Our Founder

A Roman Catholic priest who was born and lived most of his life in Detroit, Reverand James L. Meyer (“Jimeyer”) was the first priest to sue the Catholic Church and win. He did not agree with his new assignment after his successful landmark case. Instead of being advanced to head priest at St Benedict Church in Pontiac, Michigan, which he sought, he was assigned as chaplain of Children’s and Hutzel Hospitals in Detroit and was to live at St Patrick Rectory in the 1970s Cass Corridor. Like Jonah and the Whale, Jimeyer resisted, but once he accepted his new assignment, he loved it; working with children! The rest is history. In his later years he authored “I Loved A Boy: Confessions of a Roman Catholic Priest”. The book was his intimate account working with children, especially those with a terminal illness.

Read Jimeyer’s obituary written by Chalfonte Family member Joel Kurth, Managing Editor of Bridge Michigan