The Catholic Community of Waukesha will be known as Corpus Christi beginning July 1. (Submitted photo)
In 2017, St. Joseph, St. John Neumann, St. William and St. Mary parishes in Waukesha began to collaborate as the Catholic Community of Waukesha.
Recently, Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki approved the merger of the four parishes. Among the various tasks to be accomplished, selecting a name for the merged parishes was at the top of the list.
The new name for the Catholic Community of Waukesha and Waukesha Catholic School will be Corpus Christi Parish and School, effective July 1.
In a letter to the parishioners, Fr. Mathew Widder, Pastor of the Catholic Community of Waukesha, said their efforts succeeded in capturing the essence of collaboration.
“We’re a family, and we can be more vibrant witnesses to Jesus in our community when we think of us as a family,” he wrote. “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.”
While the Catholic Community of Waukesha is under one umbrella, the four parishes remain separate with four parish councils, sets of trustees and financial records. They also oversee the Waukesha Catholic School System, created in 1990 that now includes K3-grade2 at the St. William campus and grades 3-8 at the St. Mary campus.
“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,” revealed Fr. Widder. “Thus, a school system that was not directly incorporated into any of the four parishes was formed to serve the community.”
In August, parish leadership invited parishioners and the community to submit names for consideration.
According to Cassie Duck, Communication Manager, the names needed to meet the requirements of Archbishop Listecki.
“The parish name needed to meet at least one of the following criteria: a title of the Blessed Trinity, a mystery in the life of Christ, a title already accepted in the liturgy, the Blessed Mother under a title already accepted in the liturgy, the Holy Spirit, one of the angels, or an approved saint,” she said. “And preferably, the name is not one being used by any other parish in the archdiocese.”
The contest to select names continued for four weeks and more than 300 names were collected. The deadline to submit names was Sept. 15. A subcommittee of the Pastoral Council reviewed all suggestions, removed duplicates, and selected the final three names to submit to Archbishop Listecki to make the final decision.
The three final names were Blessed Carlo Acutis, St. Maximilian Kolbe and Corpus Christi.
“The feedback for the new name is overwhelmingly positive,” said Duck. “The parishioners and our team did a great job discerning and providing the Catholic Community of Waukesha with a great new name for our merger, which will officially be named Corpus Christi Parish and School on July 1.”
From a pastoral standpoint, very little will change as each of the four church sites will remain open and the 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,” Fr. Widder said. “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.”
