Milwaukee's most multicultural Catholic church exudes the Easter message of new life
This Sunday, the Rev. Rafael Rodriguez will look out at parishioners lining the pews of St. Michael Catholic Church and see the themes of Easter reflected back at him.
St. Michael, Milwaukee’s most multicultural Catholic church, where six languages are spoken in a single Mass, is a hub of activity for the city’s vibrant and growing community of immigrants and refugees from southeast Asia and Latin America. Many fled violence. Some spent years in refugee camps before arriving in the U.S.
“We all live through that experience of (Christ's) Passion, death and resurrection in different challenges of life,” Rodriguez said. “For them, it’s been more dramatic.”
That's especially true for refugees from Myanmar, who make up a sizable portion of the congregation, Rodriguez said. They escaped ethnic and religious persecution in their towns and villages, and another kind of struggle as they tried to find their footing in refugee camps in Malaysia and Thailand. Their hopeful “resurrection” moment of learning they’d been selected to resettle in the U.S. was followed by more hurdles as they adjusted to American life.
Now, “You see resurrection moments in these children growing up and persevering in their faith and their values and doing the best they can,” Rodriguez said.
On Easter, he’ll remind the worshipers that God has provided for them in difficult times, and that their resilient faith should be a source of hope in the future.
For seven years, Rodriguez, a native of Venezuela, has pastored this diverse parish community in the Midtown neighborhood. Half of the parishioners are under 35 years old. He’s felt the universality of the Catholic Church right here in Milwaukee.
“I didn’t have to go into the world to meet these people. The world came to me,” Rodriguez said, paraphrasing a sentiment he’d heard another priest say.
Multilingual services bring parish together
At Palm Sunday Mass, so many families packed into the pews that ushers set up folding chairs in the back. Children waving palm branches could be found in most rows, and teens and young adults costumed in Biblical outfits acted out the Passion story for gathered worshipers.
Swooping red banners, symbolic for the holiday, hung over the space where German-speaking faithful gathered 140 years ago.
When Rodriguez stood on the front steps of the church to bless the palms, he said the blessing in English and Spanish, and interpreters repeated it in four other languages. The second reading was in Hmong; the communion song was in Burmese.
A quiet cacophony of voices rumbled together when the pastor – the Rev. Chakrit Micaphitak, one of the only Hmong Catholic priests in the U.S., and the associate pastor at St. Michael – invited people to say the Lord’s Prayer in their own language.
“We all come from different places,” said 17-year-old Da Hto before the liturgy. “It’s a very comforting parish, it gives a lot to the community.”
Hto, who is a refugee from the Karen ethnic group, has found value in learning other cultures – and in the support parishioners provide to those in need.
“People look out for each other,” he said.
He spoke as the congregation spilled out onto the sidewalk to mark Palm Sunday with a procession around the block.
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Juan Sanchez, 65, a parish trustee, processed down North 24th Street with three of his granddaughters. He’s been attending St. Michael since 1978.
Getting to know people of different backgrounds has made him more spiritual and accepting, he said.
“It’s the camaraderie and the friendship,” Sanchez said. “We’re all one.”
To that end, St. Michael offers help with housing and employment, as well as English language and U.S. citizenship classes. While the parish is rich in spirit, its generosity stretches beyond what its resources can consistently support. Just as parishioners have basic needs, so does the church, Rodriguez said. The building is old; repairs get put off.
Parish provides 'spiritual home' for refugees
Throughout the especially long Mass, Anthony Pumpau and Theresa Niang diligently rocked their round-cheeked 6-month-old baby, Mary.
A refugee from the Chin ethnic group in Myanmar, Pumpau joined St. Michael in 2012 when he first arrived in Milwaukee.
After gaining U.S. citizenship, he married Niang last year. As a young family without any relatives nearby, the two have been grateful for the support of the church community.
“This community, we help each other, we support each other,” he said. “Once a week when we come here, we can share in our experiences.”
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The largely Christian Chin people have suffered religious persecution and violence at the hands of the Burmese military. They have been subjected to forced labor, arbitrary arrests, torture and coerced conversions to Buddhism, according to Minority Rights Group International.
Since arriving in the U.S., Pumpau has earned his GED and associate’s degree and works full-time at the Patrick Cudahy plant. It’s a “dream come true,” he said, to be settled in Milwaukee with a new family, a community of fellow refugees and the freedom to practice his faith.
Rodriguez knows how valuable it is for immigrant parishioners to connect with people who share their background. It’s why St. Michael and its sister parish, St. Rose of Lima, host prayer groups for seven ethnic identities.
A year and a half ago, St. Rose began offering a weekly French-language Mass after a group of young adults from the Democratic Republic of the Congo approached Rodriguez. It’s the only French Mass in the city, he said.
The different ethnic groups “find a little peace of home, spiritual home,” at the church, Rodriguez said.
He’s made an effort to incorporate languages such as Karen, Karenni and Lao into services. Praying in one’s native language can help people feel closer to God, he said.
“It’s a sign of welcoming, it's a sign of closeness,” he said.
Young worshippers offers hope for the future
Juspina Htoo, 19, has felt that warm welcome at St. Michael. A Karen refugee, she moved to Milwaukee 12 years ago.
Htoo struggled during the pandemic as she took online classes and helped care for her four younger siblings. But then, Sister Alice Thepouthay, the parish’s faith formation coordinator, urged her to get more involved with the church. Htoo now teaches catechism classes, sings in the choir and participates in the Karen youth group.
“They inspired me to help my community here,” Htoo said.
She loves to see the youthful energy in the church each Sunday.
“It’s a hope for me,” she said. “It enlivens my spirit.”
Htoo is a freshman at Alverno College studying religious studies and music performance. She also serves as a community health worker for Karen refugees.
Her involvement in the parish has motivated her to keep working with the Karen community in Milwaukee, she said.
“I just feel connected here,” Htoo said. “This community, this parish, has made me want to continue to do this work and become a leader in this church one day.”
Thepouthay, who is also the Lao pastoral associate, has worked at St. Michael for 39 years and has seen how newcomers have brought a strong faith and unique joy to the parish. The earlier waves of Hmong and Lao refugees were followed by those from Myanmar.
Speaking on Palm Sunday before Mass began, she gestured to a gaggle of children picking up palms at the entrance and said the new refugees’ commitment to the faith was “amazing.”
If Easter symbolizes hope and new life, she said, St. Michael lives the message.
“They bring the old and young,” she said. “This is a blooming of the faith. We have hope for the church, for the diocese of Milwaukee.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: St. Michael's Catholic Church celebrates Easter with message of hope
