Roman Catholic
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…
By Samara Kalk Derby – Wisconsin State Journal – On the day when at least 250,000 people paid their respects to Pope Francis at his funeral in front of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Catholics in the Diocese of Madison gathered to remember him. Roughly 350 mourners, including about 20 local clergy, attended a special Saturday Mass led by Bishop Donald Hying at Our Lady Queen of Peace Church on Madison’s West Side. Read more of this story.
On a clear day, from the tower of the Holy Hill Basilica and National Shrine of Mary Help of Christians, you can see the skyline of Milwaukee, 30 miles away. Madison is 65 miles in the other direction. Perched atop the highest eminence in southeastern Wisconsin, its presence is stunning, especially in the fall when the leaves of the surrounding hardwood forests are at peak color. As the name suggests, it could be described as one of Wisconsin’s holiest sites. It is a minor basilica of the Roman Catholic church, proclaimed by Pope Benedict XVI in 2006. It’s also on…
A PowerPoint presentation packed with graphs showing the decline of religious observance in America filled the fellowship hall at Madison’s Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Saturday morning. “I take no joy in showing you any of these graphs,” said Eastern Illinois University political science professor Ryan Burge. “This is me.” For the past 17 years Burge has also been the pastor of an American Baptist Church in central Illinois, but it’s planning on closing this summer. “We had eight people in worship last Sunday,” he said. UPDATE ON THIS STORY APRIL 2nd STORY FROM THE RELIGION NEWS SERVICE: The last service…
By Chris Rickert, Wisconsin State Journal — Citing reduced membership and Mass attendance, and sundry other indicators of what Bishop Donald Hying describes as an “increasingly post-Christian culture,” the Diocese of Madison is planning to roll out a major restructuring next year that would consolidate parishes and possibly sell off unused church property. According to an “initial outline” released Oct. 1, the Diocese’s 102 parishes — including 135 churches and other associated buildings — would be consolidated into approximately 30 “pastorates,” or groupings of parishes, with “each under the leadership of a single Pastor and other priests collaborating with him…