Making introductions -- Conventual Franciscan Fr. William Callahan, pastor of Milwaukee's Basilica of St. Josaphat, shakes the hand of new kindergarten student Raphael Jiminez at the parish's elementary school. Callahan and two other Franciscans minister to the needs of St. Josaphat's diverse community. (Photo by John E. Kimpel)

MILWAUKEE -- To Conventual Franciscan Fr. William Callahan, pastor of the Basilica of St. Josaphat, the mission of that church on the city's south side is summed up in a pictorial history book of the basilica, circa 1969. In the book, an aerial photograph of St. Josaphat, which is surrounded by aging but well-kept homes, its dome towering 200 feet above the street, bears a cutline, "The basilica dome shepherds the neighborhood."

St. Josaphat, neighborhood church and local landmark, has always tried to integrate those roles, Callahan believes.

The basilica's recently restored interior is awe-inspiring in scope: brilliant stained glass windows and painted murals, an Italian Renaissance baldacchino, and a dazzling great dome, that all speak of the vision of Fr. Wilhelm Grutza, the church's founding pastor, who patterned it after the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome.

Yet the polished beauty belies a history of sweat equity as well, beginning with Grutza, a plucky priest who salvaged materials from a Chicago post office slated to be demolished, and used them in building St. Josaphat. He served as mason contractor of the project when the cornerstone was laid in 1897, getting parishioners to assist in site excavation and the mixing of concrete. Five weeks after the church's dedication in 1901, Grutza died. Shortly thereafter, with mounting construction debt, the basilica was turned over to the Conventual Franciscans, who still own it. The Franciscans managed to retire the construction debt by 1926, and even petitioned Pope Pius XI to designate the church a basilica, or papal chapel, which was granted in 1929. But the costs of maintaining such a big building were high.

When Callahan, who was ordained at St. Josaphat in 1977, was appointed pastor 17 years later, the challenges seemed insurmountable.

"When I came here in 1994, the basilica had a big, big problem with a church that was falling apart," he recalled. "It was closed, it was isolated, and it was very poor. The school was ready to close, the parish was crumbling and nobody was doing anything to bring it together. Everything was going on, and there was only $70,000 in the checkbook. Period."

Initially he argued with the leaders of his province, St. Bonaventure, headquartered in Chicago. "I didn't want to come back," he said. "I'm on our provincial board, and my recommendation was, 'Let's leave. Let's run. We can't do it. We don't have enough money to build it. We don't have enough friars to staff it. We don't have the language requirements. We don't have the people who are willing to do half of the work that needs to be done.'"

Provincial leaders prevailed, and Callahan figured the only way to turn St. Josaphat around was to encourage support from those who could make a difference: parishioners, area residents, and anybody who remembered the basilica's former presence in the neighborhood -- and the effect it might have today.

He started with the church itself. A construction project that involved some repairs, installation of new carpeting and fresh paint became a major restoration that brought the interior to its original look of 1926. The original cost of the project more than doubled, but restoration work continued, with a fund-raising campaign spearheaded by the St. Josaphat Basilica Foundation.

Last year, the basilica's new Pope John Paul II Visitors Center was completed. According to Callahan, the basilica averages about 27,000 visitors every year, benefiting more than the church itself.

"So many people have been involved in this effort -- notable people and companies," he said. "We've been able to take a light that the community at large has been willing to shine on this place, and we've opened that light to shine on the whole neighborhood."