One of the Archdiocese of Detroit churches in Ferndale announced it will close its doors despite several months of deliberations and efforts to increase attendance and funding.

The final service for the St. James campus of Our Mother of Perpetual Help Parish, prominently located at Woodward Avenue and Pearson Street, will be held Sunday at 11 a.m., according to a statement from the church website.

The Ferndale location will be repurposed for secular use starting Monday. However, the Oak Park campus, formerly known as Our Lady of Fatima Church, will remain operational.

in a letter To parishioners, the Rev. Paul F. Chateau shared that he, along with a transition team and clergy, spent more than eight months in “prayerful discernment and close consultation” with the Archdiocese of Detroit before concluding that St. James Church should close.

As part of the discernment process, the archdiocese established benchmarks to maintain St. James as a sustainable place of worship by requiring increased Mass attendance, offertory contributions and funds for building repairs. Despite these efforts, Chateau said benchmarks were evaluated every two months and were not met.

Donations received for the repair of the building have been returned to the donors, he added.

On October 21, Archbishop Allen Vigneron issued a decree declaring that St. James would no longer be used as a church.

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As part of the closing process and in accordance with archdiocesan policies, arrangements have also been made to relocate all cremated remains housed in both places of worship to the Cemetery of the Holy Sepulcher in Southfield by Saturday. Parishioners are invited to attend the All Souls Mass at the Holy Sepulcher at 9 a.m. that day.

“Archbishop Vigneron will offer a special blessing to the faithful departed who will be transferred to the cemetery,” Chateau said.

In his letter, the reverend encouraged parishioners to participate in services and activities at the Oak Park location of Our Mother of Perpetual Help Parish.

“The building is closing, not the parish,” Chateau said. “As we move forward, we must focus our efforts on strengthening and growing Our Mother of Perpetual Help Parish.”

The Archdiocese of Detroit did not respond to comment on the closure.

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Nour Rahal is a breaking news and trends reporter. Email him at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @nrahal1.

This article originally appeared in the Detroit Free Press: St. James Church in Ferndale to close after final Mass on Sunday