Author: Chris Lee

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Chris Lee

Preventing teen suicide both in community and home

Ask DMU

After the 13 Reasons Why debut that dramatizes the reasons behind one teen girl’s suicide, there has been a significant amount of discussion regarding teenage suicide and preventing such actions.

Some authors have debated whether or not the Netflix series will harm or help adolescents when navigating both their own and their peers’ feelings regarding this important topic.

Here, however, I wish to discuss ways that you can identify whether or not your teen (or an adolescent you know) is at risk for taking their life, and then what you can do to help.

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Chris Lee

Memorial Day reminds us to work for peace

In Vietnam, Brian Rooney, an Army medic, knelt to read a dying soldier’s dog tags. As he did, the soldier whispered, “Remember me.” Rooney promised that he would remember him.

He certainly did. According to the May 23, 2003, Los Angeles Daily News, Brian Rooney spent thousands of his dollars and hundreds of hours memorializing and remembering America’s war dead.

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Chris Lee

Bishop Morlino explains the ‘moral evil’ of surrogacy

moral theology bishop morlino
Bishop Robert C. Morlino gave a talk on the “Ethics of IVF and Surrogacy” at Holy Family Church in Waterloo on May 18. Here he is pictured with Fr. Jorge Miramontes, pastor. (Photo by Laura Karlen)

WATERLOO — Fewer areas of ethics have become more complex than those surrounding reproductive technologies. How can the Catholic faithful begin to recognize the problems with advancements such as in vitro fertilization, artificial insemination, and surrogacy and truly understand the Church’s position?

It takes a good teacher. On Thursday, May 18, Bishop Robert C. Morlino drew on his doctoral studies in Moral Theology and specialization in bioethics to teach on the issue of surrogacy at Holy Family Catholic Parish in Waterloo.

Surrogacy agency

In early 2016, an existing surrogacy agency, Pink & Blue Surrogacy and Fertility LLC, moved into a storefront on the main street in Waterloo. The agency matches intended parents who desire a child with a surrogate mother, a woman who is contracted and compensated to carry a child —usually conceived through in vitro fertilization — for the intended parents.

At first glance, Bishop Morlino said this can sound like an “act of charity” on the part of the surrogate mother, who is enabling a couple to bring home a baby. But, a closer look reveals surrogacy’s “moral evil.”

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Chris Lee

History lessons of Our Lady of Fatima

This past week, we celebrated the 100th anniversary of the first apparition of Our Lady to a group of shepherd children near the Portuguese town of Fatima. The series of Fatima appearances — lasting from May until October of 1917 — is one of the most extraordinary in the history of the Church.

It has also beguiled political and cultural commentators outside the ambit of the Church, and it is this wider implication that I would like to explore.

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Chris Lee

Mother of Perpetual Help Icon to visit Redemptorist Retreat Center

OCONOMOWOC — The Redemptorists are celebrating the 150th Jubilee of promoting devotion to the miraculous Icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help — one of the most beloved images of the Mother of God in the worldwide Catholic Church — and offering a special novena and opportunities for private veneration at the Redemptorist Retreat Center in Oconomowoc May 28 to June 10.

The faithful in the Diocese of Madison are welcome to venerate a Jubilee Missionary Icon commissioned for the Jubilee Year from 8 a.m. until 9 p.m. Redemptorist Retreat Team staff also will lead a nine-day novena at 7 p.m. on May 30 to June 7.

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Chris Lee

How to preach like the Apostles

I have always loved the Acts of the Apostles and have often recommended it to those who are approaching the Bible for the first time. Filled with colorful narratives, adventure, martyrdom, persecution, journeys by sea, etc., it makes for stimulating reading indeed.

But I love it especially because it shows us the excitement of being a follower of Jesus. Long before there were parishes and dioceses and the Vatican and other institutional structures, there was this band of brothers and sisters who were so overwhelmed and energized by the fact of the resurrection that they went careening around the world and to their deaths with the message of Jesus.

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