MC News
Sunday night, a homeless man died on the steps just outside the entrance to the Men’s Drop-In Shelter. I don’t know much more than that. Apparently he had left Grace to go to one of the overflow shelters to spend the night. I don’t know what the cause of death was. I don’t know if his death was at all related to the brutally cold weather. I don’t know if others have died already in this brutal cold.
A pair of Wisconsin churches co-sponsored a billboard message to let their city know that, despite an atheist’s claim to the contrary, there is life after death. The sign, which says, “Life is short. Eternity is not. – God,” was posted on a billboard in Janesville, Wisc., earlier this month, and was sponsored by local congregations Bethel Baptist Church and New Life Assembly of God.
A community effort – and the generosity of First United Methodist Church – made for a warm and well-fed New Years Eve day for 138 homeless people in Madison on Tuesday. The call for a warming space during two frigid days that coincided with locked doors at Madison’s Central Library and the homeless services program at Bethel Lutheran Church, came on Monday afternoon, said Karen Andro, director of outreach ministries at FUM.
In the early 1980’s, Concerts of Prayer brought together Christians from around the Madison area to pray for revival in the church, in the city, and in the nation. The monthly Concerts of Prayer were led by David Bryant, who lived in Madison while he worked with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, and were held in churches all over the city.Bryant left Madison and moved to New Jersey, to help launch a Concert of Prayer movement in New York City. An article posted this week on the website Journey Through NYC Religions tells what happened next.
When Pope Francis told an Italian Jesuit journal that the church “cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage and the use of contraceptive methods” and that “it is not necessary to talk about these issues all the time,” it seemed the culture war was all but declared over. But not in Madison, Wisconsin. In fact, Bishop Robert Morlino insists Pope Francis has helped to make him a stronger culture warrior. “The media are deliberately trying to derail the truth about Pope Francis,” he tells me before Christmas in his Madison office, “and that’s truly unfortunate because the…
Since December 29, 1943 when the Lawson estate was purchased by the Northern Baptists, God has anointed Green Lake Conference Center (GLCC) to “nurture and train leadership for the world mission of the churches.” To facilitate great Christian leadership training opportunities, GLCC is addressing the last major piece to deliver first class sleeping, meeting and dining space: the renovation of iconic Roger Williams Inn (RWI). The vision is to draw on the magnificent 1930s design and create spaces that bring back the feel of the building in its early Northern Baptist days in a way that functions well in the…
A major Christian financial services organization headquartered in Wisconsin has temporarily suspended all pro-life and pro-choice groups from a member-driven charity program that has donated $120 million since 2010. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans announced that, in the wake of outcry over one of its 1,300 local chapters approving a Planned Parenthood affiliate for eligibility in its Thrivent Choice program, the 2.5-million-member ministry is “temporarily suspending all pro-choice and pro-life organizations [from the program], placing a temporary hold on the addition and removal of nonprofit organizations from the program, and conducting a comprehensive program review.”
The Rev. Tisha Brown views it as one small way society acknowledges the contributions of religious organizations. Every year, in addition to her annual taxed salary, the Madison pastor gets a cash housing allowance from her church that is exempt from the federal income tax. This year, her salary is $38,867, her housing allowance $19,430. Congress has offered this tax break to all clergy members — ministers, rabbis, imams — for decades, a perk that collectively lessens their tax burden by about $700 million annually, according to a recent congressional estimate. Now, that tax break is in jeopardy. Last month,…
I had just finished my presentation about the mass incarceration of African-American men to a Downtown Rotary luncheon when a woman from the audience approached me. “Wonderful presentation, Dr. Gee!” she told me, adding she was intrigued by my data and insights about Wisconsin’s mass incarceration phenomenon. She added, “If you don’t mind, I must tell you that I am so glad that you are not some angry black man!” This well-intentioned white Rotarian had just heard how Wisconsin has an epidemic and leads the nation in the incarceration of African-American males between 20 and 24 years old. Giving these…
A church in Wauwatosa has filed a motion against an atheist group suing the Internal Revenue Service over its alleged refusal to enforce a ban on church politicking. Holy Cross Anglican Church, headed by Benedictine Abbot Father Patrick Malone, filed the motion to intervene last week in U.S. District Court. Holy Cross Anglican’s motion was done in response to the Madison, Wis.-based Freedom From Religion Foundation’s lawsuit against the IRS.