Author: Gordon Govier

For members of Madison’s homeless community, finding safe places to rest and recuperate is a priority in the best of times. But as the spread of COVID-19 leads to the closure of public facilities, finding shelter is becoming more challenging. When announcements about avoiding gatherings and staying home proliferate, what do those without homes do? That’s what homelessness advocates like Tami Fleming, executive director of Shelter from the Storm Ministries, are thinking about.

Faith leaders from across Wisconsin posed questions and shared ideas with Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandle Barnes on Friday morning as they and members of their congregations struggle with how to adapt to the realities of life in the era of COVID-19. “There is a tremendous role the faith community in our state has to play,” Barnes told the 121 people on the call as it began. “We are looking for creative solutions. In the end, we want out congregations to be stronger places.”

MADISON – A Republican state senator is asking Gov. Tony Evers to ease a ban on gatherings of 10 people or more aimed at containing the coronavirus, saying the restrictions prevent residents from going to church and exercising their religious rights. Sen. David Craig, of Big Bend, penned the letter to Evers Tuesday, the same day the governor directed Health Services Secretary Andrea Palm to close malls, bars and restaurants and limit gatherings to no more than 10 people. The order effectively shutters churches, theaters, fitness centers and numerous other places.

In an effort to help vulnerable families transition through sudden cancellations, Madison Church has been buying, packing and delivering COVID-19 “kits” to residents on the West Side of Madison. The founder and lead pastor of the church, Stephen Feith, said the idea came to him Sunday night when he learned that schools were going to be canceled sooner than originally planned.

As with so many leaders right now, the impact of COVID-19 and the subsequent shut down of most activities has faith leaders across the state grappling with how to minister to their communities and how to deal with their own anxieties. The Wisconsin Council of Churches hosted a Zoom gathering on March 17 that brought together 20 faith leaders from a variety of denominations to share their concerns and their own personal stories.

It seems so simple on the surface. Jesus said, “Love your neighbor.” So that’s what we do as people who follow Jesus.But as some 150 people gathered on a the first Friday evening in March to explore the dimensions of that phrase and then some 160 gathered all day on a Saturday to explore how to live that out in our local community, it turns out to be a very complex and challenging phrase.

Several Madison-area pastors plan to stream services over the internet from churches full of empty pews Sunday, and Madison’s Catholic bishop said believers “are permitted to miss Mass on Sundays for the foreseeable future” amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Underscoring the decision for many churches is the number of older members, who are more likely to suffer serious complications if they contract the virus.

MADISON, Wis. (SPECTRUM NEWS) — Karin Krause runs a unique, cross-generational adult home that helps both seniors and those who care for them. “My husband and I live here. I guess we are the house parents. I am a nurse and he is an occupational therapist,” said Krause Karin and her husband Rick have been married for over 40 years. They met in nursing school.

When Christ Presbyterian Church (CPC) hired Jean-René Watchou as the Director of International Outreach in 2008, the church already had mission connections in Rwanda, Mexico, Egypt, and Palestine. With Jean-René —an immigrant from Cameroon with a master’s degree in international public affairs—on board, the church now planned to expand not into more countries abroad, but into care locally—to the large number of internationals here in Madison.

MADISON, Wis. — February 28, 2020 is the first Friday of this year’s Lenten season. While plant-based products are growing increasingly popular, the concept of skipping meat on Fridays during Lent is becoming a bit hazier. Madison bishop Donald Hying said, “Strictly speaking, you’re not violating the obligation to abstain from meat if you’re eating a vegetable meat. If a food product is consisting solely of vegetables, does not have any meat it in, it is certainly permissible to consume such a product on a Friday on Lent as a Catholic because it would still be observing the non-eating meat…