Click here to read the FAQs in Spanish/ Preguntas Frecuentes Sobre La Fusión

As we move forward in this process, we will provide regular updates, and add to the FAQs. There will also be parts that need your help and consultation. If you have any questions, please email merger@ccwauk.org.

April 7, 2024: A Brief Update from Fr. Matthew

Thank you to everyone who helped make our Holy Week liturgies beautiful and prayerful. There are too many people to thank by name who, in various ways, help the liturgies come together. A special thanks to the many people who work hard behind the scenes to make our churches look extra beautiful for Easter. We’re also blessed to have a wonderful faith formation team who has worked hard throughout this year to prepare the children and adults who entered the church at the Easter Vigil. The music of Holy Thursday and the Easter Vigil Mass is especially moving, and I’m grateful to our staff and volunteers for their great work carrying out all of the different liturgical ministries.

It has been about a month since I announced that our parishes are asking the Archbishop to formally begin the process of merging our four parishes into one parish. The result of this merger would be that we would have one parish with four different sites. The merger would officially take place on July 1, 2025. The comments I have received so far have been overwhelmingly positive. The most common comments include derivations of, “I thought we were one already,” and, “it’s about time.” That being said, I know there are people who have questions and also a sadness about the change.

We’re committed to providing transparent information about where we are in this merger process. The next step for us in this process is the formal approval by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee Priest Council and Archbishop Listecki to move forward with the merger process. I’ve sent a letter to the Archbishop and Chancellor of the Archdiocese signed by all of our trustees, pastoral council officers, and school board president. One of the agenda items at the priest council meeting on April 15 will be our proposed merger. After the meeting on April 15, the Archbishop will formally reply in writing to officially begin the process of merging our parishes.

Although change can be scary, this merger process will give us an opportunity to vision for the future and strengthen our parish ministries and outreach. The good news about our present collaboration is that we have a strong track record of collaboration that we must continue to capitalize on for the good of our community. If you have questions feel free to email us at merger@ccwauk.org or visit our FAQ section on our website www.ccwauk.org click on the “collaboration-next steps” tab to read my initial letter and scroll down to browse the FAQ sheet.

Happy Easter!
Fr. Matthew Widder

Click here to read the update in Spanish/ Haga clic aquí para leer la actualización en Español.

Click here to read the letter in Spanish/ Haga clic aquí para leer la carta en Español.

Since August of 2020, I’ve had the honor and joy to serve the Catholic Community of Waukesha. I’ve seen deep faith, heartfelt service and compassion, as well as visible signs of unity. I have begun to hear parishioners and others say, “now that we’re one we should….”, or “I like that we’re one because….” Another dynamic that I witness is at meetings with people from other parishes, members of our community will often introduce themselves as being a part of the “Catholic Community of Waukesha.” It’s beautiful to hear these expressions and I’m proud of what we’re doing and becoming. We captured the essence of collaboration here, in Waukesha. We’re a family and we can be more vibrant witnesses to Jesus in our community when we think as a family.

As these expressions warm my heart, they also bring to mind the truth of our collaboration. Although we function as one from a pastoral standpoint, technically we’re not one. Corporately (and canonically) we are four separate parish entities with four separate finance councils, sets of trustees, financial records, and more. The current structure presents a challenge. The Catholic Community of Waukesha has a strong depth of collaboration, but we find that this operating structure has not kept pace with the evolution of our community.

Looking at the structure of our community, not only do we have four separate parishes, but we also have Waukesha Catholic, our outstanding Catholic School. Our parishes’ collaboration in forming what was originally called Waukesha Catholic School System (WCSS) goes all the way back to 1990. At that time, the leadership of our four parishes discerned that Catholic Education in the city of Waukesha would be stronger having one K-8 school system in the community rather than three. Thus, a school system that was not directly incorporated into any of the four parishes was formed to serve the community.

Given the current situation in the American Catholic Church and in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, there’s really no way to “go back in time” when each parish had its own priests who could accomplish all the needed administration, pastoral duties, as well as the numerous other responsibilities parishes demand. Frankly, none of our parishes would be able to support a parish staff, school, and parish campus on their own. When we link our resources together, we’re able to offer a broad range of opportunities to live our call to discipleship. As individual parishes, we would not be able to offer the same discipleship opportunities we do today.

It’s within this backdrop that after meeting with Archdiocesan personnel, and support of our parish trustees, finance councils, pastoral council, school board, principals, and clergy, I will be submitting a letter to Archbishop Listecki formally asking to begin the process for merging our four parishes.

The result would be one parish with four worship sites. The date in which this merger would become official is July 1, 2025. The merging of the four parishes would also have an impact on our parish school. Since Waukesha Catholic was formed to serve four parishes, the reality of the parishes becoming one, would necessitate the changing of the school by-laws. Although the timing of the merging may be different from the parishes, the expectation is the school would eventually merge into the newly formed parish.

It’s important to note, that from a pastoral standpoint very little will change as each of our church sites will continue to be open, and our Catholic School will continue to educate with a high standard of excellence. It’s the operational, “behind the scenes,” side that needs to change to better serve our mission of helping our community, know, love, and serve Jesus. It should be noted as well, that an advantage of beginning the merger process now, is that each of our parishes and our school enter from a place of strength, and not from a place of desperation.

As we go down this journey, I humbly ask you to ask our Holy Family of patrons, Saint Joseph, Saint William, Saint John Neumann, and Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception to continue to intercede for our community.

As we move forward in this process, we will provide regular updates. There will also be parts that need your help and consultation. If you have any questions, please email merger@ccwauk.org, and visit ccwauk.org/collaboration-next-steps.

In the hearts of Jesus and Mary,

Fr. Matthew Widder