MADISON — Msgr. Kevin Holmes, rector of the Cathedral Parish in Madison, publicly thanked Wisconsin State legislators late in June for acting to ensure the opportunity for faith-based housing for students attending University of Wisconsin-Madison becomes a reality beginning with the 2014 to 2015 school year.
Preserving tax-exemption
In a release dated June 21, Monsignor Holmes noted the Cathedral Parish’s tremendous appreciation for “the efforts of Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester), Rep. Travis Tranel (R-Cuba City), and Rep. Pat Strachota (R-West Bend) and Senate Majority Leader, Senator Scott Fitzgerald (R-Beaver Dam) for their role in including a matter important to the Cathedral Parish in the governor’s budget bill.
“Their efforts, with their colleagues, resulted in language that now clearly stipulates that Lumen House, a project of faith-based student housing and outreach ministry sponsored by the Cathedral Parish, will be tax-exempt, as was envisioned from the beginning.”
With the property tax exemption preserved, Lumen House project’s rehabilitation efforts will begin and the parish property (formerly Holy Redeemer School) will be renovated into a beautiful apartment complex for housing students with approximately 60 beds.
Those envisioned to benefit from this great opportunity include: men and women discerning a religious vocation, those providing faith-based leadership programs and counseling, as well as students who desire faith-based housing.
Mission of Lumen House
The mission and vision is that this facility will collaborate with many programs offering personal formation and opportunities for service at both St. Paul’s University Catholic Center and the Cathedral Parish, offering some of the programs in the building itself.
Lumen House will allow residents actively involved in the ministries of St. Paul’s or the Cathedral Parish to pay rent at a reduced rate, and will also offer financial aid for those in need. The programs supported by the rents from the building and the contributed services of the residents will benefit many students at the University of Wisconsin and people in the local community.
The correction made to the budget bill, and signed into law by Governor Scott Walker on July 1, contains deadline-extension language allowing the parish until September of next year to complete the project and get it up and running. Without this important extension, the cost of rent would have been too expensive for many students.
Due to the tireless work of State Assembly members Travis Tranel and Pat Strachota, as well as the Assembly and Senate leadership, these otherwise devastating effects on student rent affordability and on the ability to subsidize low-income students were prevented.
Likewise, with the plan and mission intact, the expanded services envisioned in this building are no longer hindered. Again, Monsignor Holmes thanks Rep. Tranel, Rep. Strachota, and our state legislators for their just consideration in this important matter.
Background on the project
The Catholic Church and its St. Paul’s Catholic Center have had a presence at the university’s Madison campus since 1906. As a more-than-a century-old part of the mission of the Catholic Church in Madison, we know that students who graduate with both educated minds and educated hearts serve the common good, and we believe that society as a whole benefits, not just downtown Madison.
As part of a revitalization of its campus ministry — and after repeated requests by Catholic students and parents statewide for a faith-based residence as an alternative housing option at the University of Wisconsin-Madison — St. Paul’s began planning for such housing and for an expansion of faith-based services.
More than three years ago, St. Paul’s Catholic Center sought City of Madison approval to build residential accommodations as part of its planned new facility on the State Street Mall. In January 2011, approval to construct the new building as planned was denied on account of its height, despite very favorable comment from city staff and Catholic students in support of the project.
Earlier this year, the Cathedral Parish identified the former Holy Redeemer School, at 142 W. Johnson St., as an alternative site for faith-based student housing and more campus outreach. That building had been only marginally maintained since it closed as a parochial school in 1965.
Though a noble old building and a city landmark, the cost of rehabilitating the structure has been prohibitive. Located within six blocks of St. Paul’s, the building offers an ideal location for faith-based residential housing and community outreach. The ability to use it for tax-exempt student housing makes the renovation of the building feasible.