Before the bilingual Mass could begin at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Waukesha, the pews were already full.
Hundreds of people flooded into the city’s oldest Catholic church on Saturday, Aug. 1, standing in the back, throughout the aisles – filling any space where they could stand. Parishioners were eager to see the renovations that closed the church doors for the last six months and gather for Mass once again.
St. Joseph welcomes back its congregation for the first time since January
As people passed through the church doors, their eyes were drawn to ceiling panels, now painted blue, and above the sanctuary, where stars were added to represent both heaven and the church’s patron saint. The stained-glass windows that cover the church’s walls glowed as the sun poured in.
A woman leading the choir welcomed the congregation in both English and Spanish and asked everyone to rise. As the first hymn began, the ensemble belted and the organ notes rang through the church, parishioners smiled at each other, standing shoulder to shoulder again.
“I was like, ‘Wow,'” St. Joseph parishioner Mireyda Tejeda said following the Mass, speaking to a reporter in Spanish. “I was looking everywhere, because the church was in need of many renovations and there was a lot to do.”
The last major renovation project the church underwent was in the 1980s. Since then, the church’s walls had begun to peel and crack, a balloon had been stuck in a ceiling fan for years and the floors and stairs creaked, all calling for a change.
The over $450,000 renovation project included sanding and refinishing the pews, painting the ceiling tiles and walls, installing new flooring, and lowering a loft wall to allow more sight of a stained-glass window, according to the church’s website.
“I was walking in and it was all open and bright,” parishioner Carol Reske said. “You have the light come in and it’s just beautiful.”
Surpassing language limitations through faith
While the project was underway, the congregation was encouraged to attend Mass at the other churches in the Corpus Christi Parish, including St. William, St. John Neumann and St. Mary.
As the home base for the parish, St. Joseph was the first church to offer Spanish masses.
“We grew up in a Catholic church and being able to find a Mass in your own language in this country, it’s like feeling at home,” Tejeda, whose primary language is Spanish, said.
The church offers opportunities for English speakers to attend Spanish masses by offering headsets parishioners can wear that translate the Mass, according to Reske, who primarily speaks English. For holidays or special occasions like the reopening Mass, the church hosts bilingual masses.
“We’re happy to be back,” Tejeda said. “We went to other churches but this one’s our home.”
As the once empty church filled with prayer in both English and Spanish, and the procession concluding the end of Mass walked out the doors, the church burst into applause, marking a new chapter for St. Joseph.
Stephanie Perez is a 2026 summer intern for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She can be reached at sperez@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: St. Joseph Catholic Church in Waukesha welcomes back its congregation
Reporting by Stephanie Perez, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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By Stephanie Perez, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
