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George Washington statue by
Donald De Lue in front of Mariners' Church along Jefferson Avenue.
Mariners' Church of Detroit (Free and Independent) is a congregation in the Anglican tradition, formerly a part of the Episcopal Church USA but now unattached to any denomination. It was established in 1842 and incorporated in the state of Michigan in 1848. Dubbed "the Maritime Sailors' Cathedral" by Gordon Lightfoot, the Church uses the 1662 and American 1928 editions of the Book of Common Prayer.
Established to serve mariners, the church holds a Blessing of the Fleet every March for those going to sea, and a Great Lakes Memorial Service for those who have lost their lives at sea every November.
The church's bell tolled 29 times in November 1975 to mourn the loss of the freighter Edmund Fitzgerald and her 29 crew members; the tolling is specifically referenced by Gordon Lightfoot in his 1976 hit "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald". This act has been repeated on every November 10 since to mark the anniversary of the sinking.
Mariners' Church along Jefferson Avenue on a rainy night.
During the 1990s the church was successful in defending itself against a lawsuit filed by the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan over the question of whether the Mariners' Church is part of the Episcopal Church. Mariners' Church held that it is an independent congregation free of denominational ties, while the Episcopal Church held that it had always considered the church an Episcopal congregation. Mariners' Church won both the original case and on appeal.
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