What is the background of St. John's?

Located in Wayne County off Five Mile Road between Sheldon and Northville Roads, the Inn at St. John’s was established in 1948 as St. John's Provincial Seminary to provide graduate-level theological education and spiritual formation for diocesan priesthood candidates from the Michigan dioceses that form the province. From 1948 into the 1980s, it was common for students to enroll at St. John’s after graduating from the high school and undergraduate programs at Detroit’s Sacred Heart Seminary.

St. John’s Provincial closed in 1988 when the Archdiocese designated Sacred Heart as its major seminary with the introduction of a Graduate School of Theology to its College of Liberal Arts. In 1994, Cardinal Adam J. Maida brought forth a vision of reviving the St. John’s property as a resource for diocesan youth and families resulting in the community gathering place that exists today.