A Weekly Photo Journey
Across DioWis
May 21, 2026
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📍 Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Members of the Diocese of Wisconsin were present at the Wisconsin Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) Breakfast With Leaders held May 11 at the Wisconsin Club in Milwaukee. Representing Episcopal communities were Bob Strange of St. Christopher's Episcopal Church, Bill Rheingans and Fr. Joel Prather of St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church.
The annual gathering recognizes Wisconsin businesses that support employees serving in the National Guard and Reserves. This year’s speakers included Dawn John and Matthew Strub.
Bob Strange, a retired U.S. Army veteran, serves as an Employer Outreach Director for ESGR, while Bill Rheingans, retired from the U.S. Air Force, serves as an Employer Outreach Coordinator. Fr. Joel Prather, serving with the USAF Auxiliary, offered the invocation for the gathering.
📸 Photo submitted by Fr. Joel Prather
📸 Serving Faithfully, In and Out of Uniform
📍 Trinity Baraboo
During a recent visit to Trinity Episcopal Church, Archdeacon Bill Dunlop spent the morning reflecting on diaconal ministry, courage, and the call to lead with compassion.
In a conversation with the children, Bill spoke about what it means to be a deacon and “the courage to go first,” while the congregation heard the fuller reflection woven into the morning homily.
The visit was marked by warm hospitality, thoughtful conversation, and a joyful spirit of welcome from the parish community.
📸 Photos submitted by Archdeacon Bill Dunlop
🦁The Courage to Go First
📍 Christ Church Cathedral Eau Claire
Spring was in full bloom at Christ Church Cathedral during their Pie and Plant Social fundraiser, where homemade pies and hand-raised plants brought people together for a joyful afternoon of fellowship and support.
From carefully nurtured seedlings to slices of fresh pie shared among friends, the event reflected the warmth and creativity of the cathedral community while helping support the life and ministry of the parish.
📸 Photos submitted by Tyler Richards
🥧 Pie, Plants & Community Spirit
📍St. Luke’s Bay View
This spring, St. Luke's Episcopal Church gathered to offer prayers, blessings, and plenty of hugs as they sent off the Irvine family with love. During the service, Deacon Nate Irvine reflected on the family’s first visit to St. Luke’s four years ago:
“We wandered in through the red side doors on our wedding anniversary May 16, 2021, while in the process of leaving our previous denomination. We didn't even know what being an Episcopalian even meant.”
What they found, he shared, was “a safe refuge” where healing, growth, discernment, and community could take root.
Fr. Jason offered prayers for God’s guidance and protection as the Irvine family begins their next chapter, while the coffee hour afterward felt less like goodbye and more like a promise of continued connection. Members shared embraces, encouragement, and a recurring phrase: “See you soon.”
St. Luke’s also reflected recently on its long legacy of nurturing vocations, celebrating the many members over the years who have discerned calls to ordained ministry as deacons and priests. Read more about it here!
📸 Photos submitted by Susan Kainz
🚪❤️Through the Red Side Doors
📍 Good Shepherd Sun Prairie
Sunday worship at Good Shepherd Episcopal Church took an unexpected turn when a tornado warning sounded in the middle of celebrating the Eucharist, right during the prayers over the bread and wine.
With severe weather moving through Sun Prairie, the congregation calmly shifted into the church’s emergency shelter plan. While the bathrooms themselves could not safely hold everyone, updated emergency procedures developed a few years ago identified the nearby hallway as the safest gathering space. So parishioners carried on together there instead: praying, waiting, and weathering the storm side by side.
A reminder that sometimes church happens in pews, and sometimes church happens shoulder-to-shoulder in a hallway while Wisconsin skies rumble overhead.
📸 Photos by Peter Curran
🌪️ Prayers in the Hallway
