One of Milwaukee’s most iconic worship spaces will be getting a significant “glow up” in 2025.
Gesu Parish, located on the eastern edge of the Marquette University campus in downtown Milwaukee, will start a slew of much-needed renovations in November on its Upper Church.
But the work to the historic church will have an impact that goes far deeper than the surface level.
“The church space is where people have, hopefully, a deep encounter with Jesus,” said Ray Ellingen, Director of Operations and Administration for Gesu Parish. “If we can make the space more comfortable, more inviting, more welcoming — then that’s worth all of the work and time and effort.”
The planned renovations will include new flooring, new pews, new paint for the ceiling and walls, a new baptismal font and the addition of many accessibility features. The church’s sound system, fire detection system and security system will also receive much-needed upgrades.
The result will be a more accessible Gesu, said Pastor Michael Simone, S.J.
Currently, the church is locked most of the day, but with the upcoming security enhancements, the parish is hoping that it will be possible to leave it open to the public from morning Mass through evening Mass.
“A big urban church like that that’s left open is such a gift to the whole community,” said Fr. Simone. “That’s what I’m most excited about, to be honest.”
The parish is inviting the public to 10:30 a.m. Mass on Sunday, Nov. 17, for an opportunity to see the Upper Church before renovations begin. Bishop Jeffrey R. Haines will preside Fr. Simone will be formally installed as pastor at the Mass.
Encountering Jesus
The parish chose the name “Encountering Jesus” for the capital campaign that will support the needed $10 million to pay for the work. That name reflects what these renovations are meant to accomplish spiritually through physical means, said Ellingen.
“In the end, we want people to come to church and encounter Jesus,” he said.
Designed by renowned architect Henry C. Koch (who also designed Milwaukee’s City Hall and the Pfister Hotel) and completed in 1894, Gesu is regarded as one of Milwaukee’s finest examples of French Gothic architecture. It has been operated by the Society of Jesus, also known as Jesuits, since its inception, like its predecessor parishes St. Gall and Holy Name of Jesus, and its presence on West Wisconsin Avenue predates even that of Marquette University (which was moved to the area specifically to be near Gesu when it was still Marquette College in the early 1900s). It was included in the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.
The parish comprises approximately 950 households, said Ellingen, but its reach is far greater than just registered parishioners.
“Gesu has what we sometimes refer to as concentric rings of constituencies,” said Ellingen. “We have our parish, but we also serve the Marquette University community, and we serve the downtown Milwaukee community. And on a broader scale, we really serve all of southeastern Wisconsin.”
“The availability of the parish to the city is one of its hallmarks,” said John Callen, a trustee for the parish. “I think Gesu hears more confessions than maybe any other church in the diocese. I worked on a project that put me in contact with dozens, if not a hundred, pastors in the archdiocese. And when I would tell them that I was a trustee at Gesu, at least half a dozen of them mentioned going to confession at Gesu.”
The campaign has been largely funded, so far, by “a relatively small group of people who have stepped up in a big way,” said Fr. Simone. He arrived in Milwaukee in July and said he has been “amazed” at the number of local Catholics with ties to Gesu. He is hopeful that the broader Milwaukee community will choose to support the renovation work in order to safeguard the future of this architectural and spiritual landmark of the city.
“One of the ways I’m pivoting the campaign as I meet with people is also to talk about Gesu as an architectural gem of the Milwaukee skyline and Milwaukee’s history,” Fr. Simone said. “That opens up a lot of doors for people that perhaps wouldn’t be as excited about the spiritual reality of the parish but recognize its value to the community.”
Work expected to last a year
The last major renovation work undergone by Gesu was in the 1960s following the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council.
The parish has been planning this project for some time, explained Ellingen. Exterior renovations were completed in 2012, including tuckpointing and sealing to mitigate ongoing moisture issues to the building’s interior. That work had to be completed before any significant work could be done inside.
“We knew it was coming,” said Callen of the interior renovations. “You could see it. You can just see it from sitting in a pew in the church during Mass on Sunday. I mean, the floor tiles are coming up and the veneer peels off of a lot of the pews.”
The bare minimum that needed to be completed, said Ellingen, was replacing the pews (which date to the 1960s) and the vinyl flooring, which was installed in the 1980s and has begun to curl up in the corners. New paint was also an issue — the church has not been painted in more than 30 years.
“We knew that our sound system was beginning to fail, and it was becoming nearly impossible to find replacement parts for it,” said Ellingen. The lighting system also needed an upgrade. Both of those projects, as well as the painting, would require scaffolding — an expensive endeavor. It proved to be most cost-effective for the parish to only rent scaffolding once and to complete all needed renovations at the same time, as opposed to taking a phased approach.
“In the long run, it would save us over a million dollars by just doing the project all at once,” he said.
Gesu’s Upper Church will be unavailable to the public while construction is ongoing, and Mass will be held in the Lower Church for the duration of the project. There will be no weddings scheduled in the Upper Church for the duration of 2025.
Callen said that he hopes the renovations will ensure that Gesu remains a place where people can encounter Jesus in urban Milwaukee for generations to come.
“Everything that we have in that facility today that is comfortable and familiar and inspiring is the gift of a prior generation,” said Callen. “And so now it is our turn to make sure that that is available for not just ourselves, but to others today and others in the future.”
Details on the full scope of the project, as well as updates to its progress, can be viewed at Gesu’s website, gesuparish.org/renovation-updates.
Gesu Parish, Milwaukee, comprises about 950 households, but the church serves a much larger community that includes Marquette University students and staff. (Submitted photo)
