Upcoming Event!: Doors Open to 13 Catholic Milwaukee Sites on September 19 and 20

For the fifth year running, Doors Open Milwaukee will be opening doors all over the great City (and County) of Milwaukee this weekend, September 19th and 20th. By my count, 13 Catholic sites will be open for special guided or self-guided tours this weekend along with 164 other awesome sites. While you can get a short preview here on the blog, I highly suggest checking out Doors Open Milwaukee for more details.

Doors Open Milwaukee 2015 - Catholic Sites

1. Basilica of St. Josaphat, open Saturday for limited hours and Sunday 1 - 5 pm.

2. Calvary Cemetery Chapel, open Saturday and Sunday 10 am - 5 pm.

3. Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, open Sunday 12 noon - 5 pm.

4. Christ King Catholic Parish, open Sunday 12 noon - 5 pm.

5. Marian Center for Nonprofits (formerly St. Mary’s Academy), open Saturday 10 am - 4 pm and Sunday 12 noon - 5 pm.

6. Marquette University / St. Joan of Arc Chapel, open Saturday and Sunday 10 am - 5 pm.

7. Marquette University Law School / Ray and Kay Eckstein Hall, open Saturday 11 am - 4 pm and Sunday 11 am - 3 pm.

8. Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi, open Saturday 10 am - 4 pm and Sunday 12 noon - 3 pm.

9. St. Benedict the Moor Church, open Saturday 10 am - 4 pm.

10. St. Casimir Church / Our Lady of Divine Providence Parish, open Sunday 11:30 am - 4 pm (concert at 4 pm).

11. St. Joseph Academy, open Saturday and Sunday 10 am - 5 pm.

12. St. Joseph Chapel, open Saturday 10 am - 4 pm.

13. St. Stanislaus Roman Catholic Church, open Sunday 1 pm - 5 pm.

Now go visit Milwaukee this weekend!

Out-and-Around Old St. Cecilia's

A little walk around the old St. Cecilia's church building used to lead visitors to a few landmarks of note for the local Catholic scene in the Wisconsin Dells. Perhaps most notable is this elegant shrine the the Virgin Mary, under the title of Our Lady of the Dells.

A church bell dating from 1904. It reads: "Purchased from the McShane Bell Foundry Balto. MD. by St. Cecilia's Congregation during the pastorate of Rev. O. Kolbe, A.D. 1904."

The parish hall and former school building, which has hosted summer masses for years now to handle the overflow from the old church building. It is being used as the regular worship space until the new St. Cecilia's is complete.

St. Cecilia Catholic Church

603 Oak Street, Wisconsin Dells, WI 53965

http://www.dellscatholic.com/

Old St. Cecilia Catholic Church, Wisconsin Dells, A Last Inside Look

St. Cecilia's Catholic Church, the Wisconsin Dells lone parish, closed its 1902 church building with a final Mass and "Roots in Faith" party on Sunday, May 17th. I wasn't able to catch the final Mass which filled the church and forced overflow seating space outside the building. However, I did get to spend a few hours the weekend before walking about the church and capturing the soon-departed scenery.

I had visited the church on one other occasion, and what stuck me the most on that visit was the high altar. Modest in its proportions, the altar is sharp in its detail and, common throughout the church that day, remarkably clean for a building that was soon to be emptied. The scene of the Last Supper is more prominent here than on many altars I've seen, situated at eye-level.

Detail from the high altar.

At the foot of the Cross, high altar detail.

With distinguishing features like this high altar, it is worthy to note that the general plans for the new church building call for many of the old decorative elements to either be included in the new church or for their replacements to be largely inspired by these originals.

The more modern altar is no slouch in appearance either. It was still the Easter season when I visited, so the seasonal flower display quickly caught the visitor's eye.

Lamb of God, detail from the altar.

Detail from the communion rail.

Left: Side altar devoted to St. Joseph with the tabernacle.

Right: Side altar featuring St. Mary fronted by the baptismal font.

"Jesus I trust in you"

Depiction of the Image of the Divine Mercy, the original of which came into being through the appearance of Jesus Christ to St. Faustina Kowalska, a Polish nun _[1]. St. Cecilia Catholic Church, and the Dells in general represent a small, but significant center for Polish heritage. Polka festivals are an annual occurrence in town to this day.

Sacred Heart of Jesus statue.

Tabernacle lamp.

St. Cecilia, patron of the church. An early martyr for Christianity, she is also considered a patron saint of religious music. Many St. Cecilia statues feature her carrying a small organ or other instrument.

"Domum dei Decet Sacntitudo." (Latin for"The House of God Holiness.")

"St. Caecilia's Church 1902" (Caecilia is Latin for Cecilia)

While suffering from structural problems over a century after being built, the old St. Cecilia Church building still looked admirable as its closing approached.

St. Cecilia Catholic Church

603 Oak Street, Wisconsin Dells, WI 53965

http://www.dellscatholic.com/

Additional Sources:

[1] https://www.ewtn.com/Devotionals/mercy/

Wish You Were Here...at Old St. Mary's, Milwaukee

A new series for the blog while I'm getting larger posts ready. Have a church that you want featured on the blog? Email me suggestions at roamincatholicchurches@gmail.com. Attach a postcard-worthy photo that I can include in the post too please!

A reader of the blog, Melissa Behrens, sent the images below to me on my phone while she was out in Milwaukee attending a friend's wedding. I have been in Old St. Mary's a few times, but haven't given it the true Roamin' Catholic Churches treatment yet. Hopefully soon!

Thanks Melissa!

ps. If you want to see a slick-looking lifestyle blog, check out Melissa and her husband Max's lifestyle blog Lumber Loves Lace. Their dog, Henry, is actually the preeminent blogger in the family, and you can catch him at Sir Henry the Dog.

Photos by Melissa Behrens.

"Postcard" by Colter Sikora, derived from one of Melissa's photos.

Old St. Mary Catholic Church

836 N. Broadway  Milwaukee, WI 53202

http://oldsaintmary.org/

"Roots in Faith" Party and Final Mass at the circa 1902 St. Cecilia Catholic Church, Wisconsin Dells

St. Cecilia Catholic Church is on the verge of building a new church to host its parishioners and the droves of guests that frequent the Wisconsin Dells. A necessary part of this process involves taking down the current church building, built in the early 1900s. The last Mass at the old church will be celebrated at 5pm on Sunday, May 17th, with a "Roots in Faith" party afterward. At that gathering, historic photos will be on display, hogs will be roasted, and a celebration of the faith history in the Dells should ensue. If you are connected to St. Cecilia's in some way or are otherwise interested in the event, check out the parish's announcement here.

In anticipation of this project, I stopped at the church last weekend to take photos, a couple of which are included in this post. Fr. Eric Sternberg, who granted approval of my photo shoot, and the parish have made an effort to keep the glow of Easter season decor alive in the church up to the day that the last Mass is given. I hope to share highlights of my visit soon.

St. Cecilia Catholic Church

603 Oak Street, Wisconsin Dells, WI 53965

http://www.dellscatholic.com/

St. Joseph Catholic Church, Waukesha, Part 1 - Exterior

St. Joseph's in Downtown Waukesha is one of the oldest churches in this historic, now largely suburban area, to the west of Milwaukee. A co-founder of Milwaukee, Solomon Juneau, donated land that this parish complex thrives on today back in 1843, five years before Wisconsin was admitted into statehood[1]. This Gothic Revival structure is the third church building for the parish.

       

According to Parish history text, this building was completed in 1890, with the cornerstone (above, left) noting construction of the parish moving ahead two years prior. At right is a marker denoting the church as an official city landmark, a designation the church earned in 1983 [2].

The prominent steeple draws the visitor's eye upward, its alternating bands of colored slate adding a nice touch. The Wisconsin Historical Society's record for St. Joseph's remarks that the church is specifically a fine example of High Victorian Gothic [3].

The arched windows continue to mark the Gothic style. The firm of Adolphus Druiding designed St. Joseph's. Just a few years later, the Druiding team designed another church visited by the blog, St. John Cantius in Chicago. The limestone chosen for the church and some of its partner buildings on the parish campus make for a pleasing exterior.

As a cartographer by passion, I was thrilled to see a map of the parish complex, although I found it slightly odd that the map is located squarely in the center of the campus (see the faint "you are here" label in the center of the map)! The church, chapel and parish activity center that I photographed are all in the upper left-hand (northeast) corner of this map.

The front doors to the old parish school, now parish activity center. Part of this building was actually built from the church that preceded the current St. Joseph's Church, built roughly in 1848. If I had realized this fact while taking photos, I would have examined this building in more detail.

Core to the vitality of this parish is its Hispanic community.

A quick note for context: These photos were shot awhile ago, in June 2014, with plans to make a more-intensive church architectural and historical review.  I chatted with the parish priest, Father Bill Key, who offered a wealth of parish history and gave me a tour of the church before leaving me to shoot photos.  Furthermore, a friend of mine put me in touch with the Wisconsin Historic Society who also has a treasure trove of information about Wisconsin's historic churches.  With other projects and the need to get other posts online, I finally started putting this post, the first of three, together this winter. This post and its forthcoming partner posts rely heavily on the histories shared with me by the parish and state historical society.

St. Joseph Parish

818 N. East Avenue, Waukesha, WI 53186-4888

http://www.catholic4waukesha.org/stjoseph-home.cfm

Additional Sources:
[1] History of St. Joseph's Parish. Written approximately 2006. Provided in photocopy by Fr. Bill Key.
[2] Waukesha Comparison National Register of Historic places (NHRP) Local Landmarks List. http://www.ci.waukesha.wi.us/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=7f6f145a-2e1e-4dbb-8b4c-9f73803c7a9c&groupId=10113
[3] 818 N East Ave, Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory. http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Content.aspx?dsNav=Ro:20,Nrc:id-4294961467-dynrank-disabled,N:4294963828-4294963814&dsNavOnly=N:1159&dsRecordDetails=R:HI16808

Roamin' Catholic Churches Talks That Milwaukee Talk

A quick post while I get ready to release another multi-part series of church photos: Last month I was asked to write about Doors Open Milwaukee (which I discuss on this blog here and here) for OnMilwaukee.com, an online newspaper that is all about those happening things in the Cream City. The article came out on April 30th.

Over roughly 1,800 words, I explain the importance of residential neighborhoods and the special places inside of them, including churches. Specifically I referenced St. Stanislaus Catholic Church on Milwaukee's south side and St. Casimir Catholic Church (pictured above) in the north side's Riverwest neighborhood. St. Casimir's along with being a wonderful Gothic Revival church building was also likely the parish of choice for my Polish great-grandparents who spent at least a little time living in the second house from the left in the photo above.

Many thanks to my dear friend and Doors Open Milwaukee Program Manager Amy Grau for giving me the opportunity to chime in with my thoughts of Doors Open and Bobby Tanzilo, editor at OnMilwaukee.com for his help in getting the article online!

Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness! While looking Bobby's bio at OnMilwaukee.com for this blog post, I came across an article that he released on April 28th on "Mad Man" Michaels, a Milwaukee disc jockey best known for his handful of Polish Christmas story records. I've known of these records since my mother introduced the stories to me in the late 90s. Bobby's article includes all of the recordings of the "Bard of Mitchell Street," who I think I have heard was actually Irish. Give them a listen (I have nothing to say about the copyright rules involved here)!

St. Casimir Catholic Church - Our Lady of Divine Providence Parish

2600 N. Bremen St., Milwaukee, WI 53212

http://ourladyofdivineprovidence.weconnect.com/