La Crosse, Wis., May 8, 2018 / 01:41 am
A special quasi-parish for Catholics of Hmong background will be established in the Wisconsin Diocese of La Crosse, its local bishop announced.
"It's with great hope and joy that I welcome our newest parish, whose mission is to bring the Catholic tradition to the Hmong community," Bishop William Patrick Callahan said May 6. "Today we are proud to continue in our history of reaching out to peoples who have not encountered Jesus and the gospels."
A quasi-parish is the equivalent of a parish under canon law, with some exceptions. It can later become a parish at the discretion of the local bishop.
Bishop Callahan named Father Alan T. Burkhardt as the quasi-parish's first pastor. He currently pastors St. Anne Parish in Wausau. That parish currently hosts a bilingual Hmong Mass on Sunday afternoons.