A popular Christian coffeehouse on the UW-Madison campus that weathered a public falling out with its volunteer base last year has found itself in transition again.

Catacombs Coffeehouse is looking for a new home after being displaced from its longtime site due to construction.

The nonprofit business, opened in 1993 by Madison Campus Ministry, rented space in the basement of Pres House, 731 State St., a ministry of the Presbyterian Church.

Pres House is being remodeled as part of a project that also is adding a faith-based dormitory directly behind it.

Catacombs Coffeehouse, which closes every summer, was intending to reopen this fall and remain at the Pres House until December. However, unforeseen construction factors made reopening impractical, said Lindy Anderson, president of the board of Catacombs Coffeehouse Inc., an independent offshoot of Madison Campus Ministry that now runs the business.

"We're not dissolving by any means," Anderson said. "We fully intend to reopen somewhere else eventually."

The coffeehouse made news last October when most of its kitchen help and part of its customer base left over a dispute with the board of directors.

Some volunteers felt the board was pushing a hard-core Christian theology at odds with the coffeehouse's reputation for religious tolerance. Board members said they remained committed to open-minded discussions but felt the coffeehouse had drifted from its Christian mission.

The coffeehouse survived the dispute and rebuilt a volunteer base, said the Rev. Vern Visick, a Methodist minister and board treasurer. He said it is unlikely the coffeehouse will return to the remodeled Pres House and that finding a new site yet this school year would be a challenge.

However, Catacombs likely will co-sponsor events at other venues, and it may pop up as a traveling coffeehouse, Anderson said.

"We may take our coffee maker on the road with us," she said. "We'll be nomadic for the time being."

- Doug Erickson

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