Would I be safe visiting Detroit's Catholic Churches? (Grand Rapids, Marquette: live in, cost)

[Coldjensens]

I walk around Detroit every day in a suit and never attract any attention. What I found recently, is that when I dress down, I seem to attract alot more requests for money, rides, etc. If you go inth winter, you wll be wearing a coat and no one will see what you are wearing aynyway.

Winter could arguably be safer because fewer people are outside, but Icannot imagine that it makes any difference for what you are planning.

Do not assume that black people are dangerous and white people are safe. You will tick off people and make bad choices. If you act afraid of every black person that you see you may create problems for yoyurself. In My experience, most black people are decent folk and no more apt to hurt you than white peopple. In fact, this weekend, a whiute guy approached me downtown and asked for a ride to a nearby location . When I asked him to open his coat so I could ensure that he did nto have a weapon, I saw a huge bag of white powder stuffed into his waistband. I gave him a ride anyway sine he had no weapon, but that was one of the most dramatic cimre like things that I have seen in Detroit.

The one thing that you need to do, if you get lost you are in an pbvipusly bad area, and someone tries to stop you, do not stop.

If you are into stained glass, there is a fabulous tiffany window in the Chapel at the Episcopal church in Grosse Ile. People come from Europe to see it. You need an appointment though, the chaple is nto usually open.

[cath4ever]

Hello all,

Thank you to all who have helped me out by your replies! Thank you especially to ForStarters for posting your ratings!

Last Friday I was blest to be able to sign up for a guided tour of the Catholic Churches of downtown Detroit put on by a parish in Sterling Heights! The tour is this Friday and all the most important churches will be covered: St. Albertus, Sweetest Heart of Mary, St. Josaphat, St. Joseph, St. Anne, St. Hedwig, Holy Cross, the Shrine of the Little Flower, Old St. Mary's, Assumption Grotto and Holy Redeemer. I'm not sure if this is all of them, but these were the ones listed as at least part of where we'll go. The churches will still be decked out in their Christmas best so that makes it even better!

With that said, I'm certain we won't visit the suburban parishes that I listed. Could anyone tell me more about the safety of visiting the following:

St. Florian
2626 Poland
Hamtramck

St. Ladislaus
2730 Caniff
Hamtramck

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel
976 Pope John Paul II Ave.
Wyandotte

St. Paul on the Lake
157 Lake Shore Rd.
Grosse Pointe Farms

Thanks to all of you again!

[Coldjensens]

Wyandotte and Grosse Pointe farms are both quite safe, in fact they are very nice communities. I will leave the Hamtramck addresses to someone else.

[the_muse]

All of those churches are fine. St. Florian and Ladislaus in Hamtramck is where some people might consider to be a slightly "sketchy" neighborhood, but you'll be fine. Again, I'd recommend calling ahead and asking staff if they can give you a tour, as it's possible a staff member will give you a nice tour and perhaps more historical info, should you be interested.

[cath4ever]

Once again, I would like to thank everyone who contributed to this question thread. It has been really a big help in determining how to safely go about visiting the beautiful Catholic Churches in and around Detroit.

One last thing....I will be likely staying at a hotel in Rochester Hills this Thursday and Friday night for the church tour. Is Rochester Hills a safe neighborhood in which to spend the night at a hotel, or should I look someplace else? If Rochester Hills is a dangerous place to get a hotel, what areas would you recommend? I will of course take everything valuable out of my car when in the hotel and will lock my car always...day or night.

Thank you again to everyone who contributed. It is deeply appreciated.

God bless,

Cath4ever

[MaryleeII]

Originally Posted by cath4ever

Once again, I would like to thank everyone who contributed to this question thread. It has been really a big help in determining how to safely go about visiting the beautiful Catholic Churches in and around Detroit.

One last thing....I will be likely staying at a hotel in Rochester Hills this Thursday and Friday night for the church tour. Is Rochester Hills a safe neighborhood in which to spend the night at a hotel, or should I look someplace else? If Rochester Hills is a dangerous place to get a hotel, what areas would you recommend? I will of course take everything valuable out of my car when in the hotel and will lock my car always...day or night.

Thank you again to everyone who contributed. It is deeply appreciated.

God bless,

Cath4ever

Although someone else could better answer this, I wouldn't worry about rochester Hills, its pretty decent. Just follow safety rules as in all hotels, don't flash cash or jewelry, don't wander halls at night, by all means get a hotel with interior corridors, never a hotel that opens to the street---I've traveled a lot by myself, here's my "safety rules"

don't let the desk clerk announce your room number, don't let them say "here's your key to room 501, Mr. Smith" in that case ask for another room and to keep their mouth shut!

If possible, ask to be escorted to your room, and have them wait while you inspect it, look in the bathroom, behind curtains, under the bed, etc.

check the connecting door to make sure its locked

always use the interior bolt while inside the room

don't use the door hanger for room service breakfast, order by phone instead, don't let a casual passerby know when you intend to wake, come and go


don't open the door to anyone claiming to be from the hotel unless you are expecting someone, such as room service, otherwise confirm by phone


I don't mean to scare you, just safety seems to be a concern, as it should be. Once I was staying with my daughter in a very nice marriott, someone came pounding at the door, I asked through the door who it was, they said maintenance, they had an "emergency". I said I would call front desk to confirm, front desk said there was no maintenance order, and they would have called first. I then asked for a security escort out the door (we were checking out, anyways, or I would have asked for another room).

Good Luck and please post your pictures!

[the_muse]

Rochester Hills is just as safe as Traverse City. (I'm not saying that based on any stats - just having spent plenty of time in both places, I can't imagine having any safety concerns, other than the common sense recommended above when ever staying at a hotel.)

[cath4ever]

Hello again,

Well, I took my trip to Detroit this weekend and it was great! I went on the guided tour sponsored by Sts. Cyril & Methodius in Sterling Heights on Friday and we visited:

1) Shrine of the Little Flower, Royal Oak
2) Sweetest Heart of Mary, Detroit
3) St. Albertus, Detroit
4) St. Joseph, Detroit
5) Holy Cross Hungarian, Detroit
6) St. Anne de Detroit, Detroit
7) Holy Redeemer, Detroit
8) Assumption Grotto, Detroit.

I got to see a lot of Detroit by going around to the churches and I realized Detroit is not nearly as bad as what I originally had thought. Especially because it was winter there were very few people walking the streets and I never felt in danger anywhere on the tour.

Then on Saturday, because I realized Detroit wasn't so bad after all, I went around to more churches by myself. I went to:

1) St. Florian, Hamtramck
2) St. Ladislaus, Hamtramck (just the outside)
3) St. Paul on the Lake, Grosse Pointe Farms
4) Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Wyandotte
5) Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament, Detroit (just the outside)
6) St. Hedwig, Detroit
7) Most Holy Trinity, Detroit
8) St. Aloysius, Detroit (just the outside)
9) Our Lady of the Rosary, Detroit
10) Old St. Mary's, Detroit
11) Sts. Peter & Paul Jesuit, Detroit (just the outside)
12) St. Josaphat, Detroit (just the outside)

The only church that I didn't get to visit that I really wanted to see the inside of was St. Josaphat. Of the 14 churches I was able to go into I think my favorites were Holy Cross because of its unique paintings and St. Hedwig because it was just an all-around beautiful church.

I was glad to be able to go to Detroit because now I know it isn't such a bad city. It obviously has a lot of economic problems that were easily viewable, but I never felt in serious danger anywhere that I drove through or visited. Going to Detroit has now given me more confidence about other cities too because if I can handle Detroit I can handle any other city in which I want to visit churches.

Thank you again to all who contributed to this thread. I valued all of your opinions and took them all into account when I was there. To show my thanks I thought it would be nice to post some of the 575 pictures that I took. They will be attached to this post. On the tour we went to Assumption Grotto too late at night to get a picture of it's outside, so there isn't one of the outside of it.


Thank you again, and God bless all of you!

[MaryleeII]

Glad your trip went well and thanks for sharing your beautiful picutres!

[the_muse]

Great! I'm glad you had a wonderful trip - and what an amazing list of churches you visited in two short days!

Please tell your friends and any naysayers about Detroit that the hype is overblown. Most of the people who rail about safety in the city rarely go there, and are simply relying on stories from decades ago. There are plenty of areas of Chicago and LA that are more dangerous than some of the worst parts of Detroit. Like in any large city, you have to be somewhat careful... but frankly, you can get in trouble in any affluent suburb or town, too.

Thank you for posting the photos! I'm glad it was a sunny weekend for your exterior photos.