JSOnline notes that there will be a ceremony welcoming Archbishop Jerome Listecki to Milwaukee:

Archbishop Jerome Listecki will be the guest of honor for an hourlong program that begins at 10:30 a.m. in the first floor rotunda.

Expected to attend are several state and local politicians, some of whom are seeking higher offices, including gubernatorial candidates Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and County Executive Scott Walker.

The Syrena Polish Folk Dance Ensemble of Milwaukee will perform in honor of the Milwaukee Archdiocese's first Polish prelate.

Listecki, 60, was installed as archbishop of the 10-county archdiocese on Monday. He succeeds the Most Rev. Timothy M. Dolan, now archbishop of New York, as the spiritual leader of southeastern Wisconsin's nearly 650,000 Roman Catholics.

Friday's event is being recorded by City Channel 25 and will be shown at 10 p.m. Friday and 9 p.m. Sunday in Milwaukee on Channel 25 on Time Warner Cable and on AT&T U-Verse Channel 99.

My question is why?  The City of Milwaukee is already short on funds... so why is it spending money to have a lavish ceremony complete with Polish Dancers for a man who does not represent the entire population of Milwaukee?  After all, the Catholic churches in this area are doing a fine job at honoring their new archbishop, as they should.  There was a long ceremony at St. John's (which both Tom Barrett and Scott Walker attended), which was televised on local stations.  There will also be numerous other ceremonies at other churches as well.  The Catholic church should honor their new leader in the Catholic tradition.  The City of Milwaukee should continue in the business of running city business, which does not include Catholic worship.

The 1st Amendment of the United States Constitution states:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Milwaukee is not officially Catholic.  When choosing only to honor the leadership of one particular religion, they are choosing one over the other.  There are Jews, Protestants, Hindus and many other groups here.  You can't even argue that Listecki somehow represents all Christians in Milwaukee.  He does not represent all Christians... he only represents Catholics.  Either way, the city of Milwaukee has no business honoring or recognizing a new leader of a religious group.  When the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod has a new member in the Council of Presidents, is he invited to city hall to be honored?  Of course not.  And who knew that Congregation Churches everywhere were going to be left in the cold by the city because they don't have a royal hierarchy.

Catholics love their pomp and circumstance. Catholic leadership enjoys being looked upon as royalty. Our forefathers fought a war rejecting royalty in this nation, and there was a Protestant Reformation rejecting it in the church as well.  They city should consider these things when it chooses to only honor a single religion.  Keep Catholic ceremonies where they belong... in Catholic churches.