinson, rector emeritus at Blessed Sacrament Cathedral in Detroit who meet Msgr. Finnigan in 1976 while studying in Rome, said Msgr. Finnigan had immersed himself in African American culture.
"He thought Black, and he felt Black," Robinson said.
Wyatt Jones Jr., a Catholic deacon in the church who wasn't attending any church regularly when he met Msgr. Finnigan, said the pastor encouraged black Catholics to become leaders in the parish, and reached out to young people involved in negative activities.
"A
lot of them who used to be members of a gang are now leaders in the
church," Jones said.
Edward Overstreet, associate director of Boysville of Michigan, a nonprofit agency helping troubled children and families, said Msgr. Finnigan was a former Boysville board member and a superb fund-raiser who "was totally dedicated to the Detroit community."
His is a big loss to Detroit, in many ways similar to Rev. Bill Cunningham," the co-founder of Focus Hope who died in 1997, Overstreet said.
Continued
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