Author: Gordon Govier

This is a story about stories. Bill White learned their power early. As a boy, White accompanied a favored uncle who spun yarns in a rural Wisconsin barbershop. Men gathered nightly to listen. There was status in holding an audience, and his uncle had them rapt. “It was a delightful and enchanting experience,” White noted later. He went home to Viroqua, the bedroom he shared with a younger brother, and began telling tales of his own. White knew he’d succeeded when his brother began trying to script the endings, pleading for a happy close to a made-up story of adventure.…

Faith leaders and activists from across the state gathered at the statehouse Wednesday demanding Gov. Scott Walker reform the Department of Corrections, calling its policies cruel, immoral and an unconscionable drain on taxpayers.

Kenosha — Father Benjamin Reese stands at the altar and lifts the Eucharist with his outstretched arms, for the smattering of faithful in the pews. There is no sound, but the clanging of its gold-plated vessel. Six women, on their knees, begin to pray. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee… But Reese is silent. His own prayers these days are internal. Robbed of his voice by a degenerative — and ultimately fatal — disease, Reese continues to serve alongside Father Dwight Campbell at Our Lady of Mount Carmel and St. Therese of Lisieux parishes in Kenosha.

It may not be immediately clear what God has to do with “Rent” or “Ragtime” or “Shrek,” and that’s OK. The Rev. Kerri Parker, pastor of McFarland United Church of Christ, isn’t always sure at first, either, and she’s the one leading this summer’s “God on Broadway” series at the church. On Aug. 3, she’s scheduled to give a sermon on “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” a 2005 Broadway production.

Monday’s storms left a popular church retreat in Iowa County without power, displacing campers and staff. Paul Petersen, director of Bethel Horizons, said the 20 adult campers on site at the time huddled together to ride out the storm.

A fast-growing church in Verona is close to finalizing plans for the purchase of a once-popular bowling alley and banquet facility that has fallen on hard times. Sugar River United Methodist Church, which has nearly tripled in size in less than a decade, hopes to turn Wildcat Lanes in Verona into its new home. The congregation currently meets in a former city library building but has outgrown that leased space.

When Ric Stanghelle finished putting his third son through college, he thought he’d put the extra money toward retirement. Now the Wisconsin pastor might spend it on taxes. The Obama administration and a broad spectrum of religious groups are urging the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider a federal judge’s 2013 ruling that pastors’ tax-exempt housing allowances violate the First Amendment.

Mary-Kate Martin spent the last three years doing a job she loved, teaching English at La Crescent High School in Minnesota. And she was just getting good at it. “One teacher told me, after your third year teaching — not that it’s ever going to be a piece of cake — but you’re going to be good to go,” said Martin, who is from Marshall. “I really feel that this year. I feel like by far this has been my best year teaching, really connected to the students.” But Martin, 27, recently turned in her resignation, instead pursuing what she…

A Waukesha County judge has dismissed charges against an Oconomowoc woman who left her handgun in a church restroom. Susan Hitchler, 66, was charged in April with negligent handling of a weapon, a misdemeanor. The complaint indicated that on March 19 she had left her handgun in a stall of the women’s restroom at Elmbrook Church.

  Although it hasn’t seen a lot of national attention yet, an important new report out of Wisconsin tells us anew that married fathers play a key role in the social and economic stability of society. Compiling and analyzing government data over several decades, The Wisconsin Family Council found that married two-parent families had significantly higher median incomes and were far less likely to be in poverty or receive government assistance than single-mother or single-father homes. Married two-parent families also saw less teen sexual activity, lower teen pregnancy, lower rates of drug and alcohol use and higher educational success than…