Author: Chris Lee

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Chris Lee

Primary election for Superintendent of Public Instruction

Update: The winners of the primary election February 17 were Tony Evers, the current deputy superintendent, and Rose Fernandez, Wisconsin Coalition of Virtual School Families president. The spring election will take place April 7. To watch or hear the State Superintendent of Public Instruction Candidate Debate, tune in Friday, March 20, at 7 p.m. to Wisconsin Public Television (PBS) or Wisconsin Public Radio (970 WHA-AM Madison or 91.3 WHHI Highland). The debate will be co-moderated by WPR’s Shawn Johnson and WPT’s Frederica Freyberg.

MADISON — On Tuesday, Feb. 17, voters in Wisconsin will be going to the polls for a primary election to narrow down the candidates for the position of state Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Five people are running for this non-partisan position. Two will be chosen to face off in the 2009 spring election on April 7.

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Chris Lee

Marchers oppose abortions in Madison

Dr. Haywood Robinson speaks at rally
Dr. Haywood Robinson speaks to over 800 people attending a pro-life rally held on the Library Mall in Madison to protest a plan to provide second-trimester abortions at the Madison Surgery Center. (Catholic Herald photo/Joe Ptak)

MADISON — Thirty years ago a young doctor finished medical school. He wanted to help people by treating diseases.

In his first year of practice, he began delivering babies. He found it to be an awesome experience.

But to earn some extra money, he also began to perform abortions. At first he experienced uneasiness, but soon it became easier.

Experienced conversion

That young doctor was Dr. Haywood Robinson. He talked about his conversion to the pro-life cause at a rally on the State St. Mall on the University of Wisconsin campus on Saturday, Jan. 31. Over 800 people from throughout Wisconsin attended the rally, many carrying signs such as “What about the baby’s rights” and “Thou shalt not kill.”

After “coming to know the Lord,” Robinson said he now thinks of his payment for performing abortions as “blood money.”

He insisted that doctors “can’t have it both ways.” They can’t take care of pregnant women who want their children on one hand and kill the babies of those who don’t want them on the other.

Read Bishop Robert Morlino’s
statement to UW Hospitals
Authority Board.

Robinson, who is chief of staff at the College Station Medical Center in College Station, Texas, urged the crowd to “hold people accountable” at the University of Wisconsin and Meriter Hospital, which are partners in the Madison Surgery Center. Plans are being proposed to offer second-trimester abortions at the Surgery Center.

“They can’t open a death camp in Madison,” Robinson told the rally.

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Chris Lee

Morality and the military

Fr. Jim Murphy, in his letter in the December 25 edition of the Catholic Herald, argues that Catholics ought not participate in the U.S. military at this time because that participation “would likely involve immoral activity.”

Guest Column

He cites papal and other ecclesiastical opinions that our invasion of Iraq was not moral, conditions at the Abu Ghraib prison, and the holding of people at the Guantanamo Naval Base, the rendition program, the condition of veterans returning from the theater of combat, the existence of nuclear weapons, and the shear size of annual military spending.

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Chris Lee

Bishop Morlino’s statement to UW Hospitals Authority Board

Editor’s note: The following is Bishop Robert C. Morlino’s statement to the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics Authority Board meeting of Wednesday, Feb. 4, at which they were to discuss the topic of providing, along with the UW Medical Foundation and Meriter Hospital, second term abortions at the Madison Surgery Center. The statement was to be read by Msgr. Daniel Ganshert, vicar general for the Diocese of Madison, as the bishop was unable to leave the National Catholic Bioethics Center meeting in time for the meeting.

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen of the UW Hospitals and Clinics Authority Board,

Thank you for affording me the opportunity to offer a few words in regard to your discussion on whether to allow for second term abortions at the Madison Surgery Center. I am sorry that I am unable to be here in person, as I am currently concluding a meeting of the National Catholic Bioethics Center, of whose board I am chair.

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Chris Lee

Conversion happens: One voice can make a difference

Editor’s note: This commentary was written for the bulletin of the Cathedral Parish in Madison for the weekend of January 24 and 25.

Guest Column

What a great feast it is that we celebrate today! Saul, the most ardent persecutor of the Faith, becomes St. Paul, its greatest proponent. That is really something to celebrate . . . for a number of reasons.

For one thing, this feast is a tremendous sign of hope for the Church as she travels through history. In this world, the Church has enemies. But we should look at each of them with the awareness that here may be the next Saul: the greatest enemy can become the greatest ally.

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