MC News
The nation’s third-largest Lutheran denomination moved to clarify its views on the Catholic Church Monday, after being drawn into the national political debate by presidential candidate Michele Bachmann. The Wauwatosa-based Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, the most theologically conservative of the nation’s three main Lutheran denominations, issued a statement on its website explaining its long-held tenet that the Catholic papacy is the anti-Christ. But it said that position is born of doctrinal differences rather than anti-Catholic bigotry.
For the second consecutive year, a Madison church is planning a day of freebies for the community, including Jiffy Lube oil changes and Sonic hamburgers. Asbury United Methodist Church, 6101 University Ave., says it will spend about $6,000 Saturday to give people an economic boost – or to simply put smiles on their faces. “We liked the reactions we got last year,” said the Rev. Harold Zimmick, lead pastor.
Soft heart, swift kick. A Baptist minister and developer said he will apply the same tough-love rental policy he has for 25 years at a proposed new five-room boarding house he plans to open inside a South Side building formerly used to treat ailing pets. “I will evict in a heartbeat,” Larry Jackson said, pointing to numerous previous tenants. “But I will also give them a chance.”
The Salvation Army of Dane County has been turning to an additional fundraising campaign, “Christmas in July,” to fund its food programs as the foundering economy has stretched household budgets to the breaking point. The demand for assistance is up, both from people in need and people needed to help Salvation Army help others.
Twenty-four families from Elmbrook Church in Brookfield are poised to open their homes to children in crisis. The families have been certified through a Chicago-based nonprofit that recruits volunteers to take in children temporarily while their parents or guardians work through personal problems. Distressed parents are already calling the newly formed Safe Families for Children Milwaukee seeking help, said director Traci Weldie of Watertown. But no child has been placed. The program has been stalled by a Wisconsin law…
MADISON — “Alert parishioners may have noticed that a ‘sold’ sign has been put on the former St. Raphael School building at the corner of Henry St. and W. Washington Ave.,” Msgr. Kevin Holmes, rector of the Cathedral Parish in Madison, wrote in the June 19 parish bulletin.
Pres House, an on-campus ministry of the Presbyterian Church USA, and Phos House, an on-campus ministry of Youth With A Mission (YWAM), will be able to continue operation of their residential facilities on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus without being assessed property taxes. This afternoon Mark Elsdon, campus co-pastor and executive director of Pres House, announced that Governor Walker will veto a provision in the state budget bill that removed the tax exemption for the two facilities.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (WKOW) — For the second year in a row, a local WKOW nominee has won national recognition in Washington, D.C. Andy and Jenny Czerkas received the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis award Tuesday night at the national Jefferson Award ceremony. The Czerkas’ founded The River Food Pantry in Madison.
The Lausanne Movement for World Evangelization has named InterVarsity’s Tom Lin as new International Deputy Director for North America. Tom serves Madison-based InterVarsity Christian Fellowship as Vice President for Missions and Director of the Urbana Student Missions Conference and will continue in that position.
Madison’s Pres House campus ministry has mounted a campaign on Facebook to have people appeal to Governor Walker to save the tax exemption for their ministry on the University of Wisconsin – Madison campus.