Author: Chris Lee

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Chris Lee

Who has a vocation?

Cutting Edge by Sr. Margie Lavonis

During January, most dioceses in the United States celebrate National Vocation Awareness Week.

This is a good time to think about vocations and who has one. Who do you think has a vocation? If you answered that everyone has a vocation, you get an A.

Receiving our vocation

So often we hear people limiting the term “vocation” to the priesthood and religious life. I hear many people, especially parents with children in Catholic schools, complain that we just don’t have enough vocations, but in truth we each received a vocation when we were baptized.

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Chris Lee

Milwaukee Archdiocese files for bankruptcy protection over abuse claims

ST. FRANCIS, Wis. — A year to the day after his installation as the 11th archbishop of Milwaukee, Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki announced January 4 that he had directed archdiocesan attorneys “to file a petition for a Chapter 11 reorganization of its financial affairs under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.”

Milwaukee is the largest archdiocese to file for Chapter 11. The Archdiocese of Portland, Ore., with approximately 390,000 Catholics, filed for bankruptcy in July 2004. In February 2007, the Diocese of San Diego, with nearly 900,000 Catholics, filed for Chapter 11 protection.

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Chris Lee

Llamados a ser luz de Cristo

Esta columna está destinada por el Obispo para los fieles de la Diócesis de Madison. Cualquier circulación más amplia va más allá de su intención.

Queridos amigos:

Al leer esta columna, Navidad estará sobre nosotros y el año del Señor 2010 habrá casi expirado. Al ver el mundo entero, apreciamos la violencia de la guerra y el terrorismo rampante, el hambre en muchos lugares así como la extrema pobreza, vemos a los ancianos sufriendo la eutanasia real o virtualmente, y vemos la masacre de los no nacidos, vemos también el don de la sexualidad humana, orientada naturalmente al amor generoso, malbaratada y usada continuamente para entretenimientos egoístas. Esta no es una “bonita imagen” pero es la cara del mundo que, afirmamos, pertenece a Dios esta Navidad.

Podemos de hecho identificarnos con las palabras del profeta Isaías: somos un pueblo “caminando en la oscuridad… viviendo en una tierra de sombras”. Nada de esto es dicho para borrar la alegría de la Navidad, sino para invitarlos a una aproximación realista para alcanzarla. Isaías dice luego que “quienes han caminado en la oscuridad han visto una luz mayor… y sobre quienes caminan en la tierra de las sombras una luz ha brillado”.

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Chris Lee

Christ bids us to come – and go

Cutting Edge by Sr. Margie Lavonis

I have a ritual I practice on New Year’s Eve or day, depending on what is going on in my life. I take some quiet time to review how God has worked in my life over the past year.

Last year I recalled a journal entry that summarized a talk I still remember. It was given during a day of prayer. The presenter, a wonderful Holy Cross priest, made a simple but profound statement. He said that Christian discipleship can be summed up by two words — “Come” and “Go.”

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Chris Lee

The lasting spirit of Christmas

During World War II near London, on Christmas morning, some lonely American soldiers looked for a Mass to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

As they searched, they discovered an old gray stone building. Carved over the door were the words, “Queen Anne’s Orphanage.” They knocked and a matron came to the door. She explained that the children were orphans whose parents had been killed in bombing raids.

Sharing the Christmas spirit

The soldiers went inside as the children tumbled happily out of bed and hurried into the gray guest room. There were no Christmas trees, crib, or presents.

 

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Chris Lee

An ‘angel’ for the missions every day: Work and witness of Religious Sisters in the Developing World

Propagation of Faith by Msgr. Delbert Schmelzer

In our world today —perhaps in our own lives — there are times it seems that not too much “good news” exists.

We hear of war and natural disasters around the globe. At home, we may be afraid as we face a loved one’s illness, or financial difficulties.

In those moments, we call to mind the angel’s announcement that first Christmas, taking comfort in the message of God’s love, as it supports us every day through life’s challenges.

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Chris Lee

Christian feminity: Living like Our Lady in modern times

With Christmas festivities underway and family gatherings abounding, Christ’s birth is any Christian’s central focus.

Olivia Knier

Surely this focus has brought about some thought on the Blessed Virgin’s important role in the Christ Child’s life.

The simple, yet difficult role she held in His time can hardly be paralleled with such a fast-paced culture as ours is today, can it?

With the role of women in society changing rapidly, it’s easy to lose sight of where women should stand. Involvement of a woman in society today is different from that of Jesus’ time, but still centers around the same characteristic: primary focus of service to the family.

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Chris Lee

Parishioners at St. Bernard’s enjoyed his sense of humor

To the editor:

When he was pastor of St. Bernard Parish in Madison, we were often treated to Bishop George Wirz’s unique sense of humor in getting a point made. Our yearly “money talk” consisted of a three-minute egg timer and however much he could say until it ran out, even when he was stopped mid-sentence!

Always health conscious, he walked in our neighborhood until so many people were stopping him to talk that he had to resort to walking in circles in the church parking lot.

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