Author: Gordon Govier

Once upon a time in Madison, the Black churches provided a cultural gathering space for members of the community. So did the South Madison Neighborhood Center and iconic bars and restaurants. Over time, those anchors of the community went away or diminished in importance to a new generation. More Black folks moved into the city. What they found were no spaces where they could get a sense of their own culture, so they traveled to Milwaukee or Chicago, sometimes never ever spending a weekend in the city where they studied or worked.Rev. Dr. Alex Gee, pastor of Fountain of Life Covenant Church…

Fellow white Christians, our hope is flabby. This pandemic has tested the resilience of our hope, and we’ve come up lacking. Remember when people hoped this might end by Easter of 2020? The past year brought a litany of crushed hopes—schools reopening by fall, jobs resuming, that loved ones’ health be spared, that this could all just be over. And part of what hurt so much through this all was learning how to deal with unmet hopes. For white people especially, I am convinced that our hopes are often built on the expectation that things will continue as they always…

As Pastor Stephen Feith from Madison Church pondered all the racial injustices that came to the surface in 2020, he heard from colleagues about an idea that could make a difference – putting money into Black-owned businesses.He dug a bit further and learned that the only Black-owned financial institution in Wisconsin is Columbia Savings and Loan Association in Milwaukee. It is an institution with a rich history. Founded in 1924 to provide financial services to Milwaukee’s Black community, it has provided mortgages to Black families and capital to Black businesses for almost a century. So Feith talked with leaders at his church…

On January 9, 1946, Pope Pius XII established the Diocese of Madison, taking territory from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and the Diocese of La Crosse. Created right at the end of World War II, our diocese was poised to grow dramatically in the ensuing decades of population boom and economic ascendancy. Bishop William P. O’Connor, a priest from Milwaukee, became Madison’s first bishop and was immediately faced with the many challenges of shaping a brand new diocese.

It was only a few days after Donald Hying had been installed as the Madison Catholic Diocese’s new bishop that the priest at Immaculate Conception in the Grant County hamlet of Kieler, population 500, called him up and invited him to the parish’s July 4 picnic. Not only did Hying become the first diocese bishop to attend the annual, 65-year-old event; he also stayed for more than two hours and “cleaned off all of our plates for us,” Rev. Bernard Rott said. “He’s just that kind of guy,” he said. “Willing to serve.”

Many Black Americans have expressed reluctance to take the new COVID-19 vaccine which can be attributed to a long legacy of distrust in the medical industry — including the infamous Tuskegee syphilis study. Rev. Dr. Marcus Allen, the senior pastor at Mt. Zion Church on Madison’s south side, wants to make sure that his parishioners and his community get all of the information they need from a panel of experts as the vaccine becomes more readily available.

MONONA — “When you find something that you really love to do, and you’re passionate about it, it changes everything,” said Sr. Anne Joseph from the Sisters of Mary Morning Star in Monona. She was speaking about her recent involvement in the practice of “writing” icons, an ancient Christian art form that dates back to the earliest centuries of Christian history.

The Wisconsin State Journal asked a cross-section of area Christian clergy members to share with readers excerpts from the sermons they plan to deliver on this most extraordinary Christmas. In most cases, the messages are being delivered online as churches adjust to new forms of worship during a pandemic, although some are also holding in-person services. At least one — Gateway Community Church in Middleton — planned to hold a drive-in service on Christmas Eve. Here are excerpts of their glad tidings.

On one of the holiest nights of the Christian year, there will still be candle-lighting, the singing of “Silent Night,” children’s pageants and sermons heralding the birth of a savior. It’s just that much of it will be live-streamed, prerecorded, in very small groups and — in at least in one case — conducted in the bitter cold. The COVID-19 pandemic is forcing Madison-area churches to come up with inventive, 21st century ways to celebrate Christmas Eve — perhaps the most traditional of Christian services when people pack the pews to sing hymns, listen to the story of a pregnant…

When the world hits the longest night on Dec. 21 in this year that has had more than its share of darkness, four congregations from very distinctive traditions will be worshipping together to bring a bit of light into the lives of the folks who join in.