HISTORY OF SACRED HEART OF JESUS PARISH, FLINT

At a christening party at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Michael Popovich on November 29, 1925, the idea of a Slovak parish was discussed and a collection of fifteen dollars was raised. A petition was sent to Bishop Michael J. Gallagher in Detroit.  Many early   members of the parish were already members of the Catholic Slovak Union. A building committee and the Altar Society were organized in 1926. In April 1928 ground was broken for the church then the spade used was auctioned off for $300. The first pastor, Rev. John J. Tresbock, arrived in July and held services in Fr. Murphy Hall at St. Michael's downtown. Bishop Gallagher laid the cornerstone for the church July twenty-eighth and the first services were held in September.

The first eleven years were very trying. The economic crash did not help the tense situation that existed between certain laymen and the eight priests assigned during those eleven years. At one point, foreclosure proceedings were begun on the land on which the $5,500 combination church and rectory had been built.

The golden era of Sacred Heart Parish dawned with the arrival of Rev. John A. Blasko in 1939. After refinancing the $75,000 parish debt, Fr. Blasko looked forward to someday opening a school for the rapidly growing parish.

The Dominican Sisters from Pontiac (later Oxford) came in 1942 and opened the grade school. They taught the 285 students in the six classrooms into which the parish hall had been converted. The Oxford Dominicans were still a part of the school staff when it was closed.

The former assistant pastor, Rev. George B. Zabelka, returned to Sacred Heart in July 1955 as pastor. The recreation center was begun in 1957 and dedicated in March 1958. The high school, which had opened in 1946, was closed in June 1967. In June 1970 the grade school closed as well. The church basement was remodeled into a hall after the recreation center was rented out in 1971.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s the parish population continued to dwindle. The last resident priest, Rev. Alan Wakefield, was transferred in June 1985. The parish was then entrusted to the care of a lay couple, Ken Berger and Patricia Robertson. This was a first for the Diocese. Since the retirement of Dr. Connie McClanahan as pastoral coordinator, in June 2001, the pastor of St. Michael Flint has also been appointed pastor of Sacred Heart.

(Living in Joyful Hope - A History of the Diocese of Lansing, Rev. Msgr. George C. Michalek)