Author: Gordon Govier

The rioting, looting, and vandalism following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota carries a hefty price tag. According to Axios, insurance companies will pay anywhere from one to two billion dollars in insurance claims, the most in US history. The protests took place in 140 cities this spring and summer, and although many people were simply there to make their voices heard, others carried our arson, vandalism, and looting that destroyed businesses and even some churches. CBN News heard of a miracle story about a church in Kenosha, Wisconsin, that took place in the middle of the destruction…

Msgr. Michael Burke, a beloved figure in the Catholic community in Madison and longtime chaplain for the University of Wisconsin football program, died Saturday night at SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital. Funeral arrangements are pending for Burke, who was 72. Burke, affectionately known as “Father Mike,” was the Badgers’ team chaplain for over four decades and was a fixture on the sidelines for practices and games.

MADISON, Wis. — “Are you ready to turn riots into revival?” the energetic black worship leader called out across the large crowd gathered outside the boarded-up Wisconsin Capitol Monday night. Shouts and cheers emerged from the assembly, where hundreds of men, women, and children of all ages, races, and backgrounds congregated for an evening of praise. Twenty-somethings stood beside elderly couples, strollers and young families with picnic dinners spattered the capital lawn, fathers propped small children on their shoulders for a coveted view, and several women twirled flags to the rhythm of the music. Some attendees wore masks, but, unsurprisingly,…

It’s not every Sunday that church ceremonies involve burning paperwork. But then it’s not every Sunday that one of the city’s oldest Black parishes gets to celebrate the retirement of a mortgage. Marcus Allen, senior pastor at Mt. Zion Baptist Church on the South Side, said retirement of the mortgage, taken in 2004 to finance a major renovation, has been an important goal since he arrived in 2016.

Diverse religious organizations today welcomed a new Department of Education regulation that strengthens campus non-discrimination and inclusion policies. The new regulation encourages public colleges to treat all campus groups fairly, allowing each group to select leaders who agree with their groups’ religious beliefs. This regulation arose because public colleges sometimes discriminated against Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, Sikh and other religious clubs based on their religious expectations for their leaders. For example, in 2018, the University of Iowa derecognized multiple religious groups, including Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Jewish, and Hindu student groups because their faith traditions require that religious observances be led by people…

In March, as communities responded to the growing coronavirus outbreak, the bishops of Wisconsin’s five Roman Catholic dioceses each granted a dispensation from the obligation to attend Sunday Mass. As the outbreak grew into a pandemic, all dioceses suspended the public celebration of Mass until it was safe to resume in-person worship. In recent months, dioceses and parishes throughout the state have been able to resume public worship by adhering to strict safety standards and by restricting access to services for those who are symptomatic, sick, or at risk of serious illness. Throughout this time, the faithful have not been…

First, the concerning news. A survey of clergy in Wisconsin found that 25 percent of them have seriously considered resigning or retiring as a result of the stress they face doing ministry in the midst of this pandemic. Then the hopeful news. One of the possible responses that could help: regular collaboration among clergy to reduce their sense of isolation. In the early days of the pandemic and the shut-downs – mid-to-late March – it was natural for clergy and congregations to turn inward and figure out how to adapt to a world that drastically limited in-person connections. Many found…

In the last week, Kenosha residents have grappled with a police shooting, deadly and destructive unrest in their streets and the weight of the nation’s collective outrage. The city needs to start healing, many said Thursday. Hundreds of people gathered in Harbor Park along Lake Michigan to pray for Jacob Blake, shot seven times in the back by a Kenosha police officer Sunday, and for peace and justice in their city. “Transform our city, Lord God,” local faith leader John Lalgee exclaimed to cheers and outstretched arms.

As outrage and protests continue to shake Kenosha, Wisconsin after the police shooting of another young Black man, the mother and the pastor of Jacob Blake are calling America to prayer. Before the Blake family began their press conference Tuesday afternoon, attorney Ben Crump introduced Pastor James E. Ward, Jr., the pastor of Blake’s family for more than 30 years, to lead the group of assembled family members, attorneys and media representatives in prayer. Ward explained that at Blake’s mother’s request and at Attorney Crump’s request, he wanted to set the tone of the press conference by briefly representing their…

Private schools in Dane County are pushing back — including weighing a potential lawsuit — against an order from the local health department that suspends most in-person instruction for the start of the new school year during the COVID-19 pandemic. Heads of private schools say an order issued Friday by Public Health Madison and Dane County requiring schools to teach students in grades 3-12 solely online is overly broad and poorly timed, and upends plans to give parents a choice between face-to-face or virtual learning options for their children. The order, which applies to both public and private schools, took…