Historic church may become community center

A group of former parishioners are banding together to buy St. Mary’s Church in Little Kohler and preserve it as a community center.

“We’re looking to put a foundation together to buy the church” from the Milwaukee Archdiocese, Jack Janik told Town of Fredonia Plan Commission members last week.

Janik and several others appeared before the commission because buying the church building would require separating it from the cemetery behind the church. The cemetery would remain part of the archdiocese and has its own perpetual maintenance fund, said Bob Lallensack, a trustee with Divine Savior Parish.

Commission members did not vote since the matter was before them for information purposes only. But members indicated they would be amenable to the request since the only variance required would be for the rear setback.

A 25-foot setback is required but there is only a 16-foot-wide space between the church and the cemetery. Plan Commission members indicated they would be willing to allow it.

“I don’t think the neighbors (in the cemetery) would complain,” said town Chairman Rich Mueller.

The church and cemetery together are about two acres. The church, an old rectory, its side yards and a parking lot take up about half that.

The rectory has been empty for many years and is in a state of disrepair.

“Making it even habitable would be a challenge,” said Lallensack.

Janik said the group is negotiating with the trustees of Divine Savior who are in communication with archdiocese officials.

He said the church needs a new roof but is otherwise in excellent condition.

“If everything goes according to plan, we hope to open a 501(c)3” non-profit organization to operate the church as a community center that would focus on events, preservation of local history and education,” Janik said.

“We’re talking many thousands of dollars.”

Janik said it’s early in the negotiations and declined to say how much it might cost either to purchase or refurbish the church.

Plan Commission members suggested the next step would be to have the property surveyed to determine lot lines more precisely.

The church could not be used for any Catholic rites such as Masses, baptisms, funerals or weddings, unless they were officiated by someone other than a Catholic priest, Lallensack said.

The only Mass celebrated at the church currently is on Memorial Day at the end of May, Lallensack said.

It has been used for reciting the rosary and saying the Stations of the Cross during Lent. The last Sunday Mass at Little Kohler was in 2012.

Janik, who is president of the National Flag Day Foundation, said the church is rich with history, having been founded first as a log cabin church in 1849, making the parish one of the area’s oldest.

Masses were held in homes for three years before that, according to the parish history. The current building was built in 1868 and was called Mater Dolorosa (Our Lady of Sorrows). It was renamed St. Mary’s in 1915. The building was added on to in 1972 and the interior was remodeled in 1979.

The parents of Bernard Cigrand, the teacher at Stony Hill School in Waubeka who is credited with founding Flag Day, were the first couple married in the church when it was a log cabin, Janik said.