Exile Places by Aspen Davis

Milwaukee was settled in 1835 as a port for the great lakes when people began to take interest in using the land as an ideal trading post. As Milwaukee grew, most of the immigrants were German. Today, the city is divided into four main sections; the East side is full of nightlife and specialty shopping, the North is a stronghold for the African American culture, the West is multiethnic and of many mixed incomes, and the South side has the largest Polish and Hispanic cultures.
In 1954, Holy Cross parish decided to build a shrine dedicated to the Blessed Mother. The ground breaking was on May 18 of that year and the shrine was dedicated on October 18, 1954. Through 1954 and 1965, Father Kentenich celebrated over 3,000 holy masses here. In 1998, Holy Cross and St. Anthony of Padua merged to become St.Vincent Pallotti parish.
On March 19, 1961 Father Kentenich went for a walk in Calvary Cemetary with Father Dresbach ( a priest that had been in Dachau with him) and some young girls. When Father Dresbach said something about about the girls, Father Kentenich replied “ These are the children Divine Providence has given me for now. Everything is in order.”
Jacobus Park is a small park located northwest of Hawley road and is tuck into an industrial valley bellow the ridge. During his time in Milwaukee, Father Kentenich enjoyed taking walks in this quiet, little park. He says that “ … it was a nice place to think and reminded me of my apostolic task to be like the apostle James; a voice of the Word for the people.”
Before he took over the German immigrant parish of St. Michales, Father Kentenich would celebrate mass at the Carmelites sisters orphanage. The orphanage was in Wauwatosa and contained about 200 children. His usual mass took place at 7:00 in the morning and contained little or no singing.
St. Michaels parish was established in 1883 as a German immigrant parish. Father Kintenich was appointed pastor of the church in 1959 by the Archbishop of Milwaukee. He offered many services in the German language and also held confession every Saturday morning.
In 1958, Father Ahler ( pastor of a church in Milwaukee) succeeded in obtaining 5 Schoenstatt sisters for catechesis and care of the church in his parish. He decided that since he would have to build a house chapel for them, he would also build a shrine dedicated to Mary. This shrine was dedicated on January 20,1962. The sisters kept the shrine open 24 hours a day for over 30 years, since many night workers would stop there on their way home. However in 1990 a new pastor closed the shrine and in 1998, the Schoenstatt sisters were withdrawn from the parish. The shrine was remodeled and became the Father house for the international center on July 31, 1998.
The Bishop woods was a place bought by a Schoenstatt group so that the movement could have a new place to grow. On Sunday, May 26, 1963 43 people, including Father Kentenich, went to observe the land and Father thought it was the perfect location.
Lake Michigan was a place where Father Kentenich liked to go with young people. While they would play and skip rocks on the water, father was found usually staring quietly at the water.
These were some of the main historic Schoenstatt places found in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Aspen