St. Rita Parish-West Allis

11/28/2025

11/28/2025

Thank you Archbishop Grob for celebrating our last Mass with us on Sunday, November 23, 2025. We are beyond blessed!

11/23/2025

11/23/2025

Archbishop Grob, thank you for your beautiful homily and for celebrating our final mass with us ✝️

11/22/2025

Many of you have asked about this "Brown Book." Here is a scanned copy for all to view, learn more about, and cherish our beloved church.

11/22/2025

Did you know?
St. Rita's organ was designed by the Reuter Organ Company of Lawrence, Kansas. This distinctive instrument has 27 ranks of pipes and a total of 1,584 individual pipes!

- Saint Rita Parish, Brown Book, May 3, 1964.

11/21/2025

Did you know?
This area of the church used to be where the baptismal font originally stood? Now stands the tabernacle and holy oils.

"The cross standing in clear blue waters, symbolic of the Jordan, is the focal point of St. Rita's baptistry window. The cross is the sacred sign of the Redemption of mankind. It is the Sign of the Cross with which the Church begins, blesses, and consecrates all things. 💦

Above the cross we see a dove, symbol of the Holy Spirit, from which descend parted tongues of flame in various liturgical colors. The tongues of flame descending from the dove depict the presence of the Holy Spirit at Baptism and at Pentecost. 🕊️🔥

Smaller white spots represent the salt which is placed in the mouth at Baptism. 'The salt is a symbol of the perseverance of the Faith received in Baptism and the savor of a life lived in Christ.'

The window also portrays the Holy Spirit descending upon Christ at the time of His baptism by John the Baptist."

- Saint Rita Parish, Brown Book, May 3, 1964

11/21/2025

Did you know?
"The St. Rita window depicts a memorable scene from our patron saint's life, in which she prevailed upon her sons not to seek revenge for a great wrong.

St. Rita, who was born in the humble town of Tocca Porena in Central Italy, wished to enter the convent, but her poor parents forced her into a marriage with a brutal and dissolute man. During her 18 years of marriage, in which she bore constant insult and infidelity, she had twin sons. The boys resembled their father, cruel and unloving, and St. Rita wept and prayed for them with unceasing love and devotion.

Our patron's prayers were answered when her husband realized his sinful ways and asked her forgiveness. However, he was killed in a brawl shortly thereafter, and her two sons swore to avenge their father's death. They are seen armed with swords, ready to seek vengeance. St. Rita prayed that they would die rather than commit murder. She is shown with her hand upraised- to keep them from this mortal sin. Both sons became ill, and St. Rita cared for them and succeeded in bringing them to a state of forgiveness, and to God, before they died.

An old tradition associates roses and figs with St. Rita, and she is seen holding them in her hands. Shortly before her death, she asked a friend to bring her a rose from her garden, and, although it was not a season for roses, her friend found a rose bush in full bloom. When asked if there was anything else she would like, she asked for two figs from her garden. The figs were found on a leafless tree.

Our patron is known as the 'Saint of the Impossible.'"

- Saint Rita Parish, Brown Book, May 3, 1964

11/20/2025

Did you know?
"'St. Joseph is the patron of carpenters and workers. In this window, his hand is raised seemingly in protection of the various trades- the lower section of the window depicts representatives of these professions (left to right):

1️⃣The mason, with a trowel and plumb line
2️⃣The architect with a roll of plans
3️⃣The builder with his tongs
4️⃣The patternmaker with his calipers
5️⃣The carpenter with a hammer
6️⃣The roadworker with a chisel and pickaxe.
7️⃣The machinist with the symbol of his trade- two interlocking gears-
8️⃣At the extreme right, a plumber with a pipe wrench in his hand.

To the left of St. Joseph's head are two doves, reminding us of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, according to Judaic tradition. The two doves were the symbolic offering traditionally made by parents when their child was brought to the Temple. 🕊️

At the very top of the window, in the center, you can see the Star of Bethlehem, bringing to mind the Nativity."✨

- Saint Rita Church, Brown Book, May 3, 1964

11/19/2025

Did you know?
"Blue- the color of Mary, of faith and trust- is the dominant color of the window devoted to the "Motherhood of Mary."💙

The Blessed Mother and Christ are surrounded by a golden halo, repeated three times in enlarged concentric circles of yellow and orage. At the periphery of the halos there are flames, as from the sun, and a crescent moon at Mary's feet. This depiction of her Immaculate Conception- "A woman clothed with the sun and the moon under feet."

The figures of Mary and the Christ Child are super imposed upon a slender cross.

The rays falling from Mary's halo resemble a mantle, falling fan-shape to encircle the various races of the world which are represented at her feet. In this window, we see Mary in several of her major roles- Mother of God, Patroness and Protectoress of all Mankind, and the Mother of the World."

- Saint Rita Parish, Brown Book, May 3, 1964

11/18/2025

Did you know?
The seated figure of Christ-stained glass window is dedicated to and depicting The Sermon on the Mount. It was on this memorable occasion that Christ gave us the Beatitudes and beautiful "Lord's Prayer".

Throughout the window there are symbolic renderings of the many things to which Christ alluded:
✝️Jesus seated
☀️sun
🕊️birds of the air
💐lilies of the field
🕯️light of the world (candle)
🫂reconciling brothers
🌳tree bearing good fruit... and more!

Also, symbolic figures representing the Beatitudes flank the main composition. They are depicted as light and shadowy figures- some are those who have attained the blessings of God, others those who are still struggling, and the others are those who have failed to earn this blessing.

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The scene is described in detail in the Gospel of St. Matthew, Chapter 5. Some of the references from Matthew depicted in our windows are:
"And seeing the crowds, He went up to the mountain. And when He was seated His disciples came to Him and He taught them, saying:
"Your Father in heaven makes His sun to rise on the good and the evil, and sends rain upon the just and the unjust"
"Look at the birds of the air, they do not sow, or reap, or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. And are you not of much more value than they?
"Consider the lilies of the field, they neither toil nor spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed like one of these."
"You are the light of the world. Men do not light a lamp and put it under a measure but upon the lampstand, so as to give light to all in the house."
"Leave they gift before the altar and go first to be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift."
"Give us this day our daily bread."
Enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way to destruction."
"And every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."

- Saint Rita Church, Brown Book, May 3, 1964