Belgian Heritage Center opens May 22, celebrates season launch with Wisconsin Walloon website initiative
BRUSSELS, WI — In a recent press release, the Belgian Heritage Center (BHC) announced the start of its 2026 visitor season, opening its doors beginning Friday, May 22.
The BHC invites “the community and visitors alike to explore the rich cultural heritage of Door County’s Belgian settlement,” the release said.
“This year’s opening is paired with an expanded focus on the newly launched Wisconsin Walloon website, a growing digital hub dedicated to preserving and sharing the Walloon language and traditions that remain deeply rooted in the region. The platform features educational resources, recorded oral histories, and tools designed to keep this unique linguistic and cultural heritage accessible for future generations.”
Adele Brice, the seer of Our Lady of Champion and the candidate for the first cause for canonization in the history of the Diocese of Green Bay, immigrated with her family from the Walloon region of Belgium in 1855.
Learn more about the Walloon language and culture at the new website: wisconsinwalloon.org.
New shrine announced to honor first US-born African American priest
SPRINGFIELD, IL — The Diocese of Springfield in Illinois is set to establish a shrine honoring Venerable Fr. Augustus Tolton — the first African American Catholic priest born in the United States — at a former parish church in the priest’s hometown of Quincy, Illinois.
“Fr. Tolton overcame the odds of slavery, prejudice, and racism to become a humble priest and someone after whom we should model our lives,” Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield said in a statement to the (National Catholic) Register.
Read more from the National Catholic Register article: onmiss.io/newshrine.