By the great peace offering of the Cross, Grant us peace

Jesus Christ, yesterday, and today; and the same for ever. Hebrews 13:8.  I found this amazing photo in an antique store. On the back the writing says...Father Vincent F. Hart, Freeglatz Yard, Mainz, Germany July 8, 1945.

SE Wis Latin Mass Society

Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Milwaukee, WI

Found some pictures

Found these on a site called historic-structures.com

There's no dates or further information.  I would think these were probably pulled from some other repository of photos and slapped in this website.  Not sure of their origin. 

FYI, this church is now named Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Photographer Documents Wisconsin's Disappearing Taverns as a 'Cultural Identity'

Watch the full episode. See more PBS NewsHour.

PBS

Even the difference between Wisconsin and Minnesota is noticeable.  The bars there don't even sell their own states beer like Summit and Schell's.  The personal connection that should exist in business has been replaced by the highest bidder. 

I've noticed some former taverns turn their operation into primarily a restaurant with a bar to overcome that perception that there is something dirty and bad about a tavern.  Don't get me wrong, there are some nasty places out there, with their porno gambling machines and whatnot.  But there are plenty of family owned businesses which act as the local watering hole that is cultivating a community.  Can anyone else identify with going to the bar when they were kids? 

The problem with the modern man is that he thinks there is a disconnect from drinking and family.  Look at the drunks in college now.  They never learned what enjoying a beer was when they were growing up.  The bar was "bad" and now because they find themselves in a bar they are being "bad" so they might as well be as "bad" as they feel inclined to. 

Even a certain Catholic in Wisconsin has taken notice of good works done in the name of the tavern. 

The sterile online world can't substitute authentic human interaction with all its glorious awkwardness and idiosyncrasies.

HT ED

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. 

Indiana man is painting new life into Holy Hill

An Indiana man is painting new life into a quiet hallway at Holy Hill.

Scott Dercks, of Fort Wayne, recalls visiting the National Shrine of Mary Basilica with his father when he was 8 or 9 years old.  Murals along the wall on either side of the second floor walkway are labeled with a litany to Mary - "Queen of Angels," "Mother of the Savior," "Queen of All Saints."

"I always wondered what the symbols meant," said Dercks, who is originally from Muskego.

That curiosity stayed with him during his studies at Indiana Wesleyan University, when he received his master's degree at the University of St. Francis in Forty Wayne and as an art teacher at Northrop High School.

While visiting the area last year, he was surprised to see the level of decay the murals had fallen into.

"They were in such disrepair - stains, mold, cracks.  I felt called to do something about it," said Dercks.

He wrote the Discalced Carmelite Friars to ask permission to refurbish the paintings.  Included in his letter were photos of the set design he had done in college and for the school's theater department.  After a few months, the friars agreed to his request.

"We continue to be inspired by the faith of the men and women who help maintain the Shrine.  Scott's work will be seen and appreciated by the many pilgrims who travel here seeking God and the intercession of Mary, Help of Christians at this beautiful Basilica," said Holy Hill Prior the Rev. Jude Peters.

Dercks received a grant from the Lilly Endowment that covers his travel and art expenses and the work is being done at no cost to the shrine.

He is currently living in the guest house at the shrine.

"It's a simple room and it gives me time to paint, pray and contemplate," says Dercks. 

On July 15, he was working to complete the overhead mural that reads "Holy Trinity - One God" in the Marian Hallway.

He said traditionally, the three linked rings symbolize the Holy Trinity, but he also sees it as a link between God, himself and others.

He said it is one thing to view each symbol independently, but another to see them as a whole message.

Taken together under a rainbow depicted on the overarching wall, Dercks sees it to mean that we are all very different, but all loved by God.

Dercks said a painted eye inside a triangle, similar to one found on the back of currency, symbolize the watchful eye of God.

"It keeps us honorable, keeps us watchful and keeps us in the presence that our way is not always God's way," said Dercks.

Perhaps his favorite is the symbol of the Holy Spirit and the seven gifts, which Dercks interprets as a symbol of peace.

"Peace is so important, especially in our modern times.  In modern day society, we don't seek peace as often as we should.  Peace is a powerful gift," said Dercks.

He also finds that peaceful spirit inhabits the Marian Hallway.

"It wants you to be quiet.  You want to observe it and fell it," said Dercks.

After completing restoration on the main mural, Dercks plans on cleaning, patching and sealing the Marian litanies. 

"Somebody put a lot of love in these murals.  They should be around for another generation," said Dercks.

The Rev. Cyril Guise said the original paintings were done about 45 years ago by Brother Francis Enders.  He said the Marian Hallway also contains historical artifacts from the shrine, including a model of the first church on the site and a reproduction of the first wooden cross that marked the glacial hill in 1674.

Dercks said considering the murals were done in tempera paint nearly five decased ago he is surprised the murals are still around.  The hall is open to the elements on one end.

gmtoday.com

Menominee Indian Reservation

Church procession, Menominee Indian Reservation, Keshena, Wisconsin (1915?)

Flickr; Marquette University Archives

St. Peter's Catholic Church, Stevens Point, WI

Flickr: gambleg42

By the way this was also the church that then Cardinal Wojtyla visited back in 1976 before becoming pope.

The "Fond du Lac Circus"

It's awesome to me that two great Russian saints, Saint TIKHON of Moscow and Saint John Kochurov, were actually in Wisconsin at one time in history. OK, so they weren't in Madison (where I live) and I wasn't born yet for a very long time to come, but still, the thought is exciting to me.

Ss. Tikhon and John, and one other Russian Orthodox priest, were invited to an Episcopal church in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin for the ordination of an episcopalian Bishop in 1900. A whole flock of traditionally vested, high church, Episcopal bishops and one bishop of the Polish National Catholic Church (an Old Catholic splinter group) were present. When the service was over, they had this wonderful group photo taken, which, apparently was the first time that high church Episcopalian bishops were photographed in their full vestments. Well, this photo caused a huge stir among low church episcopalians, who considered these vestments "popish". The photo (or the event; I'm not sure which) came to be known as the "Fond du Lac Circus". I sure would like to see it in color.

This historic photo was taken on November 18, 1900 at St. Peter's Episcopal Cathedral in Fond du Lac, WI at the consecration of Reginald Weller as Bishop Coadjutor of the Episcopal Diocese of Fond du Lac.

Pictured above (seated l to r) are: The Rt. Rev. Isaac Lea Nicholson, Episcopal Bishop of Milwaukee; the Rt. Rev. Charles Chapman Grafton, Episcopal Bishop of Fond du Lac; and the Rt. Rev. Charles P. Anderson, Episcopal Bishop Coadjutor of Chicago.

Standing (l to r) are: the Rt. Rev. Anthony Kozlowski of the Polish National Catholic Church ; the Rt. Rev. G. M. Williams, Episcopal Bishop of Marquette (now Northern Michigan); Bishop Weller, the Rt. Rev. Joseph M. Francis, Episcopal Bishop of Indianapolis, the Rt. Rev. William E. McLaren, Episcopal Bishop of Chicago; the Rt. Rev. Arthur L. Williams, Bishop Coadjutor of Nebraska; St. John (Kochurov) of Chicago--protomartyr of the Bolshevik Revolution, Fr. Sebastian Dabitovich, chaplains to the Russian Bishop--St. Tikhon, then Orthodox Bishop of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands.

zenosaurus