St. Stephen Catholic Church - Milwaukee
Wisconsin, USA
Parishioners founded St. Stephen Catholic Church in 1847, when Wisconsin was still a territory. They had come from St. Stephen in Cologne, Germany, so named their church’s area New Coln, a south section of Milwaukee and now home of Milwaukee’s General Mitchell International Airport.
Fires at the church in 1884 and again in 1906 inflicted minimal damage, but a third fire in 1927 burned the church and everything in it to the ground. A new church was built and, many years later in 1960, a school was added. It supported parish growth until 1992 when it was closed. However, the school building remained and was used for other outreach programming such as the parish's Family Life Center.
The parishioners worshipped for many years with the support of a 2-manual Rodgers Exeter 770 until April 2008 when a fourth fire, caused by a lightning strike, damaged the steeple, bell tower and more. Damage was severe and the organ, too, sustained damages that caused ongoing problems. In an effort to aid their music ministry, Triune Music loaned the parish another instrument to hold them over while they completed a new building.
With a strong vision for the future, the leadership of St. Stephen Catholic Church had made the decision to purchase a land parcel in 2001. The location, at 13th Street and Oakwood Road in Oak Creek, was the perfect spot for growth as new housing developments were cropping up throughout the area. More families were coming. It was time to move!
Architects and contractors were called and plans began to develop for a new worship space that would live up to the demands of change in the years ahead. Soon plans were laid for a groundbreaking ceremony that kicked off the construction of St. Stephen Catholic Church’s new worship facility in Oak Creek. This facility would afford adequate space for the congregation’s growth, support their community ministries and a space that would inspire worship.
On November 22, 2009, the new St. Stephen Catholic Church worship space was dedicated and the celebration was supported by their new custom Rodgers Masterpiece 958. This magnificent installation features a 3-manual, mechanical drawknob console, a sound system of 20+ channels supporting the Main and Antiphonal organ divisions, as well as an floating Solo division. The organ also has eight "live" channels of MIDI sounds and utilizes a Rodgers MX-200 sound module to expand the resources of the organ more than 1,000 additional sounds.
Pastor – Fr. Richard Liska
Organist – Mr. William Wagner
