Court of Appeals affirms denial of tax exemption to Madison Cathedral site

The Wisconsin Court of Appeals today affirmed the earlier decision of the Circuit Court in Dane County which upheld the denial of a religious exemption from real estate taxes for the site of St. Raphael Cathedral. (see Matt's October 4, 2016 post.)

In today's opinion, the appellate court agreed with the court below that the applicable statute, Section 70.11(4)(a), had a requirement for exemption that the land be "necessary for location and convenience of buildings" and this did not apply because the property had no buildings.

That lack of buildings resulted from the Cathedral's destruction by an arson fire in 2005 and the clearing of the site in 2012. (See this report on the original court decision in The Isthmus.) I notice that the statute has since been amended to add a subsection 2, apparently to restore the exemption for the St. Raphael property and in any future similar situations.

After Madison Cathedral burned to the ground by arson in 2005, city forces property tax payment of 100K per year with judicial strongarm!

 

The Downtown property that once held St. Raphael’s Cathedral, a church rectory and a religious school doesn’t qualify for a property tax exemption for religious use, a Dane County judge ruled Tuesday.

While Dane County Circuit Judge Rhonda Lanford agreed that the property is being used for a religious purpose, it failed to satisfy a second requirement under state law that the property is “necessary for (the) location and convenience of buildings,” such as a future cathedral to replace St. Raphael’s, which was destroyed by an arson fire in 2005.

St. Raphael’s Congregation, the listed owner of the property at 204 W. Main St., sued the city last year, claiming it was improperly assessed property taxes for 2014 for the parcel because it still serves a religious purpose following construction of a Way of the Cross on the property, made up of 14 stations commemorating key locations along the route that Jesus took on the day of his crucifixion.

continue at WisSJ

#DoubleStandard  Would a mosque suffer the same legal attacks in Madtown?  Flying Spaghetti Monsters?  Yeah.   Perhaps Catholics in Dane County can apply for Dhimmi status?

Welp, I'm ready to contribute to a new cathedral.  Anyone else?

Update: Statement from Madison Diocese:
NB: The property in dispute (204 W. Main) was donated to the Church by Governor James Doty, in 1848, and has been in use by the Catholic community on the Isthmus ever since.

Way of the Cross being built on Madison cathedral site

A Way of the Cross is being built on the St. Raphael Cathedral site in downtown Madison.

“This Way of the Cross will help us to recover the sacred character of the cathedral site,” said Msgr. Kevin Holmes, rector/pastor of St. Raphael Cathedral Parish.

“The new Way of the Cross will offer Catholics an opportunity to reconnect with the St. Raphael property as a place of devotion,” he explained.

“Spending time at the Way of the Cross will help us look forward to the day when the site will be made even more beautiful by the erection of a new cathedral.”

continue at Madison Cath Herald

St. Raphael's Cathedral, Madison, WI

St. Raphael's Cathedral - 1946

St. Raphael's Cathedral - 1955

To you out of state readers, St. Raphael's was burnt down(arson) in 2005 by this guy. Father Z posted a nice photo of a painting depicting firefighters in the Cathedral wreckage. 

I think even when a church needs additional space in the sanctuary, that there is no need to throw out the baby with the bath water.  It's like there was this effort to make sure that no church would ever again look like those old outdated ethnic parishes.  I would have loved to see someone adapt the ethnic parish look and feel but be innovative enough to extend it's look to meet the modern need.  I mean, what's with the UFO lights?  I feel like the La Crosse Cathedral had a similar situation.  We needed to extend the space and did make a grand, large church, but lost something in the translation. 

Plan/design of Madison’s new Cathedral can go forward

MADISON -- “Alert parishioners may have noticed that a ‘sold’ sign has been put on the former St. Raphael School building at the corner of Henry St. and W. Washington Ave.,” Msgr. Kevin Holmes, rector of the Cathedral Parish in Madison, wrote in the June 19 parish bulletin.

Monsignor Holmes gave some background. He noted that St. Raphael Cathedral was destroyed by arson in 2005. It had stood on W. Main St. in the second block west of the Capitol Square. The land where the cathedral had stood and its former parking lot are now planted with grass.

In 2007, Bishop Robert C. Morlino announced that the St. Raphael Cathedral church would be rebuilt on the site of the present church in downtown Madison. Bishop Morlino made the announcement at the conclusion of a Eucharistic Procession on the Feast of Corpus Christi.

Two other buildings associated with the old cathedral are still standing on that block. They appear to be a single building running along Henry St. from W. Main St. to W. Washington Ave. In fact, Monsignor Holmes pointed out, they are two buildings constructed at different times, but they do share a common wall.

The building closer to Main St. was the cathedral rectory; the building closer to W. Washington Ave. was the parish school. The Cathedral School was closed in the early 1970s, and that building subsequently was sold.

Efforts to purchase the former school have been underway for several years,” said Monsignor Holmes. “The original asking price was several times the market value. Recent developments have made it possible for us to negotiate a very reasonable price for the building and property.

“So it is, in fact, our parish that is the buyer for that property. We expect to close on the property this week. Funds designated for the building of a new cathedral (principally the insurance settlement from the cathedral fire) will be used to make the purchase.”

Updated information will be available on the following Web sites: www.isthmuscatholic.org, www.madisoncatholicherald.org, and www.madisondiocese.org

MadCatHerald