The Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services has rejected an informal proposal by St. James Episcopal Church, 833 W. Wisconsin Ave., to use the church's great hall as transitional housing for violent sex offenders.

The church wanted to house sex offenders on site as part of its commitment to social justice that already includes feeding homeless people and letting them sleep on the church lawn.

"We believe that our church is open to all, and there will be no outcasts," said the Rev. Debra Trakel, pastor of St. James. "Sex offenders are believed to be the scum of the earth. They are today's lepers and outcasts. This outreach is utterly in keeping with our mission."

Some members of the Marquette community were concerned about Trakel's initiative.

College of Arts & Sciences freshman Shanti Chu, who lives in neighboring Straz Tower , said she would feel uncomfortable knowing sex offenders were living next door.

"Many girls and individuals walk by there to get to class or go to work and it just seems unsafe knowing they too could be walking around or could escape," Chu said.

Trakel said the church vestry, or council, had been in contact with the Department of Health and Family Services about the plan since April but informed church members of the dialogue on Oct. 22.

Church members were not notified until that date because the vestry did not know if the church could even structurally support such an undertaking, according to an Oct. 22 letter mailed to church members.

Stephanie Marquis, communications director for the Department of Health and Family Services , said engineers from the department visited the church and deemed it a non-viable site for a variety of reasons, including its proximity to young children who frequent the church and to Straz Tower residence hall, which is next door, Marquis said.

Trakel's proposal offered St. James as a part of an existing transitional living program for Wisconsin Chapter 980 sex offenders, which are offenders categorized as most at risk to re-offend, administered by the Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Center in Mauston, Wis.

Jim McMahon, the Dean of Residence Life , was aware of Trakel's proposal but did not know the details.

"I knew the state had determined the site unsuitable, so it was a moot point," McMahon said. "I understand (Trakel) has a passion for those kind of issues, but had there been any movement towards this happening by the state, we would have gotten involved."

Safety was a major concern when the department nixed the church's proposal last week, Marquis said.

"Had the proposal moved forward, we would have been in contact with John Hennessy, owner of St. James Court Historic Apartments , and with Marquette University," Trakel said.

The vestry's belief is "counterintuitive," according to Trakel.

"All of these coeds are safer if these offenders are in a structured program rather than out on the streets," she said. "We are convinced that politicians, whether they be progressive or conservative, lack the political will to be generally concerned to keep people of Milwaukee and Marquette safe."

The church's location in the center of Milwaukee served as a catalyst for the vestry's wanting to utilize empty space, Trakel said.

Already, the church's basement is used to feed the hungry six days a week, but the upstairs great hall remains a storage area utilized only one day a week by a dance troupe.

Steve Watters, institute director of the Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Center , said none of the program graduates have committed any kind of physical assault, though one offender was charged with possessing child pornography after moving through the program.

The Sand Ridge program has a zero recidivism rate, Trakel said, meaning the sex offenders it treats will not re-offend. Trakel argued that this makes St. James' proposed program safer, because the sex offenders it would deal with would also not be likely to re-offend.

Other Marquette community members said Trakel's initial proposal raised a delicate issue.

"It is a delicate balance between loving someone and protecting others," said the Rev. Patrick Dorsey, S.J., assistant director of University Ministry. "It's moments like this when you trust in the law to protect the people."

Marquis said if the court system deems sex offenders eligible for release after their treatment, they are restricted to certain areas and can only contact certain people.

"The rules are above and beyond normal parole," Marquis said. "This is actually an added safeguard."

Kirk Hinman, resident manager of the St. James Court Historic Apartments, said he was not aware Trakel and the vestry had contacted the Department of Health and Family Services.

Hinman said he was concerned that Trakel had not run the proposal by the apartment building's owner.

"The majority of our tenants are Marquette students and this would be putting them at risk," he said. "We try to provide a clean, comfortable place to live and this would've taken some of that comfort away."