The Mauthe Story
Building on a rich tradition of more than 50 years, the Mauthe Center creates community conversation and interfaith connection. As an independent nonprofit on the campus of the University of Wisconsin Green Bay, the Mauthe cultivates mutual respect, public understanding, and civic engagement among UWGB students and the broader community.
The Center began to take shape at the same time as the UWGB campus itself. In the early 1960’s, Fr. Richard Mauthe was tasked with the establishment of a Newman Center that would serve the University of Wisconsin Extension in Green Bay, providing a gathering place for Catholic students and others to meet, exchange ideas and grow in spirituality. Within a decade, the Newman Center had evolved into an Ecumenical Center, reflecting Fr. Mauthe’s desire to collaborate with people of good will from all communities of faith. In 1981, through a grant from the Byron L. Walter Family Trust and other gifts, the Ecumenical Center broke ground on its current building on Leon Bond Drive.
In 2010, in recognition of Fr. Mauthe’s role as founder and guiding spirit, the Ecumenical Center was renamed the Richard Mauthe Center for Faith, Spirituality, and Social Justice. Fr. Mauthe passed away in 2017, but his legacy clearly continues at the Center that bears his name. As he wrote, “Our commitment to care for people and to better their lives was always clear, from the beginning, and it still remains the guiding principle behind all the programming at the Center.”​ Fr. Mauthe wrote that the Center “had been born out of a desire to come together regardless of our background or beliefs, and recognize God in each other.”
"Our fear of those unlike us, and our refusal to engage them, stands in stark contrast with our inner desire for love. We seek acceptance, but believe we can only be accepted by those like us. It is for this very reason that we gravitate to those whom we know. But that is easy, and limiting. Going after what we know, laying low in the comfort of our own perception, even limitation, is not what we are meant to do. Embracing the stranger, finding our divine self in him or her through friendship, is what leads us to making this world worthy of God having created it. . . . ​
At a time when we see extremism rising all around us, both political and religious extremism, it only seems obvious that we would seek ways to come together in the spirit of mutual respect. "
To see how we cultivate this spirit of respect, visit our Events page, which contains highlights and videos of past events together along with information about upcoming opportunities for engagement. For more on the history and traditions of the Mauthe Center, stop by for a copy of Fr. Mauthe's memoir, Once in Love, Always in Love, written with Adi Redzic.
