Author: Chris Lee

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Chris Lee

Bishops affirm support for marriage

MADISON — As lawyers argue the legality of Wisconsin’s constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman, the Catholic bishops of Wisconsin reaffirmed their support for that provision and the voters who approved it.

“In approving the long understood truth that marriage is a union between a man and a woman, the voters were not establishing a religious understanding of marriage as an institution,” the bishops said in a statement August 26. “Rather they were recognizing a truth about human relationships and the nurturing of generations.”

Wisconsin’s voters approved a constitutional amendment defining marriage in a 2006 referendum that garnered 59 percent of the vote. The amendment has since been challenged in federal court, and a judge for the Western District of Wisconsin held the measure to violate the U.S. Constitution.

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Chris Lee

Woody Allen’s bleak vision

I was chagrined, but not entirely surprised, when I read Woody Allen’s recent ruminations on ultimate things.

To state it bluntly, Woody could not be any bleaker in regard to the issue of meaning in the universe.

Godless, purposeless world

We live, he said, in a godless and purposeless world. The earth came into existence through mere chance, and one day it, along with every work of art and cultural accomplishment, will be incinerated. The universe as a whole will expand and cool until there is nothing left but the void.

Every hundred years or so, he continued, a coterie of human beings will be “flushed away” and another will replace it until it is similarly eliminated.

So why does he bother making films — roughly one every year? Well, he explained, in order to distract us from the awful truth about the meaninglessness of everything, we need diversions, and this is the service that artists provide.

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Chris Lee

Concerns about parent’s financial status

Q Our family is very small, just my brother and me. “Roger” is younger and always seemed to have trouble keeping a job. The result is he has lived at home all of his life. He is in his 40s.

My concern is that he is heavily dependent on my mom — dad died a few years ago. Mom is 73 years old and has the means to support him for now, but her health is changing, and I am worried that she will not have enough to provide for her own needs because she always puts his needs first.

He recently accompanied her to the bank and had his name placed on her checks so he can write checks for her. He stated it was to make it easier for mom. I think he is going to help himself to her money. Mom seems to trust that he will be responsible.

Is this financial abuse? And, what are the options to change this?

(From a son in Sauk City)

A This is a great question about a very difficult situation.

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Chris Lee

Bishops revise advance care forms

MADISON — Earlier this year, the Catholic bishops of Wisconsin published a form aimed at helping individuals convey their desires regarding advance care planning in a manner that aligns with Catholic principles.

The form, which was published in one version for those who are Catholic and in another version for those who are not, is designed as an addendum to the State of Wisconsin’s Power of Attorney for Health Care (POAHC) document.

The newly revised edition of the form provides greater clarity for users regarding the Church’s teaching on nutrition and hydration.

 

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Chris Lee

Msgr. Delbert Schmelzer retires after 46 years in mission office

Fr. Delbert Schmelzer meets Pope John Paul II in 1981 at a meeting of diocesan directors of the Pontifical Mission Societies held in Rome, just two weeks before the Holy Father was shot by Mehmet Ali Agca. (Contributed photo)

MADISON — Jesus told his disciples before he ascended into heaven, “As the Father has sent me, so I also send you” (John 20:21).

Msgr. Delbert Schmelzer believes all baptized Christians have that same mission. “We, too, are sent to bring good news to the poor to the ends of the earth,” he emphasizes.

Monsignor Schmelzer has been encouraging people in the Diocese of Madison to support the missionary work of the Church for over 46 years.

He retired in July from his position as diocesan director of the Pontifical Mission Societies. Fr. Chad Droessler, pastor of Blessed Trinity Parish in Lodi and Dane, has assumed the position.

Vital work of the Church

In an interview, Monsignor Schmelzer discussed the vital missionary work of the Catholic Church led by the Holy Father. “The Holy See has the obligation to extend the Church to the whole world. We are doing the Holy Father’s work throughout the world in over 1,150 mission dioceses. They couldn’t exist without our support,” said Monsignor Schmelzer.

Began work in 1968

Back in 1968, Bishop Cletus F. O’Donnell asked then Father Schmelzer to assist Msgr. Edward Auchter with the Pontifical Mission Societies work in the diocese.

“I was his associate director for 13 years,” noted Monsignor Schmelzer. “In 1981, I became the director. It’s an honor to be given this job.”

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Chris Lee

Bishop Morlino to visit St. Clare Hospital in Baraboo

BARABOO — St. Clare of Assisi, the patron saint after whom St. Clare Hospital in Baraboo was named, has been described in history as “full of light” or “radiant.”

Her guiding light continues to be a beacon that illuminates the exceptional health care ministry practiced throughout the community as part of the SSM Health Care mission at the St. Clare Hospital campus in Baraboo and its clinic facilities in the Wisconsin Dells/Lake Delton area.

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Chris Lee

Children at borders provide opportunity for pro-life witness

Eye on the Capitol by John Huebscher

The plight of over 60,000 unaccompanied children from Central America who are at our borders seeking refuge from the unspeakable horrors afflicting their homelands has stirred controversy, outrage, and no end of political posturing in our country.

But this situation, tragic as it is, provides an opportunity to witness what it means to be pro-life. The Catholic Church in the United States and here in Wisconsin is rising to that challenge.

The children arriving at our southern borders with Mexico are fleeing lives of danger and privation in search of something better, a life of peace and hope that is the birthright of every child.

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Chris Lee

Hercules, N.T. Wright, and the modern meta-narrative

On the first day of my recent vacation, I perused N.T. Wright’s latest book, a collection of essays on contemporary issues in light of the Bible.

A point that Wright makes in a number of the articles is that modernity and Christianity propose fundamentally different meta-narratives in regard to the meaning and trajectory of history.

The emergence of modernity

Modernity — at least in its Western form– is predicated on the assumption that history came to its climax in the mid- to late-18th century, with the definitive victory of empirical science in the epistemological arena and liberal democracy in the political arena.

Basic to this telling of the story is that modernity emerged victorious after a long twilight struggle against the forces of obscurantism and tyranny. The matrix for these negative states of affairs was none other than the Christian religion, which enforced a blind dogmatism on the one hand and an oppressive political arrangement on the other.

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Chris Lee

What is Natural Family Planning?

Natural Family Planning (NFP) is an umbrella term for certain methods used to achieve and avoid pregnancies. These methods are based on observation of the naturally occurring signs and symptoms of the fertile and infertile phases of a woman’s menstrual cycle.

NFP is not “Rhythm.” The Rhythm (or Calendar) method was developed in the 1930s. It was based on the scientific theory that ovulation could be predicted by calculating previous menstrual cycles. This method was often inaccurate because it did not take account of the unique nature of each woman’s menstrual cycles.

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