This is beautiful Holy Redeemer Church, which was built in the 1860s and is the oldest extant…read moreCatholic church in Madison, and is today part of Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Parish, which has four church building (the other churches of the parish are Saint Patrick Church on East Main Street, where the parish office currently is, Saint James Church off of Mills Street sort of behind Meriter Hospital where there is also a parish school, and Saint Joseph Church south of the beltline). Holy Redeemer Church has very thick fieldstone walls with rubble fill like a medieval castle, and looks quite picturesque near the intersection of West Johnson and State Street; the interior is also quite beautiful and traditional. A Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration prayer chapel is open daily on the lower level of Holy Redeemer Church, you enter through the parking lot side of the building and turn left. The focus of this chapel is the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, people come here to visit Jesus. Anyone may visit, rules are posted for maintaining the reverence of this place of silent personal prayer. At the time that I'm writing this Holy Redeemer Church is used 24 hours a day as the site of the Adoration Chapel, and there is one scheduled Mass per week, 8 am on Saturdays. That's not a Sunday Mass, all Sunday Masses are currently at St James or St Joseph Churches and complete information about Sunday and weekday daily Masses can be found on the Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish website, https://www.guadalupemadison.org/ . I go to Sunday Mass at St James and weekday Masses at St Patrick's, as well as Saturday morning at Holy Redeemer. There are Spanish as well as English Masses--the Spanish Masses are largely at St Joseph right now. Definitely check the parish website for up to date information. Normally confessions are heard before every Mass, which makes it so much easier to go to Confession. I live in the neighborhood and am a longtime parishioner. If you live on the Isthmus or Fitchburg you probably live in our parish's territory-- please come and worship with us. Saint Raphael's Church was Madison's first Catholic church, and became the Cathedral when the Catholic Diocese (bishopric) of Madison was formed in 1946, but it burnt down by arson in 2005 and a Stations of the Cross garden now stands on its site. Whereas Saint Raphael's had a predominately Irish congregation, Holy Redeemer was built by the German Catholic immigrants. High up in its front facade, amidst chunks of local sandstone-limestone there is a carved white marble plaque reading "Domus Dei et Porta Caeli," meaning House of God and Gate of Heaven in Latin. After the destruction of Saint Raphael's, the nearby downtown parishes of Holy Redeemer and Saint Patrick's merged under the name the Cathedral Parish of Saint Raphael, serving as the temporary seat of the Bishop of Madison. More recently a different Cathedral church was designated, which is Saint Bernard's on Atwood Avenue, and thus the downtown parish was no longer the "Cathedral Parish." Saint Bernard's is now the official "seat" of the bishop's leadership of the Church in southwest Wisconsin. A new diocese-wide parish reorganization clustered four different churches, Holy Redeemer, Saint Patrick's, Saint James, and Saint Joseph into the current Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish. This name, a beloved Mexican title for Jesus' mother Mary, is fitting because today more than half of our parish's attendees are Hispanic. The latest reorganization was not due to any severe priest shortage; the larger cluster of churches is served by a team of several priests, most of them bilingual including our current main pastor Father Drew Olsen. In 2019 major restoration work was done to the exterior walls of the church, including replacing eroded local sandstone-limestone. In May of 2024 Holy Redeemer Church's wooden steeple caught fire after being struck by lightning. The building was saved thanks to the Madison Fire Department, this loss was covered by instance and a new metal-framed steeple, replicating the appearance of the original complete with a large clock, was installed in the fall of 2025. People in the neighborhood should join us for Mass at St James or Saint Joseph Church on Sundays. When or whether Sunday Mass will return to Holy Redeemer Church is unclear right now--I really think Mass needs to be available in the middle of downtown (though there is one at Saint Paul's on the University Campus, primarily intended for students) but the issue is that they wanted to consolidate people at St James for community building purposes. The Adoration Chapel at Holy Redeemer Church remains a real blessing to have in the neighborhood, that you can visit anytime.

This is not a place to go if you care about your physical health. I came there for the 9am Mass…read moreand most of the people around me were not wearing masks including a person who plopped down right beside me. I decided not to stick around to see how unsanitary the distribution of Communion would be. Even the man who appeared to be the head usher was maskless and coughing. Yuck and gross!

This place is worth a visit, whether you are a church goer or not. It is an absolutely beautiful…read morebuilding - it was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, so no surprise there. If you are a church goer, the auditorium where they hold the service is very open and light, and it has a balcony on top if you prefer to be up and out of the crowd. It is good for child ren because you can actually sit behind the class if they start to cry. I've only attended once, so I'm no expert on this building, but it is very cool. The First Unitarian Society services are at 9 and 11 am and they offer tours after the service. I believe they also hold public tours so I recommend checking it out. They also have other events there on occasion that may give you an excuse to go - such as a Farmers Market they had a few weeks back.

Well, you don't get to write a review of a shul too often, but I am a big fan and a member at Beth…read moreIsrael Center. Yes, they are on the conservative side of Conservative Judaism, and to fully participate, you need a working knowledge of liturgical Hebrew and traditional Jewish practice. However, they are extremely welcoming, and are just happy to have you participate, whatever your experience. Plus you learn a lot just by showing up. If you want to go to a synagogue where people really believe in what they are doing and do it with spirit and enthusiasm, this is your place. Plus they have something going on almost every day of the week.

The wife and I went to Beth Israel Center for the Kol Nidre service in Fall 2012. We had an invite…read morefrom friends, so took them up on the offer. Appearance: The synagogue is starting to look a little rundown, but we found out that they're in the middle of a $5,000,000 capital campaign to renovate the place. The preliminary drawings look GORGEOUS. Service: The wife grew up Conservative but has gone more Reform with time, and I grew up Reform and have gone less religious with time, so going to a Conservative service took us back more than few years to when we were much younger. I'd estimate that about 90% of the service was done in Hebrew, and the average age of the congregation was probably between 50 and 60. There were kids of a variety of ages, which was good to see, but they were not in the chapel portion of the building for most of the service (probably better for Kol Nidre, anyway). Anyway, the wife and I will most likely not go back -- not because of anything that Beth Israel Center did wrong, but because we really don't feel comfortable in Conservative services anymore.

This is my parish and I love it! If you're looking for a beautiful, reverent liturgy with the best…read moremusic in town, come to 11am Mass on Sundays. Fair warning--the 11am is usually 70-80 minutes, so a bit longer than you may be used to, but it's worth it. It gets four stars only because the bathrooms are tiny and parking can be a challenge. There are places to park though, both on the street and in the church lot, and it helps to come a bit early. Pro tip: if you hear people reference "Cathedral Parish", they're talking about either Saint Patrick's or Holy Redeemer, which are two churches merged into one parish.

From the owner: The Cathedral Parish is the Catholic community in downtown Madison. St. Raphael Cathedral burnt…read moredown in 2005. Since then, three historic churches around the Capitol Square in downtown Madison St. Raphael, Holy Redeemer and St. Patrick were formally merged into the Cathedral Parish community. We currently use both of our existing churches Holy Redeemer and St. Patrick with the parish offices at St. Patrick and the parish rectory at Holy Redeemer. A new cathedral will be built on the site of St. Raphael; in the meantime an outdoor Way of the Cross maintains the sacred character of that site.

Good Ole Regular Baptist church…read more Great choir, talented musicians, collection plate passing, alter call, 1st wife, deacon seating, elderly sitting section (where we all aspire to be), children's choir perform every 4th Sunday, Women's choir sings every 5th Sunday. Always a special program for Mother's Day, Father's Day, Resurrection and Lent season. They have many ministries that serve the community including: Homeless/Meal Pantry ministry/ Prison & DOC visit outreach and more. Praise Dance team for adults and youths.

From the owner: Specializing in: - Baptist Churches…read more- General Baptist Churches - Religious General Interest Schools - Churches & Places of Worship - Religious Counseling - Baptist Bible Fellowship Churches - Religious Organizations - Schools

As part of my Frank Lloyd Wright Wisconsin trail trip I was lucky enough to take the tour at the…read moreUnitarian Meeting House; I managed to fit both the Monona Terrace tour and the Unitarian Meeting House tour on the same day; they are about 15 minutes drive apart. The Meeting House is located near to the University of Wisconsin campus, the good news is that the Meeting House has its own parking lot. We had a nice group of people for the tour and our guide was excellent, knowledgeable, friendly and a member of the congregation. The tour starts with books of photos of the history of the building and the congregation. We got a very nice history of the congregation, the building and how Wright was involved. The tour included most of the building, with certain rooms skipped since they were otherwise occupied. The main building was designed and supervised by Frank Llyod Wright with a newer cathedral, which was designed and built when the congregation outgrew the original building. High point of the tour is the original cathedral, it is fairly compact, but has a unique feel due to the soaring ceiling and glass V shaped framework that brings the outside in. The pulpit combines natural stones with the windows to create a great atmosphere. Interestingly Wright designed the seating so that some of the congregation are looking at other congregants. The low seating also allows views out the back windows of the cathedral. Another unique feature is the hearth at the back of the room. The other Wright designed areas all have that wonderful combination of warmth and practicality. The furniture designed by Wright add to the feeling. The spaces are all unique in that Wright really broke away from the idea that a building is a series of boxes such as the Wright designed Unity Temple in Oak Park, here you can feel the move to a more organic design. When the congregation outgrew the main building they found a way to add a new bigger addition that is unique, but still incorporates many of Wrights influence. The newer addition is behind the older building and built into the ground so that it does not overwhelm the Wright design. The outside of the Meeting House is amazing as well, the building seems to rise out of the natural setting ad mostly hugs the ground with the low roof overhangs. Around the front of the building you have the large V shaped roof and windows which projects an idea of what is inside. It is amazing to see the Wright design from the 1930s and how it has had such a major influence on many modern churches. The Unitarian Meeting House tour was excellent, well worth your time and should be a must visit for any Frank Lloyd Wright fan.

I am visiting from Los Angeles and went for the architecture but stayed for the fellowship. Lovely…read morepeople in a beautiful setting.