By Barry Adams – Wisconsin State Journal –
Paul Lang thought his job was going to be fairly straightforward.
In 2022, he began work inside St. Bernard Catholic Church on Madison’s East Side to refurbish the choir loft and create space for pipes behind the alter so two restored vintage pipe organs could be installed.
But the $3 million project is now a small part of what has become a $33 million transformation for the nearly 100-year-old church building and the 150,882 members of the Diocese of Madison.
In February, the diocese hopes to consecrate St. Bernard’s as a cathedral that will serve as the mother church of the diocese, the bishop’s home church and where important religious events take place, such as the ordination of new priests. The diocese has been without a cathedral since 2005, when a fire destroyed St. Raphael Cathedral a block off Capitol Square.