From a reader: Traditional Parishes in Southeast Wisconsin

From a reader:

I hope this finds you well, I read your blog on the limited number or TLM parishes in WI when I was looking for a new parish. My wife and I are looking to move to Lake Geneva - Burlington area in the next few years.

My parents are looking to move sooner and we want them to end up close to us so our current and future children will have grandparents close by. Anyway to my question, do you have advice or resources on not just TLM parishes which seem kind of far away from the Lake Geneva area, but even reverent Novus Ordo parishes with a quality parish school?

I apologise for the very specific question from a stranger but your blog was one of the few sources I keep coming back to in my search for a parish.

No apology needed!  I've got to meet or correspond with many of you through the area and I really enjoy getting a chance to hear from you all.  I'll see if I can't ping a few people and get some more input, but let's see if we can get some readers to chime in to assist.  BTW, my goal is still to photograph every church in the state, but I'm going to need to figure out how to get an early retirement package to make it happen, haha.

Kenosha is about 45 minutes away and I'm pretty sure they still have the Latin Mass going there.   As far as non-dual form parishes, I'll have to get some more input.  Also you are likely out of range for any of the classical model schools.  I'll update this post if I get some email replies.

Update:
Mt. Carmel near 52nd st and 22 ave. Noon Sunday. Also Saturdays am.

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Check St Peter's in Volvo Illinois about 1/2 south of Lake Geneva on US rt 12.

Our Lady Guadalupe Catholic Church, Milwaukee, WI

Mid 19th Century architecture, an old German parish, Milwaukee's Mother Hispanic parish, Our Lady of Guadalupe (formerly Holy Trinity) parish has plenty of designations. Over 150 years after its founding, it is still as important for its community as it was at the start.

[NB] Special VIP Offerings:
- Beer! Beer! Beer! Not many church tours come with free alcohol! Use the coupon attached to the VIP Event Guide to get a free tour at nearby Brenner Brewing at 3 p.m., exclusive to VIP attendees.

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Nuestra Señora de San Juan de los Lagos

Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, Milwaukee, WI

Immaculate Conception Catholic Parish is an institution in Milwaukee’s Bay View neighborhood. The church building, while over a century old, has adapted over time with numerous renovations and looks fantastic today. Being a well-established parish, Immaculate Conception has generated its own history and traditions that cement its meaning locally and for the Archdiocese as a Very Important Parish.

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RCC: Saint Bernard Catholic Church, Wauwatosa WI

Note: This is one in a series of five posts previewing the Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s Very Important Parishes (VIP) event on Saturday, November 5th. To view the other preview posts and learn more about VIP, check out the first post in the series.

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Badger Catholic Photo Archives

In rather un-me type fashion, I've done all these posts but have not indexed them well.  Also in un-me fashion, I've posted these few and far between lately.  Sometimes I actually take pictures, sometimes I search archives to find old pictures, and sometimes I just borrow from what's online.  Anywho, I'll be linking to this on the sidebar and updating it regularly.  

Reader looking for feedback on Catholic scene in La Crosse

I reply to these often enough.  I thought I'd let others chime in in the comments to give some feedback.

From a reader:

Matt-

I came upon your blog doing a google search.

My brother-in-law and sister-in-law are considering moving to La Crosse, WI from Nebraska. They are faithful Catholics with four small children.

Could you provide any information about the Catholic Church in the area? What is the Catholic community like? What are the Catholic Schools like? How is the diocese? They would just love to know what the Catholic climate and culture is like in the area (and I'm curious, too :))

I appreciate any help on this as I unbury from email.  Constructive anonymous comments welcome.

On her good days, she looks like this.

 
Side note, disappointed to see Bp. Morlino cannot make it to Knights of Divine Mercy in the Madison area Friday but I will be attending.  I've got to get video of the benediction this time.

St. Joseph Catholic Church, Boyd, WI

Came in contact with another Sconnie Catholic blogger who has been photographing churches.  He's got this awesome map of the churches he's visited, which I need to get setup for mine.  Sadly I'm halfway through vacation and have no pictures to speak of yet.  

Here are pictures of St. Joseph Church, in Boyd, Wisconsin. This church is part of the All Saints Catholic Community of Boyd, Cadott, and Stanley. St. Joseph’s is 189 road miles northwest of Madison's Cathedral Parish and the State Capitol.  For a small-town church, St. Joseph's has an impressive group of statues. Most visible among these are on the high altar on either side of the Crucifix.

Help from readers; family seeking solid parish in Green Bay area

From a reader: 

Hi I have an adult nephew and his new wife interested and returning to the sacraments and to Mass. He attended Mass at the St. Joseph's Oratory in Green Bay didn't get much out of it because it was in Latin.  Do you know of a parish in the Green Bay area that offers a conservative or traditional Mass in English so that he is able to relearn the faith?  Perhaps one that has traditional music. He's not interested in Masses with contemporary music. We attend St. John Cantius in Chicago and we told him about our parish( which does offer the NO but it's with traditional hymns.) He is looking for something similar to our parish. 

Well there's only one St. John Cantius and how I wish I were closer.  Maybe they want to start branching out in neighboring Midwestern towns and adopt parishes??  *sigh*  Well I would probably say the Green Bay Cathedral parish.  I've been to some bad parishes in Green Bay, but I thought the Cathedral was pretty solid.  I'm sure the canons of the Institute of Christ the King would offer their services to teach the newlyweds the Mass.  I'd love to find out what parts of the TLM have been given permission to be said in the vernacular; I've seen rumors of indults but never really found anything concrete.  I always thought that Pope Benedict was going to issue a new instruction for the TLM to codify some of these things but alas, we are rudderless for the time being.  I am not some rigorous defender of all Latin Mass, if there has been permission for certain parts to be said or sung in Latin, make it so. 

Alright, enough from me.  Thoughts?  Any of the churches up there have communion rails? 

Photo

IIMB: St. Casimir Church, Milwaukee, WI

My family and I had the great delight of attending Mass at St. Casimir's Church, part of Our Lady of Divine Providence Parish, in Milwaukee's Riverwest Neighborhood, for the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God.  A year ago I wrote a post about The Seven Most Beautiful Churches in Milwaukee. This one should have definitely been included in that list, making the number eight.  It was gorgeous and I thoroughly enjoyed praying and worshiping God there!

The choir sang several Polish Christmas carols which brought back beautiful memories of my parents who would frequently listen to Czech and Polish carols.  One of the carols is included at the end of this post.

There are so many Catholic treasures hidden in the city. What a joy it is to discover and share them!

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St. John the Baptist church, Marshfield, WI

Visually, it's probably in the top 3 of churches in the La Crosse Diocese. Musical approach was that of the four hymn sandwich, but I must say the choir has very good execution. I found out later that they have begun some training on chant, I wasn't sure if it was English or Latin, but either way the choir definitely seems talented enough to handle either (I think chanting English is harder than Latin most of the time). I should try to write these things down right afterwords, I'm sure I always forget when I do this two weeks later. There were a couple good hymn selections (no sighting of All Are Welcome), I think piano accompaniment for a few and I think piano for the Gloria, Sanctus, Agnus Dei. Some of the prayers were intoned. The pastor and associate are two of the best and brightest in the diocese. They are having a parish mission in the spring with Chuck Neff and Fr. Rick Heilman. The altar pieces are the original, around 100 years old, they are in the process of cleainging and touching it up. I would love to check it out after it is completed.  The parishioners refused to let any priest come in and gut the church, Deo gratias!  If you are in the area, definitely worth a visit.  

PS> Not my greatest photos, but I didn't think it was appropriate to whistle and point to the door to get the parishioners to skedattle.

The original communion rail is still in tact and in storage

St. Aloysius Church, Sauk City, WI

Forgot I had these. Recently on a trip to KDM we camped at Devils Lake afterwards(it was cold). First Saturday St. Aloysius had some very nice Marian devotions, the Society of Jesus Christ High Priest(Sp) I believe now runs the parish.  A nice parish website has been put together(they even link to Fr. Z's). The parish at my first glance was hideous, but on further look it really looks like parishioners have made an effort to recover the beauty lost here.  Prominent pro-life displays in the back shows that the parish is alive.

The whole set on Flickr

St. Joseph's Oratory, Green Bay, WI

After we visited the Good Help Shrine, we went to Mass at St. Joseph's Oratory.  If you are only going by GPS, you might not find it.  The chapel is right on the grounds of the diocesan center.  Did I think it was weird that the only assignment of the Institute of Christ the King in the Diocese of Green Bay was right on the grounds of the diocesan center in a little modern chapel?  Yes.  I guess the close proximity in case they start heretic-ing up?  But it is definitely a blessing for the city and the diocese nonetheless.

Mass was good, they do well with the little they have in the chapel.  The choir was good, but ... nobody else in the congregation sings...  I'm used to singing the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus and Agnus Dei.  To my traditionalist readers, do you sing during Mass?  It would seem that a true intention of Vatican II was to encourage singing in Mass, even by the people.  Anywho, still a good experience.  Some large young families in attendance.

Look for this sign

The Basilica of St. Josaphat, Milwaukee, WI

Absolutely stunning.  By the way, a great trip to Milwaukee besides the blizzard, and even that provided entertainment.  We arrived to the Basilica around 11, and found out at the last minute they have a noon Mass during Lent and adoration afterwards(not sure if it was because it was First Friday or because it was Lent).  I'll let the photos do the talking.  The only noticeable negative was the modification to put in a table altar and take out the communion rails in front of the center altar and baldacchino. You can see from the old picture that previously the altar rail extended the length of the church.

The Mass was, I thought, very well done.  The Kyrie, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei were all chanted in Plainchant in their respective languages, and the Communio was chanted by the organist in Latin during Communion.  Frankly, the music was perfect for a daily Mass.  Anything more than Plainchant is too long for a daily Mass for the laity.  The priest exposed the blessed sacrament before the Postcommunion, which was weird since I started to kneel but everyone remained standing.  It looks like some of the regulars do weird things with when they stand as well.   But I received communion kneeling without incident and I thought rubrics were followed overall as well as the sacristan was dutiful in his work.

Anyone visiting Milwaukee should visit this church.   We went to the gift shop across the street and the woman working there gave some great background.  It was basically Bishop Callahan who was rector there at the time who took the need for roof repair(which eventually needed the whole dome replaced) and made it into a full fledged restoration.  Magnificent work, had the 1970s red carpet pulled out, and put statues back which had been ripped out and hidden in the attic from eager liturgists.  The website is lacking(I couldn't find a parish bulletin anywhere to see their regular schedule on the website or in the church), but the woman at the gift shop said a new site is in the works.  I have to say, this is the most beautiful church I've ever seen in person.

Before the table altar added.

Crypt chapel was also well adorned.

Relics

 and to my defense, I did not see this until I was leaving.  But then again, I don't profit at all from my photos so I don't think it applies to me.