Called to be the 18th Dean of the
Cathedral Church of All Saints
On Sunday, November 18 the Chapter met in a joint session with the Call Committee to receive its recommendation for the 18th Dean of All Saints' Cathedral. Following that joint session the Chapter met in an executive session and voted to call the Very Reverend Warren H. Raasch.
Fr. Raasch is well known to many in the Cathedral community, along with his wife, Liz, who has been a member of the Cathedral since the Raasches' return to Milwaukee in 2004. Fr. Raasch is already entitled to be called "Dean" Raasch, as he is the former Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral in Springfield, Illinois, where he served from 1992 to 2004. Dean Raasch earned his Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Educational Psychology at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, his Ph.D. in Philosophy from Marquette University, and his Master's of Divinity at General Theological Seminary in New York. Since the Raasches' return to Milwaukee, he has been serving as the interim priest at St. Martin's, Brown Deer. Dean Raasch has also sung with the All Saintsí choir for special services and has been serving at some of our weekday Masses on a regular basis during our interim period.
Dean Raasch has a long history with All Saints'. He was first brought here, and introduced to the Episcopal Church, in the late 1960s by Liz and other friends hoping he would join the choir, which he did. He was confirmed here by Bishop Hallock in 1972, and he and Liz were married here in 1978, ten days before they moved to New York to attend seminary. The All Saints' community thought so highly of him that it sent him its entire seminarian fund, for which the Raasches have always been grateful. While living in New York during their seminary years, they one day wandered into a used book store and were amazed to find the original rendering of our triptych. They quickly purchased it and had it sent back to All Saints' where it may be seen in the hallway outside of the Dean's office.
Dean Raasch was ordained to the diaconate at All Saints' in 1981, and, because there were no clergy openings in the diocese at that time, Bishop Gaskell gave him permission to interview in other parts of the country. From 1981 to 1984 he served as an Assistant Priest at the Church of Our Saviour, in San Gabriel, California. From 1984 to 1989 he was Rector of Grace Episcopal Church in Glendora, California. Returning to the Midwest, he then served as Rector of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Ferguson, Missouri (a St. Louis suburb) until being called as Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral, Springfield, Illinois in 1992. In 2004 he left that ministry so that the Raasches could return to Wisconsin so they could offer more assistance to their elderly mothers. Bishop Miller immediately tapped him to take over pastoral leadership of St. Martin's, Brown Deer, where he has served until now.
When the opportunity to serve as Dean of his old Cathedral home arose, Fr. Raasch was immediately enthused about being a part of all the exciting new possibilities that face us. He views this as an opportunity to return a measure of the love and support that our Cathedral congregation has showered on him and Liz during the past three decades. His past experience has shown great success in evangelism, stewardship, and Christian education. Having already served as a Cathedral Dean, he has had the opportunity to acquire a wide range of experience and information in both the administrative and pastoral aspects of Cathedral life. He has also headed capital funds drives and building projects while in Springfield. He has taught both philosophy and psychology classes as an adjunct instructor at the college level and for several years served as a board member of a community-wide liturgical arts festival in Springfield and on an institutional review board (approving medical research studies that use human patients).
The Raasches' immediate family includes their mothers, Dorothy Sanderson and Virginia Raasch, and Dean Raasch's sister Kris and niece Kelli. Dean Raasch and Liz both enjoy a wide range of interests including theater, music and reading. They have both been active workers on the Cathedral Book Sale, and in seasonable weather they garden weekly with the Bloomin' Saints. Dean Raasch can often be seen on Milwaukee's east side streets, as he is a committed walker, covering two or three miles almost every day.
Dean Raasch continues his reverence for traditional Anglo-Catholic worship, and looks forward to maintaining our long-standing commitment to the very highest standards of liturgy, music and preaching. He sees our most exciting challenges at All Saints' as helping the congregation to grow in stewardship, evangelism and Christian education. He will officially begin his ministry with us during the first week of January, 2008.
Announcements of the date of Fr. Raasch's institution as the 18th Dean of The Cathedral Church of All Saints will be forthcoming.