Author: Chris Lee

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Chris Lee

Miracles from Heaven and suffering

As any apologist worth his/her salt will tell you, the great objection to the proposition that God exists is the fact of innocent suffering.

If you want a particularly vivid presentation of this complaint, go on YouTube and look up Stephen Fry’s disquisition on why he doesn’t believe in God. (Then right afterward, please, do look at my answer to Fry).

How can God allow suffering?

But the anguished question of an army of non-believers remains: how could an all-loving and all-powerful God possibly allow the horrific suffering endured by those who simply don’t deserve it? Say all you want, these critics hold, about God’s plan and good coming from evil, but the disproportion between evil and the benefits that might flow from it simply rules out the plausibility of religious faith.

The skilled and experienced apologist will also tell you that, in the face of this problem, there is no single, unequivocal “answer,” no clinching argument that will leave the doubter stunned into acquiescence. The best approach is to walk slowly around the issue, in the manner of the phenomenologists, illuminating now this aspect, now that.

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Chris Lee

‘Taste of Divine Mercy’ to be held in Sauk City

SAUK CITY — The Mary, Mother of God women’s group from Divine Mercy Parish will be hosting the “Taste of Divine Mercy: An Adoration Chapel Celebration” on Saturday, April 23 after the 4:30 Mass in the St. Aloysius School gym in Sauk City.

Bids will be taken towards an assortment of foods and a silent auction. All proceeds from the celebration will be geared toward the upkeep of the Adoration Chapel.

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Chris Lee

First thoughts on Amoris Laetitia

On a spring day about five years ago, when I was rector of Mundelein Seminary, Cardinal Francis George spoke to the assembled student body.

He congratulated those proudly orthodox seminarians for their devotion to the dogmatic and moral truths proposed by the Church, but he also offered some pointed pastoral advice.

He said that it is insufficient simply to drop the truth on people and then smugly walk away. Rather, he insisted, you must accompany those you have instructed, committing yourself to helping them integrate the truth that you have shared.

 

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Chris Lee

Council of Toulouse was a local council addressing problem of Albigensian heretics

To the editor:

In his letter responding about the use of Latin in liturgical worship (Catholic Herald, March 17), Tom Roberts wrote, “The Council of Toulouse in 1229 declared, ‘We prohibit also that the laity should be permitted to have the books of the old and new testament’; they were in Latin.”

More information is required lest false conclusions be drawn about the Church. The Council of Toulouse was a local council, held by a local church.  It was not an Ecumenical Council, for the whole Church.

It addressed the problem of Albigensian heretics (aka Cathars), very active in Toulouse, who mistranslated the Latin Scriptures to support their pernicious heresies. When the Albigensianism problem was resolved, the limited edict for that local church was no longer needed.

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Chris Lee

Our Lady of Assumption School holds Spring Fling

BELOIT — On Saturday, April 23, Our Lady of the Assumption School will hold its third annual Spring Fling at La Casa Grande Restaurant in Beloit. This is the major fund raiser for the school, replacing the walk-a-thon several years ago.

Tickets, which include an Italian and Mexican buffet, silent and live auctions, and entertainment by Dueling Pianos, are $45 each, two for $80, or a table of eight for $300.

To purchase tickets, go to the parish website (olabeloit.com) and click on the Spring Fling link or call the school at 608-365-4014.

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Chris Lee

Monsignor Schmelzer to be recognized at St. Philip Church in Highland

HIGHLAND — In honor of the Feast of St. Philip, Fr. Jim Murphy, pastor SS. Anthony and Philip Parish, has scheduled a Mass on Sunday, May 1, at 1 p.m. at St. Philip Church.

At this Mass, Msgr. Delbert Schmelzer, a pastor emeritus in the Diocese of Madison, will be recognized for the 60-year anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood. Monsignor Schmelzer celebrated his first Mass at St. Philip Church in May of 1956.

 

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Chris Lee

Care Team volunteer builds relationships through home visits

cc volunteer
Mary Nellis (right) and her husband, Bob (center), visit Betty Bormett (left) at Bormett’s home in Madison. The Nellises are part of the Parish Care Team through St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Madison and Catholic Charities Madison. Care Team members volunteer to help the homebound or those living alone to preserve a rich and independent lifestyle through home visits and other means. (Contributed photo)

MADISON — “It’s a very personal ministry, taking care of people.”

For the past 10 years, Mary Nellis of Madison has been involved in that “personal ministry.”

She is one of two team leaders of the Parish Care Team at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Madison.

Nellis said the mission of the care team is “to be able to keep [those homebound or living alone] as independent as possible with a little bit of support from the parish and from fellow parishioners.”

Team members offer friendly visits and phone contacts; assistance with shopping, errands, and household tasks; along with emotional support, prayer, and home Communion visits.

“We will go in and bring the Eucharist to them and visit with them,” said Nellis, “and share something from the Mass the previous weekend, or just do a social visit with somebody who is lonely and who would appreciate somebody within the parish coming and just being a friend.”

The team also offers respite, relief, and support to family caregivers so they may rest and relax.

Catholic Charities Madison partners with the team to provide training and on-going consultation.

Getting involved

Nellis said she comes “from a long line of volunteers in my family,” and saw a need to get involved in the care team ministry as her own parents eventually needed respite care and realized some people don’t have anyone to come and check on them.

Her husband, Bob, got involved with the ministry first, and she soon followed.

One of her first partners was a wife suffering from dementia and nearing death.

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