Motor City's perishing parishes: Haunting pictures of abandoned Detroit churches paint desperate picture of life in America

St. Leo Catholic Church was built more than 120 years ago as Detroit was developing into a manufacturing powerhouse - first in shipbuilding and later in car making.

Now, the brown brick building is at the centre of the next downsizing to hit this failing city: the restructuring of the Archdiocese of Detroit.

Today its neighbourhood is one of the most abandoned pockets in one of the nation's most desperate cities. Like many Catholic churches around urban America, it has been hit by a shortage of priests and a dwindling supply of parishioners.

In ruins: The abandoned Martyrs of Uganda church in Detroit, closed by the Archdiocese in 2006, is an example of this decay after a church shutters

Desecration: The organ of Uganda church has been destroyed and vandals have gratified the walls

New tenants: If a new tenant doesn't materialize in a vacant church, criminals sometimes do. Thieves often strip the building of copper or pluck out stained glass

Beer over wine? A vandal spray-painted graffiti over a stained-glass window that has been shattered at the abandoned church

The Church's woes are all the more acute in the Motor City, where St. Leo and the archdiocese are stark examples of the impact of the near-death of the U.S. auto industry.

Detroit's population-and the parish's flock-have withered along with the car factories.

Opened in 1889 at the start of Detroit's shipping and manufacturing boom, St. Leo was built to serve a parish in excess of 1,000 families.



It still shows signs of an opulent age: massive murals hanging on the ceiling above the alter, towering windows dressed in stained glass.

Now it serves about 170 families. The parish generates $1,800 in weekly giving - not enough to cover an annual budget of at least $100,000 required just for building maintenance, repairs and utilities.

Struggling: St. Leo's Catholic Church, in one of the most abandoned pockets of Detroit, is one of the many area churches to have succumbed to a priest and parishioner shortage

Lack of congregation: St Leo's has seen its numbers dwindle throughout the years as Detroit continues to struggle

Grim faces: The congregation looks unhappy at the changes that will happen in 2012

Pews no longer needed have been removed from the back of the church over the years, and the space has been converted to a common area.

St. Leo's struggle with overcapacity mirrors its neighbourhood’s plight.

The streetlights a block away are wrapped in black plastic bags. Several houses stand vacant and, on a street where new houses were recently built, piles of debris from recent demolitions are uncollected.

Tears of sadness: St. Leo is among nine parishes earmarked for closure in the Detroit area within the next few years. In 2012, its congregation is due to be subsumed by the larger St. Cecilia

Other alternatives: Larry Finklea is one of the many who relies on St. Leo's soup kitchen

Giving care: St Leo also runs Order of Malta Medical and Dental Clinic for low income Michigan residents in their basement

The abandoned Martyrs of Uganda church in Detroit, closed by the Archdiocese in 2006, is an example of this decay.

Last month, Archbishop Allen Vigneron released a preliminary draft of the Catholic Church's third downsizing in Detroit in little more than a decade. The archdiocese has cut its parish count in Detroit's city limits to 59, down from 79 in 2000.

St. Leo is among nine parishes earmarked for closure in the Detroit area within the next few years. In 2012, its congregation is due to be subsumed by the larger St. Cecilia, about three miles away.

There is still hope for a reprieve. Archbishop Vigneron is considering a plan to save the charity work in the basement by potentially moving it to a new site.

Watching over: A painted portrait of the Virgin Mary hangs on the wall as a man walks through the soup kitchen in the basement of St. Leo Church

Clean up: St Leo could close its doors as early as March of next year

The pastor currently running both St. Leo and St. Cecilia has proposed keeping it open as a worship centre used only occasionally.

But both are prohibitively costly considerations for an archbishop looking to shore up finances. He will deliver his final plan for the region in February.

'Almost all of us recognize that this world in the 21st century is very different than the 1950s and 1960s,' the Archbishop said in an interview. 'We have to not accept it, but to deal with it.'

Relics: When a church closes, neighbouring churches can claim relics and decorations such as this elabourate candle holder

Prayer of hope: St Leo was built 120 years ago when Detroit was a booming industrial city. A man lights a candle during one of its masses

St. Leo shows how the struggles of so many institutions in the Detroit area are intricately connected: vanishing jobs, a hollowing revenue base, an inability to attract investment.

When a Catholic church closes, the land and buildings go back to the archdiocese. The neighbouring parishes can come and take their pick of relics or ecclesiastical equipment. If a new tenant doesn't materialize, criminals sometimes do.

'If a building sits vacant for even a little while it's an excellent candidate for vandalism,' said Kevin Messier, who runs Real Estate Professional Services in Southfield, Michigan.

Thieves often strip the building of copper or pluck out stained glass.

Prayer: Arym Ward kneels as she takes part in a re-enactment of the birth of Jesus following the Sunday mass at the St. Leo Catholic Church