Our church is closing. A Catholic church has been on this site since 1897 but now is being closed for lack of priest and money. The church owns a lot of property, school, church, a couple of houses and is in the process of selling the property. The paradox is that when the property is sold the Church will have lots of money. I suggested that the money from the sale being given to the Society of St. Vincent De Paul conferences that serve the people in need on the north sides with home visits and vouchers for basics, like bed, appliances and furniture. I send my suggestion to so called ‘owners of Church’ Parish Corporation and a few parishioners that have something to say. I explained to them it was not my idea to “Go sell what you have and give it to the poor” but that of Jesus’ in the Gospel. But I doubt if they will respond to my request. Being a voice for the voiceless has it downside, being ignored and rejected.

There used to be many Catholic churches in this area on the north side when Germans and other ethnic groups lived there. But as the neighborhood became predominately African American the Catholic Church did not reach out to Americans who had a longer history in this country than the various ethnic groups. Thus from many Churches there are not just about four left. But on the south side of town where there are other ethnic groups live and the newer immigrants were Hispanics lots of Catholic Churches remain open.

I have been watching some TV shows about the Civil War, on this 150th anniversary of this dreadful war that killed so many thousands and thousands of men. A certain percentage of the population was killed and put in modern terms with today’s population it would be millions and millions of men.

The Civil war was fought over slavery, no matter how hard people try to rewrite history. The Catholic Church condoned slavery as morally right till modern times. Often I feel we are still fighting a war over discrimination and moral values, though today it is the poor, the ill and militarization of country that are the focus of our struggle.

My wife and I are considering joining a Catholic Church downtown, St. Benedict the Moor when our church closes after Sunday. This church was started over 100 years ago by the Catholic Capuchin Franciscans for the growing number of African Americans living in Milwaukee. The nearby Catholic Jesuit church, Gesu, was not welcoming to African Americans and made them sit in the balcony at back of Church. St. Benedict the Moor, now has many ministries to the poor and disenfranchised, meal program, jail ministry and a health clinic. The paradox now is that most of the Church members are white coming from all over the area. The African Americans have moved north and northwest and not being welcomed by the Catholic Churches on the north side which are now few and far between. But we still have a few St. Vincent De Paul conferences in the predominately African American neighborhood and if the money from the sale of our closed Church goes to these conferences we can still serve people in need. Sell the Church and give the money to the poor, please.

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