So successful an achievement as the building of St. Cecilia's Church could only have been the result of the wholehearted cooperation of Father Fleming, the architect, Mr. Antonio Di Nardo, the building committee, the W. E. Wood Company, and the hundreds of parishioners whose sacrifices made possible the realization of the dream.
The church, dedicates to St. Cecilia, was opened to the public on Christmas Eve, 1930. Eighty years later it stands as an impressive monument to the faith of the good people of the Grand River - Livernois section of Detroit.
MEMORY OF THE MIDDLE YEARS
When Edward F. Mooney, Bishop of Rochester, was installed August 3, 1937, as successor to Bishop Gallagher, Detroit was made an archdiocese. The most urgent problem confronting the new archbishop was the financial predicament of the many parishes which had embarked on substantial building programs only to be caught short by the Great Depression. Fundraising became increasingly difficult as joblessness increased, and principal and interest payments fell into arrears.
It was in the wake of these devastating years, with St. Cecilia's heavily in debt because of the church building, that Reverend Alfred A. Hebert became pastor of the parish in 1942. Though small in stature, Father Hebert had a mind of extraordinary keenness, a wealth of energy and a great talent for organization. As he had done in all of his previous parishes, the first thing he did was to visit all his flock. For nearly two years he rang doorbells, making more than three thousand personal visits to the homes of the people of St. Cecilia's.
IN FOUR YEAR - A DEBT PAID OFF
In little more than four years under Father Hebert's leadership the parish debt of four hundred and eighty thousand dollars was paid. In the years following Pearl Harbor - at a time when young men from the parish were going off to war and the nation's automotive industry was converting from the production of cars to tanks, trucks, and weapons- rising employment helped Father Hebert in his difficult task. Of the money raised, he was able to set aside an additional seventy thousand dollars toward a new convent, funded through a memorial drive for the soldiers and sailors of the parish.
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