Chris Lee


	Esta columna es la comunicación del Obispo con los fieles de la Diócesis de Madison. Cualquier circulación más amplia va más allá de la intención del Obispo.

Queridos amigos:

Esta semana llegamos a la Cuaresma y respecto a esto quisiera pedirles algunas cosas:

1) Recemos el uno por el otro. Sepan que pueden contar con mis oraciones, así como yo las renuevo cada día por cada una de las personas de la diócesis, cada bendito día, les pido que traten de recordarme a mí también.

2) Si quieren, por favor vuelvan a leer mis columnas de las dos semanas pasadas – sobre la conciencia y la corrección fraterna (están disponibles en el sitio web del Madison Catholic Herald — http://www.madisoncatholicherald.org/espanol.html — si es que ya ha leído los números anteriores).

Dense un poco de tiempo para reflexionar al respecto, para examinar su propia conciencia. Dense un buen espacio para eso en esta Cuaresma y piensen en los cambios que pueden hacer en sus propias vidas: de acuerdo a una conciencia bien formada por la Iglesia y orientada hacia la Verdad.

Word on Fire

On March 5, 2014

Chris Lee

‘Priest, prophet, and king’

Editor’s note: This week we begin publishing the column “Word on Fire” by Fr. Robert Barron, founder of Word on Fire Ministries, which reaches millions of people by utilizing the tools of new media to draw people into or back to the Catholic Faith. Father Barron is the creator and host of Catholicism, a groundbreaking, award winning documentary series about the Catholic faith. The series has aired across the country on PBS and EWTN and has been seen and broadcast in parishes, universities, schools, and media outlets throughout the world. The documentary received a Christopher Award for excellence. Father Barron and Word on Fire also released the documentary Catholicism: The New Evangelization in 2013.

A classic characterization of Jesus is that he is priest, prophet, and king. As priest, he sanctifies, that is to say, he reestablishes the lost link between divinity and humanity; as prophet, he speaks and embodies the divine truth; and as king, he leads us on the right path, giving guidance to the human project.

You might say that, as priest, he is the life; as prophet, he is the truth; and as king he is the way.

Gifts for Your Soul

On March 5, 2014

Chris Lee

A simple lesson learned from a child

As a parent, one of my favorite rituals is the evening story time routine with my two girls. They are four and two years old, and sometimes getting them to quiet down takes a few prayers. With patience, they always settle down and look forward to story time as much as I do.

After they’re both in their pajamas, each of them is allowed to pick one book and one story in their Bible. We read the books first and then the two Bible stories.

It amazes me which stories the girls seem to love most and which ones they don’t seem to identify with yet. We’ll talk about the bible stories and I’ll do my best to explain God’s lesson in a way they can understand.

Eye on the Capitol

On March 5, 2014

Chris Lee

The case for raising the minimum wage

One of the arguments against raising the minimum wage in the United States is that many of those in minimum wage jobs are young workers, either in their teens or early 20s.

Such workers, the argument goes, either lack experience, or in the case of workers under the age of 18, live at home and don’t rely on their income to meet their basic needs.

Around the Diocese

On February 26, 2014

Chris Lee

Pope’s Lenten message: Follow Jesus seeking out poor, sinners


	Msgr. James Bartylla, vicar general of the Diocese of Madison, distributes ashes on Ash Wednesday in the chapel of the Bishop O’Connor Center, Madison. Ash Wednesday is observed on March 5 this year. (Catholic Herald file photo)

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Courageously follow Jesus in seeking out the poor and sinners and in making difficult sacrifices to help and heal others, Pope Francis said in his message for Lent, which begins March 5.

Christians are called to confront the material, spiritual, and moral destitution of “our brothers and sisters, to touch it, to make it our own, and to take practical steps to alleviate it,” the pope said in his Lenten message.

Saving the world will not come about “with the right kind of human resources” and token alms, but only “through the poverty of Christ,” who emptied himself of the worldly and made the world rich with God’s love and mercy, Pope Francis said.

Focus on Christ’s poverty

The pope’s message focused on the theme of Christ’s poverty, with the title: “He became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich,” from St. Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians.

Pope Francis said he chose the passage to explore what St. Paul’s references to poverty and charity mean for Christians today.

There are many forms of poverty, he said, including the material destitution that disfigures the face of humanity and the moral destitution of being a slave to vice and sin.

Artículos en Español

On February 26, 2014

Chris Lee

La Iglesia necesita la “dinámica” de la corrección fraterna


	Esta columna es la comunicación del Obispo con los fieles de la Diócesis de Madison. Cualquier circulación más amplia va más allá de la intención del Obispo.

Queridos amigos:

La semana pasada en mi columna hablé sobre la conciencia y me gustaría volver a ella, ya que el Evangelio del domingo pasado contiene el mismo mensaje.

La conciencia debe siempre llevarnos a la perfección. “Sean perfectos como es perfecto vuestro Padre celestial (Mt 5:48)”, es la exhortación de nuestro Señor en el Evangelio del domingo pasado. Una conciencia correctamente formada nunca te dice “¿Qué es lo mínimo que debo hacer para llamarme todavía católico?”

La conciencia no nos hace minimalistas

La conciencia no abre la puerta del minimalismo. No es una herramienta para que digamos “¿Cómo puedo permitirme hacer lo mínimo?”

La conciencia abre la puerta a la perfección, a lo heroico, a lo máximo, porque la conciencia bien formada sirve como un radar que busca la verdad, por medio de la cual elegimos seguir la ley del Señor.

Como dije, necesitamos mucho difundir la palabra sobre la conciencia, y las lecturas del domingo pasado realmente nos ayudan con un detalle sobre cómo hacer eso.

Si vamos a difundir la buena palabra sobre la conciencia, eso significa que vamos a tener que corregir a otros, especialmente a nuestros hermanos y hermanas que son católicos. Sabemos que eso no es fácil.

Lo que es fácil, cuando buscamos informar las conciencias de otros, es que parezca como si estuviéramos juzgando a la persona misma. Tenemos que evitar ese juicio del individuo, pero no tenemos que dudar en ayudarlos, al ofrecerles la verdad sobre sus acciones.

Making a Difference

On February 26, 2014

Chris Lee

My brief experience as a homeless person

For quite some time I have had an interest in the plight of the homeless. I have read about it, prayed over it, and have done small things to help.

But feeling that I could, and should, do more to make a difference, I concluded that living as a homeless man — at least for a very brief period — was the best way to understand what it’s like to have no place to call home.

Around the Diocese

On February 19, 2014

Chris Lee

Hundreds attend chastity talk on the UW-Madison campus


	Internationally-known chastity speaker and author Jason Evert speaks to a packed hall of more than 300 students on the UW-Madison campus for his talk “Save Your Marriage Before Meeting Your Spouse.” The event was presented by student group Badger Catholic. (Catholic Herald photo/Kevin Wondrash)

MADISON — On Thursday, Feb. 6, the University of Wisconsin Badgers men’s hockey team defeated number one ranked Minnesota 2 to 1 before almost 9,000 fans at the Kohl Center.

While Bucky was defending the home ice against Goldy, less than one half mile away at UW-Madison’s Gordon Dining and Event Center, more than 300 college students packed the building’s “Concerto Room” to hear about chastity.

Internationally known speaker Jason Evert was on hand to give his talk, “Save Your Marriage Before Meeting Your Spouse.”

Evert and his wife, Crystalina, have spoken on six continents to more than one million people about the virtue of chastity. He and his wife are the authors of more than 10 books, including How to Find Your Soulmate without Losing Your Soul and Theology of the Body for Teens.

The event was presented by Badger Catholic, a student organization on the UW-Madison campus that seeks to inspire greater discussion about spirituality and faith in order to encourage students to better their lives and the lives of those around them.

A large crowd

As the event began, additional chairs had to be brought in, but it wasn’t enough to seat the overflow crowd, who either sat on the floor or stood against the walls.

Evert began his talk, acknowledging the large attendance. He said he was happy to see “standing room only of people skipping a hockey game to save your future marriage . . . this is a beautiful thing.”

Around the Diocese

On February 19, 2014

Chris Lee

St. Joseph School in Baraboo expanding to include middle school program

BARABOO — St. Joseph Catholic School is re-establishing its middle school program and has started open enrollment.

During each of the next three years, the school will add one grade level, starting with a sixth-grade class next school year and seventh- and eighth-grade classes added in the two subsequent years.

The school currently offers a daycare, four-year-old kindergarten (4K), and kindergarten through fifth-grade classes. In 4K through fifth grades, the school has a total enrollment of 143 students.

Artículos en Español

On February 19, 2014

Chris Lee

La conciencia debe ser ‘un radar que busca la verdad’


	Esta columna es la comunicación del Obispo con los fieles de la Diócesis de Madison. Cualquier circulación más amplia va más allá de la intención del Obispo.

Queridos amigos:

Hay un gran servicio a la humanidad que se está perdiendo. Se pierde en la sociedad y se trata con guantes de seda incluso en la Iglesia. Este servicio es ayudarse unos a otros para formar y seguir la conciencia.

Tan perdido está este servicio que rápidamente se ha convertido en ilegal. Me gustaría estar hablando exageradamente, pero tristemente no es así. Ayudar a otros a formar sus conciencias significa decir que esto o lo otro está mal. Y decir que ciertas cosas están mal se ha convertido en algo muy peligroso y de hecho, en algo casi ilegal en nuestro país, y ya es ilegal en Canadá.

Sin embargo, siempre y en todos lados está el derecho y la responsabilidad de la Iglesia, y de los padres, y de los buenos vecinos, de ser testimonio de la ley del Señor, hablar la Verdad como está escrita en nuestros corazones, y ayudar a otros a formar sus conciencias.

De hecho, hay pocas cosas que sean más importantes porque, como veremos, es el camino que debemos seguir para buscar y atraer las bendiciones en esta vida y en la vida por venir.