Author: Gordon Govier

The city of La Crosse told a pastor Tuesday that Wesley United Methodist Church’s policy of allowing homeless people to sleep in its courtyard overnight violates city ordinances. The minister counters that the case is a matter of religious liberty.

TOWN OF BLUE MOUNDS – Olav Sigurd Kvaale was convinced he had seen the last of the nomadic building constructed in his homeland with the help of his grandfather in the early 1890s.But a year after visiting Little Norway, the church’s home for the last 80 years, Kvaale is back in this wooded valley east of Blue Mound State Park with a volunteer contingent of Norwegians who have a love of history and are handy with a pry bar.

Tony and Kelly Butler figure it’s been more than 20 years since the two of them took a weeklong vacation without at least some of their eight children along. Just such a rare trip — a “splurge,” as Tony Butler calls it — will happen later this month. The New Glarus couple is among area Catholics heading to the East Coast in hopes of seeing Pope Francis during his first U.S. visit.

For the sixth time, the New Life Band of Tanzania returns to Sun Prairie, using music to spread a message of hope. The New Life Band has partnerships with several churches across the United States and is spending two weeks in Wisconsin and Illinois performing at churches.

A coalition of interfaith leaders is calling on Gov. Scott Walker to clarify his recent remarks implying most Muslims are extremists, saying such incendiary rhetoric endangers American Muslims in Wisconsin and across the country.

The Madison Christian Giving Fund will be leading a forum to discuss our communities’ most pressing needs and how the faith community can help to alleviate those. The forum will be facilitated by Henry Sanders, of the Giving Fund and will also look to the future and a vision for Madison and the surrounding area. Many communities across the country are beginning Gospel Movements which have demonstrated that Churches, Businesses and Government units can work together to transform our communities.

For Jaelle Weinberger, giving to less fortunate people has become commonplace. The 5-year-old from Waupun has learned the practice from her mother, Sarah. “She and I have donated toys to collection boxes at Walgreens at Christmas since she was 2. We also put together Operation Christmas boxes for children in third-world countries. We look for opportunities to help good causes each year” Sarah said.

Lyons — They walked, mother and son, along a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan. Angie Roscioli had come with other Catholic women for a spiritual retreat led by the Rev. Domenic Roscioli on the infinite nature of God’s love. During a lull, they broke away, just the two of them, to walk and talk for a while. To this day, Angie cannot say why she chose that moment to tell him. Maybe, she says, the prayers of the day spoke to her. Or the lesson he was trying to impart: Nothing they could do, he told them, no experience in their…

When Pastor Harold E. Rayford isn’t preaching at his church, he’s making music. Rayford is the pastor of Faith, Hope and Love Family Church in Sun Prairie. He is also an accomplished musician and songwriter. Rayford performs gospel jazz, which combines the two genres of music. He began playing the saxophone in sixth grade and has played ever since, for 39 years.

As director of community relations for the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Everett Mitchell often draws upon multiple aspects of his identity — attorney, pastor, community leader — to bridge divides through engagement with people he serves.