Our Story

Saint Joseph Shrine - Detroit's Historic Gothic Landmark

A magnificent Victorian Gothic edifice completed in 1873 and noted as of national architectural significance, Saint Joseph Shrine is a landmark center of Catholic faith, culture, and community in Detroit's historic Eastern Market district.

Since October 2016, the Canons of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest have served and led the local faithful by bringing daily Traditional Latin Masses, regular devotions, liturgical instruction, and an active parish life. As a result, the parish community at St. Joseph Shrine continues to grow enriching both young and old, individuals and families from all backgrounds and neighborhoods.

In July 2013, the Archdiocese of Detroit merged St. Joseph with two nearby parishes. Then in October 2016, St. Joseph became its own parish under the spiritual and pastoral care of the Institute of Christ the King. In March 2020 the Parish was granted the designation of Archdiocesan Shrine in recognition of its vibrant spiritual growth and daily life. More details here.

About the Institute of Christ the King

Bringing truth in charity to every sphere of human life

Founded in 1990 within the Roman Catholic Church, the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest is a society of priests, sisters, and oblate brothers currently serving in eleven countries around the world and in thirteen dioceses across the United States.

The Institute is devoted to the sanctification of souls through the celebration of the Extraordinary Form of the Latin Rite with Gregorian chant and through the spirituality of its holy patrons: Saint Francis de Sales, Saint Thomas Aquinas, and Saint Benedict of Nursia, as well as Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus.

At the invitation of Archbishop Allen Vigneron, the Institute arrived in 2016 to re-vivify the newly unmerged parish, and to minister to the faithful of the Archdiocese of Detroit through a full sacramental life formed and nurtured by the Traditional Latin Mass.

Sacred music, generous service of the poor, and cultural enlivenment have all flowered and continue to grow in the beautiful Saint Joseph's Church in Detroit's historic Eastern Market, an active and rapidly re-developing urban hub.