Author: Chris Lee

On
Chris Lee

Where are the vocations?

Cutting Edge by Sr. Margie Lavonis

The shortage of priests and religious men and women in the Church, particularly in Europe and North America, is common these days. Many international congregations like my own, the Sisters of the Holy Cross, are still getting new members, but in countries other than the United States. Many consider it a crisis.

Too often when we speak of vocations we limit that term to mean the call to ordained ministry and the consecrated life. When we pray for vocations, we usually ask God to inspire young people to answer a call to be Sisters, Brothers, and priests. Once in a while we might include the call to lay ministry in the Church, but that is the exception.

God calls each of us

We do not have to look far to find vocations. The truth is that each baptized person has a vocation, not just religious and clergy. By our Baptism each of us is called to share the mission of Jesus. As disciples of Jesus, every Christian is called to reveal God’s unconditional love and to spread that love to others. The next time you are at a Baptism liturgy listen closely to the prayers.

 

Read More
On
Chris Lee

Recall season overlays final legislative sessions

Eye on the Capitol by John Huebscher

A year ago, the first thing the newly elected Legislature did was to adopt its scheduling resolution for the 2011-12 legislative session.

This resolution defined the floor periods during which the Legislature would meet to debate and pass legislation. In so doing, the legislators determined that they would convene for three “general business” floor periods between January 17 and March 15 in 2012, the last day of regular business for the year.

Complicates legislative schedules

When they adopted that resolution, our lawmakers had no way of knowing that their session schedule would mesh with Wisconsin’s first ever recall of a governor and recalls of several state senators. But that is what appears will happen and it will affect what lawmaking takes place in these final floor periods.

Read More
On
Chris Lee

Keep Christmas in our hearts every day of the year

To the editor:

At this time of year I hear about people taking the “Christ out of Christmas.” Why? Because some anti-religious group stops a public Nativity scene. Another is that some people will use the greeting “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas.”

What should really define this time of year for us is the feeling in our hearts. Do we only give gifts to get more? Do we only throw parties for public display? Are we only thinking of ourselves?

Read More
On
Chris Lee

Catholic non-profit groups benefit from Packers’ success

GREEN BAY — Seminarians, Catholic schools, parish budgets, the homeless and hungry will all benefit when the Green Bay Packers take the field Sunday, Jan. 15, in a National Football League playoff game against the New York Giants.

Five hours before kickoff, hundreds of volunteers from all walks of life will begin descending on Lambeau for up to 12 hours of hard, and sometimes very cold work to assure that fans from both teams have food, comfort and plenty of souvenirs to take home.

“It’s a 12-hour day from the time you leave home until you get back home,” said Mike Bushman, who coordinates operations at a 22-man food booth on Lambeau Field’s fourth level for Knights of Columbus Council 5514 of Neenah.

 

Read More
On
Chris Lee

New children’s book series based at Durward’s Glen

BARABOO — If you got a Kindle for Christmas (especially the new Kindle Fire), you might want to consider buying a new book that appeals to the whole family.

A Sunny Day at Spring Pond is the first book in the Spring Pond Series by Baraboo author Pamela R. Quinlan. She developed the idea for her series of children’s books while volunteering as an outdoor tour guide at Durward’s Glen Retreat Center in Baraboo.

Read More
On
Chris Lee

The cardinal Down Under

The Catholic Difference by George Weigel

In the Baltimore of the 1960s, my canny pastor devised a neat scheme for getting “Father Visitor” (as the confessional doors read) to fill in during the summer for his vacationing curates: bring over newly-ordained Australians from their studies in Rome.

There were no language issues (save for those of, er, accent); by the standards of student priests fresh from the Urban College of Propaganda Fidei, the young Aussies were recompensed handsomely and got to see something of the United States; it was win-win, all around.

Thus in the summer of 1967 I met Fr. George Pell of Ballarat, who, with the oils of ordination still wet on his forehead, spent several months at my parish before embarking on doctoral studies at Oxford.

Read More
On
Chris Lee

How we eat is as important as what we eat

The season of celebrating the Nativity of Jesus Christ is complete with abundant opportunities for eating, many from long-held family traditions and others might just be questionable habits we have picked up in our daily struggle to make ends meet and jam another activity into our already over-scheduled daily routines.

What if the old maxim “You are what you eat” also included “You are how you eat”?

A fast-food culture

For instance, when was the last time I ate by myself from a fast-food drive-up window?

Read More
On
Chris Lee

Christmas prepares us for new beginnings

In John 3:16 it says, “For God so loved the world that God gave his only son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish, but might have eternal life.”

Gilbert Keith Chesterton wrote that out of love for us, “The hands that made the sun and stars were too small to reach the huge heads of the cattle and too tiny to change his own clothes or put food in his mouth. To share God’s love, Jesus experienced infant helplessness.”

Scripture tells us that God created us in his image. Since God is love, we image God best when we love. But sin keeps us from loving.

Read More
On
Chris Lee

God’s greatest gift

Cutting Edge by Sr. Margie Lavonis

The present economic crisis can provide us with an opportunity to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas, rather than on the materialistic spirit that often permeates our Western culture.

Since so many people are unemployed or under-employed and many family incomes are shrinking, a lot people will have to limit the type and number of gifts they give. This might be a blessing in disguise. It can provide us a chance to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas.

Sign of God’s great love

Gift giving is a wonderful tradition but too many of us tend to go overboard and often measure another’s love and care by the gifts they give and receive. And some people give gifts out of a feeling of obligation or just because someone gives them one. Many feel embarrassed if a person gives them a gift and they have nothing to give in return.

Read More