madison
By Cara Buckley – New York Times The prairie sisters of Wisconsin would never call themselves renegades. Not in their decision to open their Roman Catholic community to Protestants. And not in their decades-long work restoring 170 acres around their monastery to ecological health, transforming lawns and farm fields into thriving oak savanna and native prairie that is riotous with wildflowers and grasses, insects, rabbits and birds. The sisters of Holy Wisdom Monastery outside Madison, Wisc., say these actions fulfill their highest calling: to welcome all people and care for the Earth as a sacred place. The sisters have won…
In a message at the beginning of the 2025 fall semester, the University of Wisconsin urged students to review their class schedule and “note with your instructors any need for academic flexibility due to religious or cultural observances.” The note added that relief from an exam or assignment should be requested within the first two weeks of classes. The university and other state schools have a religious observance policy as mandated by state statute. The UW policy states: “A student’s claim of a religious conflict, which may include travel time, should be accepted at face value. A great variety of…
By Nicole Pollack – Wisconsin State Journal – The former Lakeview Moravian Community Church has stood for about 70 years on a triangular block in Madison’s Eastmorland neighborhood. Now empty, the single-story building at 3565 Tulane Ave. will soon be demolished for 26 lower-cost apartments and a new Eastmorland Community Center. The church’s two congregations, known collectively as Common Grace, have relocated temporarily to St. Stephen’s Lutheran Church in Monona but will return after construction to worship in the community center’s multi-use performance space. Upwards of 75 people showed up Wednesday to celebrate the church and community center breaking ground…
The 74th Annual Tour of Madison for New International Students was one of the largest tours in recent memory. An announced total of 358 student signed up for the tour, arriving at Engineering Hall on the University of Wisconsin campus on a sunny Labor Day afternoon to be introduced to their new home city. In a second auditorium in Engineering Hall almost 200 volunteers from several dozen Madison area churches gathered to be briefed on the logistics of this annual all-volunteer effort. Students and volunteers alike had to navigate a disruptive construction zone on the engineering campus, due to the…
By Barry Adams – Wisconsin State Journal – The mission here is care and compassion. And over the years, Madison’s oldest church congregation has lived up to its charge, behind and beyond the red doors that stand out amid the weathered sandstone at the corner of West Washington Avenue and Capitol Square. Grace Episcopal Church hosted the city’s men’s homeless shelter from 1984 to 2020 and continues to minister to the homeless. The church has operated a food pantry for more than 50 years, offers free concerts and has undertaken mission trips to Haiti. But caring for its own building…
By Patricio Crooker – Madison Capital Times – Led by retired Madison Police Chief David Couper, a crowd of protesters literally took up a cross on Saturday to send a message that President Donald Trump’s policies are cruel to vulnerable people. Marchers carried an 8-foot-long wooden cross, mimicking the suffering of Jesus Christ as he carried his own burden leading to his crucifixion, as told in the Christian bible. Couper and many of the other protesters are members of the clergy, representing a variety of faith communities. Read more of this story.
A few religious leaders will carry an eight-foot wooden cross up State Street at 11 a.m. Saturday to protest the cruelty of Donald Trump’s government. They will start at Lake and State streets and will finish at the state Capitol. Everyone is invited. Madison, of course, has many protests, but this one stands out because of the backstory of its principal organizer. For much of his adult life, David Couper was Madison’s transformational police chief, employing innovative policies and hiring a diverse and well-educated workforce. Couper’s mastery as police chief extended to peacefully accommodating Madison’s many protests, always honoring First…
By Nicholas Garton – Madison365.com – A few local churches are gathering on Sunday, July 27, at the Duck Pond, the home of the Madison Mallards and Madison Night Mares, for a special worship service. The service will run from 10:45-11:45 a.m. and will be followed by a Night Mares game at 1:05 p.m. The church service will be free and the game will have regularly priced tickets. Sherman Avenue United Methodist Church, Sugar River United Methodist Church, and St. John’s Lutheran Church will be involved in the worship service, with Sherman Church reverend David Hart speaking from the pulpit.…
Where else are you invited to a behind-the-scenes glimpse at how visionary, faithful Christians are creatively meeting needs in the local population, and then given the opportunity to vote on who might be the most deserving to receive extra needed funding? That’s was the format once again as United Madison Christian Givers (UMCG) met this week at the InterVarsity building in University Research Park, for their third quarterly Grant Award Meeting. Our previous reports are here: Winter and Spring. “We are a Jesus-centered Christian organization,” UMCG president Josh Kaurich said as he introduced the evening. These ministries were then given the…
By David Dahmer – Madison365 – The greater Madison community is welcome to jog, run, or walk at the 7th annual Madison Gospel 5K, 10K Run/Walk & Health Fair on Saturday, July 12, 8 a.m. at Penn Park. “I encourage everybody to come out because this will be fun and fellowship and fitness,” Uchenna Jones, founder of the Madison Gospel 5K Foundation and Race, tells Madison365. “It’s a chance to learn about different organizations in our community. We will have so many fun activities, including dance contests where we will give out beautiful plaque awards that are custom-made.” Read more…