MILWAUKEE — A public move by the Vatican to restrain a controversial renovation project in Milwaukee appears to be unprecedented in recent Church history. Rome wants work suspended to insure the project conforms to canonical and liturgical norms.

The Vatican is the latest and most powerful critic to weigh in on a $10 million renovation of Milwaukee's historic St. John the Evangelist Cathedral. The renovation is to be completed by Feb. 9, 2002.

The word came in a May 28 letter to Alan Kershaw, a canon lawyer in Rome who is representing a group of opponents to the renovation. Msgr. Mario Marini, under-secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, wrote that after receiving information from Milwaukee's Archbishop Rembert Weakland, the congregation still had doubts about the project.

“This Dicastery on May 26, 2001 moved to suspend the work of renovation until these doubts may be clarified,” the letter said.

Msgr. Marini also said in a May 22 letter to Kershaw that an initial examination of the planned renovation had “revealed suffi cient indications that the proposed restoration would not conform to the relative liturgical norms.” The letter added that the Congregation for Divine Worship, in unison with the Congregation for Bishops, had invited the archbishop of Milwaukee to “suspend any work of renovation until the project may be reviewed by the Holy See.”

Opponents of the project object to plans to move the altar forward, replace the pews with chairs, relocate the tabernacle to a side chapel, place the organ and choir in a more prominent location, and establish the baptistery at the entrance. Father Richard Vosko of Albany, N.Y., is the project's liturgical design consultant.

The project, which began after the Sunday Masses of May 20, continues with asbestos removal, an aspect that had not been contested by opponents of the renovation, said Jerry Topczewski, the archbishop's spokesman.

Topczewski acknowledged that Archbishop Weakland was asked to suspend the work in a May 26 letter from Cardinal Jorge Medina, head of the Congregation for Divine Worship.

“The archbishop has told Cardinal Medina that at this point none of the [asbestos] work going on seems to be objectionable to anybody so there is no reason to stop it,” Topczewski said, adding that because of contractual obligations it would be difficult to halt the work without financial penalty to the diocese.

Topczewski said the archbishop first learned of the Vatican's interest in the project when he was contacted May 23 by Apostolic Nuncio Gabriel Montalvo, who said the Congregation for Bishops and Congregation for Divine Worship had received complaints about the renovation. The archbishop was asked to provide more information and did so on May 24.

On May 26, Archbishop Weakland received another letter, this one from Cardinal Medina, asking for more information about specific aspects of the project. The archdiocese has publicly declined to identify what those were, but said the archbishop responded to the questions on May 29.

“The archbishop has clearly said he's glad to respond in the spirit of fraternal or collegial cooperation, but he also has said that he will defend his decisions in what's been done here with regard to the project and his authority to make those decisions,” Topczewski said.

He added that the General Instruction of the Roman Missal and canon law clearly leave liturgical decisions to the local bishop.

Canon Law

But Al Szews, president of the St. Gregory VII Chapter of Catholics United for the Faith, the group that engaged canon lawyer Kershaw to help fight the cathedral renovation, said he understands canon law to say that when a congregation of the Curia speaks, it is with the authority of the Holy Father.

Father Patrick R. Lagges, a canon lawyer who serves as vicar for canonical services with the Archdiocese of Chicago, said the Vatican has the authority to enforce guidelines for church architecture if it can be shown that those standards have been violated.

“Nobody works alone in the Church; we're all tied into one another in one way or another and also tied in hierarchically … Just as the archbishop of Milwaukee has responsibility for the liturgical life of the archdiocese, the Pope has responsibility for the liturgical life of the whole Church.”

However, Father Lagges said he does not see the Vatican's interest in the Milwaukee Cathedral renovation as unusual.

“The basic principle I was taught in canon law school is, ‘if you ask the Vatican a question, you're going to get an answer.’ And it's true. They are very good about responding to questions that are brought to them. … Really, all the Vatican seems to be saying is these people have raised some legitimate questions and we should talk about it.”

Msgr. Francis Mannion, a sacramental theologian and director of the Liturgical Institute at the University of St. Mary of the Lake in Mundelein, Ill., said his impression is that Archbishop Weakland is on strong ground canonically in asserting his authority. He said the new General Instruction of the Roman Missal does give the local bishop considerable authority in placement of the tabernacle, as well as in other liturgical matters.

However, Msgr. Mannion said, “The Church is not run solely by canon law, but also by theological and larger ecclesial considerations.”

Szews and others familiar with church-renovation battles of recent years believe the Milwaukee case may be the first time Rome has stepped into a dispute of this kind. “I'm not aware of another instance in which the Vatican has intervened like this,” he said.

He added that other groups have appealed to the Vatican to thwart a church renovation, but none has received a response like Milwaukee's.

“I think it is unusual,” said Michael Rose, author of The Renovation Manipulation, a popular handbook for renovation opponents. “Based on my experience, I've never heard of this.”

Rose said depending on how the case is resolved, the Vatican's response to the Milwaukee case could give other renovation opponents hope that they can reverse or mitigate changes in church buildings.

Msgr. Mannion agreed that the Vatican's response seems extraordinary.

“My suspicion is this kind of thing has happened behind the scenes before,” he said, “but this is the most public example of a dispute over liturgical architecture in which Rome has intervened.”

He said that it is unlikely that the Congregation for Divine Worship would have acted as it did without proper canonical consideration.

Tabernacle Placement

Szews said his group's strongest argument against the proposed renovation of the landmark cathedral in downtown Milwaukee is likely the relocation of the tabernacle.

The General Instruction of the Roman Missal says the tabernacle should be in a conspicuous place, and Szews said it cannot possibly be easily seen in the former baptistery where it is to be moved. The official Cathedral Project Web site, however, says, “There will be a new Blessed Sacrament Chapel designed and located in the current baptistery in order to be conspicuous to the faithful (General Instruction of the Roman Missal), fully accessible, prominent and integrally connected to the main body of the Cathedral.”

As part of the renovation, seating capacity in the cathedral is to be expanded from 740 to more than 900. The cathedral's 80 oak pews already have been removed and sold to a Baptist church in Milwaukee and a Franciscan friary in North Dakota, Topczewski said.

The $10 million cost of the cathedral renovation includes $4.5 million for the interior, $3 million for the renovation of two other buildings for outreach ministries, and $2.5 million for an atrium gathering space and a garden wall to enclose a courtyard.

Msgr. Mannion said a significant change has occurred in the thinking of the American bishops in the area of liturgical art and architecture with the recent approval of the U.S. bishops' document, “Built of Living Stones,” which replaced “Environment and Art in Catholic Worship.”

The new document, he said, is more sensitive to the need for traditional elements in the church building.

“The question that needs to be asked now about any new building or any new renovation is, is it consistent with the new directions established in ‘Built of Living Stones,’” said Msgr. Mannion, “or is it still too influenced by ‘Environment and Art in Catholic Worship?’”

Judy Roberts writes from Millbury, Ohio.