A leaked faculty letter is accusing Detroit’s archbishop of violating the seminary handbook, and even of breaking civil law. Faculty are also noting a “climate of fear and uncertainty” at the seminary.
Stella Maris Media obtained an August 26, 2025 letter sent by an anonymous faculty member of Sacred Heart Major Seminary to Abp. Edward Weisenburger of the archdiocese of Detroit, Michigan. It addresses the archbishop’s abrupt firing of three longstanding professors: Dr. Ralph Martin, Dr. Ed Peters and Dr. Eduardo Echeverria.
The former members, who spent decades teaching at Sacred Heart, were terminated in quick succession in July. The archbishop provided no specific reasons, only offering a vague statement that their theological views differed from his own.
“When I asked him for an explanation, he said he didn’t think it would be helpful to give any specifics but mentioned something about having concerns about my theological perspectives,” said Martin at the time, the first to be fired.
“My Sacred Heart Major Seminary teaching contract was terminated by Abp. Weisenburger this week. I have retained counsel,” Peters wrote the next week.
The sudden dismissals led to a social media firestorm, with Catholics around the globe responding with shock and anger at what they perceived to be heavy-handed tactics by Detroit’s spiritual leader.
The terminations also added to the sense of growing frustration with the archbishop, who was installed in Detroit in March. Almost immediately, he began cracking down on the Traditional Latin Mass, reducing the total number of churches offering the liturgy from 10 down to four.
While Weisenburger says he is simply implementing Pope Francis’ motu proprio Traditionis Custodes, which restricted the traditional liturgy, the archbishop has gone much farther and has started banning the ad orientem posture at Mass.
Continue reading at Stella Maris Media