About St. Moses the Black · Detroit, Michigan
The Catholic Church of St. Moses the Black is a Spirit-filled Roman Catholic parish on Oakman Boulevard in Detroit, Michigan, belonging to the Archdiocese of Detroit. Worshiping in the historic 1920s Church of the Madonna building, the parish offers Sunday Mass at 10:30 a.m., weekday Mass on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings, and Sunday confessions before Mass. St. Moses is a hub for outreach on Detroit's near-west side: it is the cradle of Focus: HOPE, operates a robust St. Vincent de Paul food pantry, and is the home of Father Marko Djonovic's award-winning Better Way Detroit ministry that employs homeless men and women cleaning blighted neighborhoods. As a member of the D4 Mission Family of Parishes, St. Moses the Black carries forward a legacy of community development, justice, and Eucharistic renewal in the city of Detroit.
- Established
- 1923 (as Church of the Madonna); renamed St. Moses the Black in 2013
- Patron
- St. Moses the Black
- Rector
- Rev. Marko Djonovic (Priest in Solidum, Primarily Responsible)
- Diocese
- Archdiocese of Detroit
Why belong here
St. Moses the Black is a Spirit-filled parish that lives out the Gospel through direct service to Detroit's most vulnerable neighbors. The parish operates a St. Vincent de Paul food pantry (feeding 250+ families weekly), is the home of Better Way Detroit — Father Djonovic's transitional-employment ministry for the homeless — and continues a deep partnership with Focus: HOPE, which was literally born in the church's basement. Add a welcoming Sunday liturgy at 10:30 a.m., a livestream for the homebound, and a D4 Mission Family of Parishes network, and St. Moses offers both a prayerful Catholic home and a tangible way to put faith into action.
Mass times at St. Moses the Black
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Sundays at 9:00 AM
About St. Moses the Black Parish
The Catholic Church of St. Moses the Black describes itself as a Spirit-filled parish responding to the Lord's call to love one's neighbor. The parish's stated goal is to impact Detroit and its neighboring communities by serving others, promoting Gospel values, and making Christ's love known to all. It sits inside the Archdiocese of Detroit's Trinity Vicariate (Central Region) as part of the D4 Mission Family of Parishes, alongside St. Charles Lwanga, Christ the King Catholic Church & School, St. Suzanne / Our Lady Gate of Heaven, and St. Peter Claver Catholic Community.
History: From Church of the Madonna to St. Moses the Black
Established in 1923 as an Italian national parish and built between 1924 and 1926, the Church of the Madonna soon became the preferred parish for Detroit's Maltese Catholic community. After World War II, African-American families reshaped the neighborhood, and during the 1967 Detroit unrest the parish's pastor, Fr. William Cunningham, co-founded Focus: HOPE in the church basement with Eleanor Josaitis. Following Detroit's population decline, the parish was clustered in 2012 with St. Benedict (Highland Park, 1915) and St. Gregory the Great (1923); in 2013 the surviving parish was renamed in honor of St. Moses the Black, the 4th-century Egyptian monk born c. 330 who died a martyr in 405.
- 1923 — parish established as Church of the Madonna
- 1924–1926 — current church building constructed
- 1967 — Fr. William Cunningham and Eleanor Josaitis found Focus: HOPE in the church basement
- 2012 — clustered with St. Benedict and St. Gregory the Great
- 2013 — renamed Catholic Church of St. Moses the Black
Parish Staff and Leadership
St. Moses the Black is led by a team of three priests who serve together as Priests in Solidum in the D4 Mission Family of Parishes, supported by a small staff and parish council leadership.
- Rev. Marko Djonovic — Priest in Solidum (Primarily Responsible); also Director of Better Way Detroit
- Rev. Athanasius Fornwalt — Priest in Solidum
- Rev. John Phelps, C.Ss.R. — Priest in Solidum
- Coleman Ward — Music Minister
- Brenda Neely — Administrative Assistant to the Pastor
- Dr. Mable Jones — Parish Council Chair
- Sonya Bell — Finance Council Chair
- Monique Jones — St. Vincent de Paul President
Sunday Livestream for the Homebound
For parishioners and visitors unable to attend in person, the parish livestreams every Sunday's 10:30 a.m. Mass on its Facebook page (search 'The Catholic Church of St. Moses the Black'). This has been an ongoing pastoral ministry to the homebound.
Music Ministry
Coleman Ward serves as Music Minister for the parish, supporting sung liturgy at Mass and parish celebrations.
Outreach and Social Ministries
St. Moses the Black is widely recognized for the social-ministry footprint it carries on Detroit's near-west side. The St. Vincent de Paul Conference operates the parish food pantry (Christian Service coordinator Camille Graves Hill and family helped formalize its funding through the Catholic Foundation of Michigan in 2020). Better Way Detroit, founded by Fr. Marko Djonovic in 2018, pays homeless men and women an hourly wage — plus lunch, prayer, and counseling — to clean blighted parks and vacant properties, often serving as a bridge to full-time employment. The parish also maintains a historic partnership with Focus: HOPE, the anti-poverty organization literally born in the church basement in 1967.
- St. Vincent de Paul Conference Food Pantry — feeding roughly 250 families weekly (400 at the 2020 pandemic peak)
- Better Way Detroit — founded May 2018 by Fr. Marko Djonovic; 150+ homeless workers in 2019
- Focus: HOPE — community partner, founded in the parish basement in 1967
St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry
The parish's St. Vincent de Paul Conference runs a food pantry currently housed in the former school next door to the church. Pre-pandemic it served 40–50 families weekly; during COVID-19 it briefly grew by 400% to feed roughly 400 families a week, and as of the parish's own reporting continues to feed about 250 families weekly. Each family receives about 50 pounds of groceries including meat, fresh produce, canned goods, and cereal.
- St. Vincent de Paul Conference Food Pantry of Catholic Church of St. Moses the Black Fund — administered through the Catholic Foundation of Michigan (opened October 2020)
Better Way Detroit
Founded by Fr. Marko Djonovic in May 2018, Better Way Detroit began with Fr. Djonovic paying homeless men and women $10 an hour (with lunch) to clean Detroit parks. It quickly expanded into multiple weekly crews clearing blighted vacant properties, and now also offers prayer, counseling, and help finding full-time employment. A weekly Sunday fellowship is part of the program; being Catholic is not required. Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron has publicly praised the ministry as a powerful example of person-to-person engagement in unleashing the Gospel.
Family of Parishes — D4 Mission
St. Moses the Black is part of the Archdiocese of Detroit's D4 Mission Family of Parishes (also referred to as Central Trinity 2). The parishes in the family collaborate on evangelization, sacramental coverage, and shared mission in the city of Detroit.
- St. Charles Lwanga Parish
- Christ the King Catholic Church & School
- St. Suzanne / Our Lady Gate of Heaven Catholic Community
- St. Peter Claver Catholic Community
Building, Art, and Recent Restoration
The historic church at 1125 Oakman Boulevard is a small, fortress-like structure with arched doorways and a vaulted atrium vestibule that also serves as a meeting space. An imposing painting of St. Moses the Black — the 4th-century Ethiopian slave turned desert monk — hangs near the main door. In recent years the Knights of Columbus restored the church's historic interior frescoes, erecting floor-to-ceiling scaffolding for the project.
Giving and Online Offertory
Parishioners can support St. Moses the Black by mailing an offering to 1125 Oakman Boulevard, Detroit, MI 48238 or by giving online through a link on the parish website.
Contact and Visit
The parish office can be reached by phone at 313-868-4308 or by email at [email protected]. The parish maintains an active Facebook presence (search 'The Catholic Church of St. Moses the Black') where the Sunday Mass livestream is hosted, and it is also active on Instagram.
- Address: 1125 Oakman Boulevard, Detroit, MI 48238
- Phone: 313-868-4308
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: stmosestheblack.org
- Facebook: facebook.com/stmosestheblackdetroit
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Rev. William (Bill) Cunningham
Pastor of Church of the Madonna during the 1967 Detroit unrest; co-founded Focus: HOPE in the parish basement with Eleanor Josaitis. Died 1997.