The Diocese of Milwaukee began its year-long sesquicentennial celebration with an outdoor Eucharist at Nashotah House Seminary followed by a 30-mile bicycle or auto tour of small-town churches. The day concluded with Evening Prayer, from the 1789 Book of Common Prayer, at each of those churches.

The Rt. Rev. Roger J. White, Bishop of Milwaukee, and the Rt. Rev. William C. Wantland, Bishop of Eau Claire, celebrated the Eucharist (the third Wisconsin bishop, the Rt. Rev. Russell Jacobus of Fond du Lac, was attending his son's graduation), and banners from 26 churches of the diocese were carried in procession. Banners from each of the 65 Milwaukee parishes will hang in All Saints' Cathedral for the 150th year.

The morning's preacher, the Rev. Charles R. Henery, professor of church history and homiletics at Nashotah House and priest-in-charge of St. John Chrysostom in nearby Delafield, read from the journal and letters of the Rt. Rev. Jackson Kemper, missionary bishop of the territory of Wisconsin, who organized the diocese in June of 1847 with 23 clergy and 969 communicants in 25 parishes.

Music for the service was provided by a brass quintet and a choir composed of singers from across the diocese, conducted by Stephen Wolff, music director of the cathedral. The 250 participants also enjoyed a picnic lunch on the seminary campus.