`Mission Statement
We seek to reach all those who desire a closer relationship with God by sharing the good news of Christ. Together we will accomplish this by participating in public worship, encouraging a variety of ministries, and Christ-centered fellowship.
Who We Are
St. Paul’s Cathedral is a congregation with a 155 year history in the Diocese of Fond du Lac. The Cathedral has provided a beautiful place for people to worship and serve the Lord. We are an important example of Anglo-catholic liturgy and tradition.
As a congregation, we recognize the need to widen the diversity of our parish community. Currently, our congregation consists of a large number of people in the over 55 age group. While many are cradle Episcopalians, we also have attracted a substantial number of converts from other denominations.
Many of our parishioners have spent the greater portion of their lives as members of the Cathedral. Though church membership has declined over the past decade, we are hopeful that the parish is now poised for an era of new growth. At the end of 2006, the average Sunday attendance at the three Sunday services was 116 people. We currently have 303 baptized members on our rolls, with 176 communicants in good standing.
Attracting and retaining new members is one of the congregation’s primary goals for the near future. It is also important for us to continue ministering to the needs of our aging parishioners, many of whom currently live in nursing homes, assisted care facilities, and private homes.
Ministries
Worship Ministries
The tradition and beauty of services at the Cathedral reflect the congregation’s deepest respect for worship. Our Saturday and Sunday services offer congregants a variety of different times and modes of worship. Currently, we offer a Thursday morning service, which is followed by breakfast fellowship.
Weekend Eucharistic services are the highlight of worship at the Cathedral. Saturday evening’s healing service is held in Saint Joseph’s Chapel. Saturday worshippers continue to appreciate a less formal worship service. At Sunday’s 7:30 a.m. service, parishioners meet for a traditional spoken liturgy. The 10:00 a.m. service is a solemn high celebration, including choir, a variety of instrumental music, incense and bells.
All of our weekend services are centered on the Eucharist. We use various forms of Rite II from the Book of Common Prayer. High quality preaching is an important part of each worship service. The Cathedral’s beautiful sets of vestments for priest, deacon, and sub-deacon combine with the majesty of the building itself to make worship a visually stunning as well as a spiritually enriching experience
Our lay members are involved in traditional worship ministries including acolytes, altar guild, choir, and flower guild. Other members serve as lay eucharistic ministers, lay eucharistic visitors, lectors, ushers, and greeters. Coffee hours are hosted by members of the congregation following both Sunday services. In addition to weekly worship, the Cathedral offers services on many Holy Days.
Christian Formation
The Cathedral presently offers Sunday school classes for elementary through high school children between the Sunday services. In September 2002, we began the “Godly Play” program for preschool students through grade five.
In addition, the Cathedral offers Sunday school to our middle to high school students.
Additional educational sessions are provided for confirmation, and for the reception of new members. A number of adults in the parish also continue their spiritual growth through informal book club discussion, Bible studies, and sharing groups. The congregation seeks innovative leadership for these programs.
Outreach Ministries
The Cathedral joins with other members of the community and the Diocese to serve people in need. Broken Bread distributes food and other supplies on Friday afternoons to those in the Fond du Lac area. Over 100 volunteers collect and distribute food gathered from grocery stores, restaurants, bakeries, correctional institutions, as well as produce and dairy items purchased by Broken Bread. Other large contributions of food are received from the Boy Scout, Girl Scout, and Letter Carrier food drives. A group of volunteers prepare a light meal to serve our guests. Broken Bread serves 170 to 180 families each week and provided food to 27,000 people in 2006. Broken Bread has been a chartered mission of the Cathedral since 1991. The Cathedral also serves as a distribution site for the Share Program, a statewide aid organization that distributes food once a month.
Many musical groups choose the cathedral as the setting for their performances because of its excellent acoustics. These groups include: the Symphonic Band, the South Shore Chorale, and various music ensembles from Fond du Lac High School, the University of Wisconsin—Fond du Lac, and Marian College. Each year several touring choral groups present their concerts at the Cathedral. The Moller pipe organ attracts many recitalists.
The Fond du Lac Convention/Visitors Bureau lists St. Paul’s Cathedral as a point of interest in its annual Area Visitors Guide, complete with interior photograph and descriptive text. Through the Bureau, as well as listings in AAA, state, and commercial publications, the Cathedral has become a destination for scores of touring groups. As a “Living Church in a Historic Setting,” the Cathedral is heir to a memorable past while looking ahead to a future of growth in faith.
Groups like Alcoholics Anonymous and Mom’s Club hold regular meetings at the Cathedral. We also participate in the Adopt-A-Highway program to clean area roadways.
The Mouse Factory
One of the Cathedral’s largest volunteer groups is the Mouse Factory. It is so unusual that it deserves a special category. The Mouse Factory began over forty years ago with the selling of sets of Choir Mice. The Factory has grown exponentially over the years, and a group of forty workers now produce about three thousand mice annually.
Its sole purpose is the funding of the preservation and restoration of our historic Cathedral. Its valued workers are not just members of the Cathedral, but workers who want to help with our mission. Its web site can be accessed at www.cathedralmice.com.
Staff and Facilities
The Cathedral’s administrative staff is eager to assist the new Dean in whatever capacity is required. The Cathedral employs a secretary, a sexton, and a music director/organist, and is assigned a Deacon. Our Chapter currently consists of a Senior Warden, Junior Warden, and 8 dedicated members.
The four-acre church campus is located near the center of downtown Fond du Lac. The Cathedral owns three buildings and the surrounding grounds. The cathedral itself is a magnificent historic building in the European Gothic style, filled with beautiful wood carvings, sculptures, stained-glass windows, and paintings. The parish hall next door contains offices, a large reception area, a kitchen, and a large room for holding meetings and dinners.
In a cloistered garden along the east side of the Cathedral there is a columbarium with niches reserved for the inurnment of ashes.
Budget and Finances
The annual operating budget of the Cathedral (shown below for 2007, without adjustment for the Dean’s transition) has been approximately $250,000 for the last several years. Most operating income comes from member contributions, and most of the remainder comes from the earnings of the Cathedral’s investment funds. (Although there is always room for improvement, the financial stewardship of the Cathedral’s members compares well with that of other Episcopal congregations.) Personnel (the Dean and three part-time lay employees) account for about half of operating expenses, and maintenance of the Cathedral’s substantial grounds and buildings accounts for about a quarter. Broken Bread and the Mouse Factory (described elsewhere) maintain separate books, and the Mouse Factory pays directly for most of the preservation and restoration of the buildings (in addition to its contribution to operating income).
The Cathedral’s three investment funds have a combined principal of $1.8 million. Separate funds from bequests have paid for several recent capital improvements (including parish hall remodeling and an antiphonal organ), leaving member contributions available to meet operating expenses. Other smaller funds exist for special purposes, such as maintaining the columbarium. The Cathedral’s buildings and furnishings are valued at about $10 million (replacement cost), excluding artwork. The Cathedral has no mortgages or other significant financial liabilities.
Parish History
When St. Paul’s Church was founded in 1848, it counted among its members some of the most prominent people in the village of Fond du Lac, including a former Wisconsin governor and a former U.S. Senator. The growing congregation worshipped at several different locations before settling in 1866 at its present site on West Division Street. In 1875, the Diocese of Fond du Lac was created, and St. Paul’s Church was chosen to become the Cathedral Church of Saint Paul the Apostle and the seat of the first bishop, John Henry Hobart Brown of New York.
The 1880’s brought monumental changes to the Cathedral. Bishop Brown passed away and was succeeded by Bishop Charles Chapman Grafton of Boston and Providence. Since a fire had destroyed the first stone church building a few years earlier, Bishop Grafton was free to enact his grand vision for a magnificent Anglo-catholic Cathedral. During his twenty-three year tenure, the newly completed Cathedral building was lavishly furnished with German and American wood carvings, stained glass, color-infused marble, and other examples of late Victorian ecclesiastical art, much of which was initiated and paid for by Grafton and several of his Eastern friends. Bishop Grafton also oversaw the construction of a second building, Grafton Hall, for use as a school for girls.
Several decades of growth and prosperity were followed by hard times for the nation as well as the church. During the Great Depression, the parish was forced to close its school for girls and hold winter services in the small St. Augustine chapel to save on heating costs. Later, the western portion of the church campus was sold. But difficult financial times spurred ingenuity, as well. The Parish Press was established during those years and generated revenue for the Cathedral through the printing and sale of religious reading materials and music. The Press remained an important part of parish life until it ceased operations in the mid-1990s. Part of the vacant Grafton Hall was reopened during World War II for use by the Fond du Lac chapter of the Red Cross, fulfilling the congregation’s desire to aid in the war effort.
For many years after the war, St. Paul’s enjoyed great stability. A single dean, John E. Gulick, served the parish from 1960 to 1988. Christian education in particular flourished during his tenure. Sunday School became “Monday School”, and as many as fifty elementary and middle school children came weekly for classes and a supper prepared by Dean Gulick himself.
Our most recent Dean was with us for 4 years, and our current Deacon and supply priests have been ministering to us since his departure.
The City and Community of Fond du Lac
Fond du Lac is a growing city of 42,000 people located in east central Wisconsin at the southern end of Lake Winnebago. The city serves as the seat of county government. It is within an hours driving distance of several of Wisconsin’s largest cities including Milwaukee, Madison, Appleton and Green Bay.
Fond du Lac is an education hub, including a 2 year campus of the University of Wisconsin, Marian College, and Moraine Park Technical College. The city takes special pride in its new Fond du Lac High School, complete with its superb performing arts center. Two public middle schools, ten public elementary schools, and a number of private grade schools and high schools also serve the surrounding area. The Fond du Lac school district has incorporated a kindergarden for four year old children.
Several new theaters play host to a variety of local and touring entertainment and fine arts groups. St. Agnes Hospital, Aurora Health Center, and other clinics provide excellent health care for area residents.
With its many parks, recreation centers, thriving industry and convenient proximity to Wisconsin’s largest cities, Fond du Lac is an ideal place to live and prosper.
The Diocese of Fond du Lac
The Diocese of Fond du Lac, overseen by Bishop Russell Jacobus, includes the northeastern third of the state of Wisconsin.
Since Fond du Lac is located near the southern border of the Diocese, the Bishop’s residence and administrative office were moved in January of 2006 to Appleton. The Cathedral parish nevertheless continues to provide a welcoming atmosphere for the Bishop and for the clergy and people of the Diocese.
We often host the annual Diocesan Convention, and especially look forward to the Bishop’s Eucharistic Festival, held here each summer. During the Festival, the entire Diocese gathers for a Mass and Benediction with a special guest preacher, followed by a picnic prepared by Cathedral members.
The Diocese includes a religious order, The Sisters of the Holy Nativity, established in the nineteenth century by Bishop Grafton. St. Paul’s has had a particularly close association with this order.
Expectations and Challenges for our New Dean
We seek a Dean with strong preaching and pastoral skills, who feels enthusiastically called to lead us into the future as we live into our mission statement. We hope that the Dean will give dynamic, high quality sermons that will encourage people to relate their faith to their daily lives. The Dean should be an inspiring and visionary individual who can lead a pastoral size Cathedral into a more united and loving future.
Growth is particularly important to the congregation since our membership and attendance have remained the same, while the average age of our members has increased. In the area of hospitality, we seek a pastor who can motivate us to be more welcoming to newcomers and more tolerant of ourselves. Our ministry to young people needs to be re-energized and a greater effort must be made to retain young couples.
Greater evangelism and outreach to the un-churched in our community is another area of concern. We ask you to join with us as we seek to achieve our goals and advance our discernment process. We invite you to nominate yourself or other clergy whom you believe will be important candidates for us to consider. This will be the thirteenth Dean for our cathedral in our history. Please keep us in your prayers as we seek the will of God in our search, and know that we will pray for you and your ministry.
