CATHEDRAL PARISH

CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF MADISON MADISON, WISCONSIN

New 1,050-seat cathedral and parish house

Designed 2017-2018

DESTROYED by fire in 2005, the historic cathedral of Saint Raphael was located in the vibrant downtown of Madison, Wisconsin. Bishop Robert C. Morlino approached Cram and Ferguson in 2017 to design a replacement that would be a a beacon of faith in a secular city, returning, as he put it, church spires to the skyline. The proposed cathedral would be built in two phases, the first a cathedral parish house and rectory, with a crypt chapel, the second the main portion of the cathedral. A partnership with local businesses was pursued to finance the project through a parking garage located beneath both. The liturgical layout isthe result of close consultation with the bishop, with a generous sanctuary centered on a marble altar beneath a Gothic baldachin and ample space for concelebrants and attendants for a bishop’s stational mass. Sacristies and vestries were designed to accomodate regular masses and solemn diocesan liturgies.

The sudden death of Bishop Morlino in late 2018 and diocesan restructuring in the wake of the 2020 pandemic meant that his last vision remains still a dream, but its power to inspire is nonetheless undimmed.