Story of Sacred Heart Parish
After World War II, many returning servicemen married and began families. Many of these new families purchased homes in the western fringes of Detroit and the western suburbs such as Redford and Livonia. Up to this point, they were members of and attended St. Nicholas Byzantine Catholic Church, then located on Detroit’s East Grand Boulevard. A group of these west siders approached Rev. William Lesko, pastor of St. Nicholas, about the possibility of having a Byzantine Catholic Church on the west side. He suggested that they locate a suitable building at a reasonable price and he would then help with the required permission from Bishop Nicholas T. Elko and with the financing.
A building was found on Beech-Daly Road near Five Mile Road in Redford Township and was purchased in April of 1957. Painting and remodeling the building to make it suitable for a Byzantine Church was begun and completed on June 30, 1957. The following month, the first Baptism and Chrismation in the new parish took place.
Further Property Developments
May 6, 1959 Sacred Heart was assigned its own pastor, Rev. Myron Hornyak, relieving Father Lesko of the duty of administering Sacred Heart as well as St. Nicholas and the newly formed St. Basil the Great parishes. Many new families joined Sacred Heart but the Beech-Daly building was small and there was little space to expand. Between 1961 and 1964, the current property pieces in Livonia were purchased allowing room to grow. Ground breaking on the current church took place on October 23, 1966 with the participation and blessing of Bishop Elko. The first Divine Liturgy in the new building took place January 6, 1968. The church was formally blessed by Bishop Emil J. Mihalik in September of 1969.
Eventually, an Activity Center and a Catechetical Center were built to meet the needs of the parish family. Previously, classes were held in an old garage, a vacant house on the property, and the rectory basement. These additions allowed the parishioners to experience fellowship and the students to have actual classrooms instead of make-shift ones.
Who are Ruthenians Catholics?
The Ruthenian faith began in the homeland of our ancestors, “the old country,” central Europe. Envision a map of the European continent. Our ancestral homeland known variously as Carpathian Rus’, Transcarpathia, Carpatho-Ruthenia, Carpatho-Russia, and Carpatho-Ukraine is the very heart of the picture, presently eastern Slovakia, southwest Ukraine, northeast Hungary and northwest Romania. The religious life of these people came from the East. Like the other East Slavs, the Carpatho-Rusins received Christianity from the Byzantine Empire.
Sts. Cyril & Methodius
In the year 863, two Byzantine Greek missionaries, the brothers Cyril and Methodius, “The Apostles to the Slavs”, introduced Christianity and the new Slavonic alphabet to Greater Moravia, the present Czech Republic and Western Slovakia. Thereafter, the followers of these Byzantine missionaries moved eastward, eventually converting the Ruthenian people.
How do the Eastern rites fit in?
The Catholic Church is a communion of churches. It is made up of churches from the Eastern Tradition and the Western Tradition. Eastern Catholics are in union with Rome and Pope Francis. We share the same basic faith and the same mysteries (sacraments), however, our way of expressing them follows the same tradition as the Orthodox churches. In reality, there are many Eastern churches, each with its own heritage and theology, liturgy and discipline.
Jesus sent his disciples to the four corners of the world to spread the Gospel. Eventually, four great centers of Christianity emerged with distinctive Christian customs, but the same faith. These centers were Jerusalem, Antioch, Rome and Alexandria. A few centuries later when the capital of the Roman Empire was moved to the Eastern city of Byzantium, later renamed Constantinople, an adaptation of the Antioch celebration of the liturgy was made. From this powerful cultural center the Byzantine church emerged.
Our Pastor
Rev. Fr. Marton Egressy — Priest & Parochial Administrator
Effective October 1, 2025, his appointment has been made with the approval of Bishop Teodor Matsapula of the Eparchy of Mukachevo.
Our Eparchy
Eparchy of Parma — Parma, Ohio
The Eparchy of Parma is an eparchy (diocese) of the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church in the midwestern part of the United States. Its episcopal seat is the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Parma, Ohio. The eparchy's liturgies utilize the Byzantine Rite.
It is a suffragan diocese of the Archeparchy of Pittsburgh in the ecclesiastical province of Pittsburgh. The metropolis is dependent upon the Roman Congregation for the Oriental Churches. The eparchy is sometimes styled as the "Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Parma", referring to the title that the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church uses in the United States.