Wisconsin parishioners launch GoFundMe to appeal to Vatican to save 150-year-old church

CNA Staff, Dec 11, 2024 / 15:05 pm

Parishioners in a small Wisconsin city have launched a GoFundMe as part of an effort to save a nearly 150-year-old church from permanent closure. 

Advocates for St. Boniface Church in Manitowoc are hoping to raise $8,000 to bankroll an appeal at the Vatican to stop the Diocese of Green Bay from shuttering the church. The parish itself dates to the 1850s while the current building was constructed in 1886. 

St. Boniface as it appeared in the 1880s. Credit: Photo courtesy of John Maurer

The diocese ordered the parish to merge with several others in 2005, with the last regularly scheduled Mass taking place there that year and the most recent Mass taking place in 2013. 

Bishop David Ricken issued a decree last year ordering that the 137-year-old building be relegated to “profane but not sordid use,” meaning it can be sold and used for nonreligious purposes so long as they are not immoral or offensive to the Catholic faith.

The bishop said in the decree that the building had not regularly been used since 2005 and was “no longer necessary for the care of souls in the community.” He also cited the building’s physical decline and the accompanying financial burden, as well as a decline of Catholics in the area.

The exterior of St. Boniface is seen in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. Credit: John Maurer

John Maurer and Emily Baumann, who are leading a GoFundMe fundraising effort, told CNA that they hope to preserve St. Boniface’s status as a church. 

The present GoFundMe campaign — which aims to raise $8,000 — is small by the standards of many church preservation efforts. Mauer said the funds are meant solely to help pay for attorney’s fees at the Vatican where the parish’s advocates are currently arguing their case. 

“We’ve been going back and forth at the diocesan level,” he said. “The bishop sustained his decree two years ago. That’s why it went to Rome.”

“We went to the Court of the Dicastery for the Clergy. They ruled in favor of Bishop Ricken’s decree,” he continued. “We then went to the Supreme Tribunal. They sided with the lower court. Now we’re at the Congresso of the Apostolic Signatura.”

Though the $8,000 campaign will go toward the attorney at the Vatican, Baumann noted that advocates have already raised a considerable amount of money to help fund a church restoration.

“We can’t quite do anything with restoration until we get approval to be in the church and use the church,” she said. “But we already have secured all the money necessary for a full restoration. We’ve had it for a few years now. We just haven’t had the permission.”

In his decree, Ricken said the structure of St. Boniface is “in danger of decay and damage.” Baumann, on the other hand, argued that the church is in good physical shape and mostly requires cosmetic updates.

“We had contractors in to assess the roof and structure, and they said this building is in really good shape,” she said.

“That’s part of the reason we’re fighting so strongly. If most of the parish were able to walk through the doors today, they’d be shocked at what a good condition it’s in.”

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The altar of St. Boniface is viewed from the nave in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. Credit: John Maurer

A diocesan spokesperson declined to comment directly on the present fundraising effort. Mauer said there is “definitely huge support” throughout the local Catholic community to see the church restored.

“It’s not some small fringe group,” he said. “People are pledging money. We have to turn them away because we can’t take the money now. But they want to see it restored.”

Baumann said she has observed similar eagerness from community members to see the church preserved. “There’s really a deep-seated desire as a whole to see that building used,” she said.

“Our hope is with all we’re doing, maybe it deserves a second look,” she added.