wisconsin
By Todd Richmond — MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Exemptions that allow religious organizations to avoid paying Wisconsin’s unemployment tax don’t apply to a Catholic charitable organization because its on-the-ground operations aren’t primarily religious, a divided state Supreme Court ruled Thursday. The outcome of the case, which drew attention and concern from religious groups around the country, raises the bar for all religions to show that their charity arms deserve such exemptions in the state. The Catholic organization’s attorneys immediately promised to appeal directly to the U.S. Supreme Court. If that court agrees to hear the case, any ruling could have…
By Gayle Worland – Wisconsin State Journal – On Christmas Eve the church was filled with candlelight, carols and the sound of a brass quartet. On Friday, members of Luther Memorial made their way past the soaring stone arches and ornamental windows to celebrate Twelfth Night Epiphany Eve, the 12th and final night of the Christmas season, with Holy Communion. A cheery reception would follow. It’s been a festive year at Luther Memorial, the elegant, towering neo-Gothic church at 1021 University Ave. that has just marked a century in Madison. Read more of this story.
Madison, Wisconsin, is home to one of the three international offices of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES). (The others are in Oxford, England and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.) The work of IFES is featured in an article by Amy Lewis in the November 18 issue of World magazine. Zelalem Abebe took a circuitous route to the meeting of campus ministers he had traveled hundreds of miles to encourage. First stop, a hotel. But partway there, he switched cars. He had to make sure he wasn’t being followed. From the hotel, he drove to the meeting in a house. He…
By Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra – The Gospel Coalition – Kenosha Christian Academy was supposed to be a church plant. “Throughout seminary, I had a growing desire to do ministry in a hard place,” said Justin Denney. After finishing his MDiv at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS), he came on staff at Crossway Community Church in Bristol, Wisconsin, as a church planting resident in 2018. Crossway knew exactly where they wanted him to go—into the Wilson neighborhood of nearby Kenosha, where they’d been running an after-school program for the past eight years. Read the rest of this story.
Sixteen Madison area pastors say former University of Wisconsin-Madison Vice Chancellor Paul Barrows was treated unfairly by the university’s provost. Read more.
MADISON — Wisconsin’s Roman Catholic Bishops have written pastoral letters on the death penalty and marriage, both topics of referendum questions on the November ballot. The letters are directed to Catholics across the five dioceses of Wisconsin. Read more.
The Rev. John Wille, pastor of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Tomah, has been elected president of the South Wisconsin District of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod at the district’s 51st Regular Convention, which was held last week at Concordia University Wisconsin in Mequon. The Rev. Jeffrey Meyer, pastor of Christ Memorial Lutheran Church in Fitchburg, was elected third vice president. Read more.
With fall referendums looming, the Wisconsin Conference of the United Methodist Church has passed a resolution opposing attack ads and urging congregations to hold forums in neutral, public places where state voters can have respectful dialogue on constitutional amendments that would install the death penalty and deny legal status to gay marriages and civil unions. Read more.
Gov. Jim Doyle launched a new state effort to fight poverty Thursday by signing an executive order to create the Wisconsin Office of Community Faith-Based Partnerships. Read more.
GREEN LAKE – Delegates from United Church of Christ congregations around Wisconsin have gone on record against the proposed state constitutional amendment defining marriage that will be on the ballot in November. Read more.