Dignity Detroit -a faith community of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Catholics - which regularly organises meetings and masses within the college premises, celebrated its 39th anniversary with a celebratory mass, Sunday, in the Sacred Heart chapel that was closed to the public and the media.

Around 30 demonstrators carried banners and placards requesting Archbishop Allen Vigneron to implement Vatican policies on homosexuality and intervene against the mass.

"By allowing the use of its campus chapel by a homosexual activist group that is harshly critical of Catholic doctrine regarding marriage and homosexual behavior, Detroit's Marygrove College is violating a Vatican directive expressly banning the use of facilities at Catholic colleges by such groups," the association said.

Last month, Detroit Archbishop Allen Vigneron said that gay marriage proponents should not try to receive communion.

"For a Catholic to receive holy Communion and still deny the revelation Christ entrusted to the church is to try to say two contradictory things at once: 'I believe the church offers the saving truth of Jesus, and I reject what the church teaches.' In effect, they would contradict themselves. This sort of behavior would result in publicly renouncing one's integrity and logically bring shame for a double-dealing that is not unlike perjury."

Meanwhile, the protesters recited the rosary on a corner outside the main college gates before the celebratory mass started.

David Theisen, the protest organizer said that along with Vigneron's ideology, they also protested to preserve the sanctity of marriage, a bond between a man and a woman.

On the other hand, another group of gay rights followers participated in a counter-protest on the other side of the college entrance, carrying a large rainbow flag.

"The message of Jesus is love and acceptance," said Rick Gillon of Detroit. Church attendance across Christian denominations is falling, Christians should welcome people through church doors rather than push them away."

Another gay right activist, Linda Schneider said that if anyone is being prevented from going into a church, she finds the actions to be repulsive.