Author: Chris Lee

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Chris Lee

When life gives you lemonade . . . you give back to others

Phil Fabian raised over $160 for the Catholic Multicultural Center at his lemonade stand at his Madison home. (Photo/Andrea Fabian)

MADISON — When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. So what if life gives you lemonade?

If you asked this question to Phil Fabian, he would probably respond that you can use it to help others. Phil is a 10-year-old lemonade stand entrepreneur whose goal is to have fun while helping out the Catholic Multicultural Center (CMC) in Madison.

Not a typical lemonade stand

One afternoon in August, Phil’s lemonade stand was open for business, catering to customers looking for a cool treat on a warm summer day. However, this wasn’t your typical lemonade stand.

“People tell me that my lemonade stand is different from other stands because everything I offer is free,” said Phil.

All passing by were welcome to take ice-cold lemonade and choose from an assortment of home-baked goods for free, no strings attached.

Instead of paying for a sweet treat, customers were invited to “pay it forward” and contribute to a free-will donation collection for the CMC.

Lots of visitors

Patrons stopped by the stand all afternoon, many of whom were Our Lady Queen of Peace School teachers and parish staff. A Facebook post by the CMC advertised the event.

Phil and his family were very happy with the turnout, though just running the lemonade stand was an enjoyable experience regardless of how many came.

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Chris Lee

The covenant of marriage

My son Stephen and I recently attended the golden wedding anniversary celebration of my friends Piotr and Teresa Malecki.

It began with a Mass of Thanksgiving in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel of Cracow’s Wawel Cathedral — the place where Piotr and Teresa had exchanged vows on July 4, 1964, kneeling before their old kayaking and hiking friend, the archbishop of Cracow (who, as St. John Paul II, was canonized two months before the Maleckis’ jubilee).

Network of Wojtyla’s friends

Piotr Malecki, Karol Wojtyla’s altar boy at St. Florian Parish and the self-described “enfant terrible” of that network of Wojtyla’s friends known as Srodowisko, is a distinguished physicist.

Teresa Malecka, who had to convince Wojtyla (whom she and others called Wujek, “Uncle”) that she was ready for marriage at age 20, is an accomplished musicologist and the former vice-dean of the Cracow Academy of Music.

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Chris Lee

Christian themes in The Giver

Lois Lowry’s 1993 novel The Giver has garnered a wide audience over the past two decades, since it has become a standard text in middle schools and high schools across the English-speaking world.

With the enormous success of the Harry Potter, Twilight, and Hunger Games films, Hollywood has been busy adapting books written for the young adult audience. The most recent is the movie version of The Giver, produced by Jeff Bridges and starring Bridges and Meryl Streep.

Having never heard of the novel, I came at the film with no expectations, and I confess I was surprised both by the power of its societal critique and its implicit Christian themes.

Seemingly perfect city

The story is set in a seemingly utopian city, where there is no conflict, no inequality, and no stress. The streets are laid out in a perfectly symmetrical grid, the buildings are clean, and people dress in matching outfits and ride bicycles so as not to pollute the environment.

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Chris Lee

Women vicariate meetings in Diocese of Madison

MADISON — Women of the diocese are invited to fall vicariate meetings scheduled at parishes in Spring Green and Jefferson, Sept. 18; Berlin, Oct. 14; Bloomington, Oct. 16; and Pine Bluff, Oct. 22.

Rosa Roper, president of the Madison Diocesan Council of Catholic Women (MDCCW) encourages women to take advantage of these meetings to connect with other Catholic women in their area. The half-day meetings offer prayer, socializing, and service and fit into her theme as president: “Live, Learn, Love, and Share Our Catholic Faith.”

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Chris Lee

Lecture focuses on Pope Francis

Alejandro Bermúdez

MADISON — “Who Is Pope Francis? What Is His mind?” is the topic of the next St. Thérèse Lecture to be presented on Friday, Sept. 19, at 7:30 p.m. at the Bishop O’Connor Catholic Pastoral Center, 702 S. High Point Rd.

It will be presented by Alejandro Bermúdez, author of Pope Francis: Our Brother, Our Friend: Personal Recollections about the Man Who Became Pope.

Bermúdez will reveal little-known insights into the pope’s personality, his interior world, his human abilities, his work habits, his devotions, his concerns, and his friendships.

Bermúdez will open a fascinating door to better understanding the man whom the Holy Spirit called to lead the Church at this time.

Bermúdez is director of ACI-Prensa, the world’s largest Catholic news agency in Spanish, as well as the executive director of Catholic News Agency and the Portuguese agency ACI digital.

Bermúdez is a frequent contributor to the National Catholic Register and Our Sunday Visitor, and he hosts several Spanish programs on EWTN, including Criterios on Radio Católica Mundial.

He was a participant in the pivotal Fifth Conference of the Latin American Episcopal Conference (CELAM) at Aparecida in 2007, where Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio (now Pope Francis) was elected to draft the final document.

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Chris Lee

Revisiting the just war theory

Is there such a thing as a just war? Can the massive death and destruction of armed conflict ever be morally justified by followers of the Prince of Peace?

For the first disciples of Christ the answer was a resounding “No!”

Following Jesus’ command

During the first 300 years of Christianity, it was unthinkable for followers of the nonviolent Jesus to kill a human being.

They took most seriously Jesus’ command: “But to you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other as well. . . . Put your sword back into its sheath, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.”

Typical of early Church teaching on nonviolence, St. Clement of Alexandria said to wealthy Christians, “Contrary to the rest of men, enlist for yourself an army without weapons, without war, without bloodshed, without wrath, without stain — pious old men, orphans dear to God, widows armed with gentleness, men adorned with love.”

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Chris Lee

Arguing about moral matters

In his classic text After Virtue, the philosopher Alisdair MacIntyre lamented, not so much the immorality that runs rampant in our contemporary society, but something more fundamental and in the long run more dangerous; namely, that we are no longer even capable of having a real argument about moral matters.

The assumptions that once undergirded any coherent conversation about ethics, he said, are no longer taken for granted or universally shared. The result is that, in regard to questions of what is right and wrong, we simply talk past one another, or more often, scream at each other.

Red flags go up

I thought of MacIntyre’s observation when I read an article on the Supreme Court’s consideration of the much-vexed issue of gay marriage.

It was reported that, in the wake of the oral arguments, Justice Elena Kagan remarked, “Whenever someone expresses moral disapproval in a legal context, the red flag of discrimination goes up for me.”

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Chris Lee

Resources for voters prepared

MADISON — The Wisconsin Catholic Conference (WCC), the public policy voice of Wisconsin’s bishops, is distributing a series of resources to help Catholics reflect on their duties as faithful citizens.

The series is designed for parish bulletins, but it can also be reproduced on a parish website or as a series of posters.

John Huebscher, executive director of the WCC, explained that the bishops are “modeling the Catholic duty to engage in public life in an informed, consistent, and respectful manner.”

 

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Chris Lee

Reflections on work as we mark Labor Day

Labor Day offers us opportunities to reflect upon the value, blessings, and crosses of work from the perspective of Catholic spirituality. Since we spend much time working and commuting to work, such reflection is important.

In Genesis 1:26 God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” By our work, we honor the gifts and talents we received from God. Our work helps us to co-create with God by transforming creation in ways that benefit humanity, reflect Christ-like values, and bring creation to its completion and fulfillment.

Transforming the world — and ourselves

When we make crutches or rosaries, or write about poverty, we ought to feel good because our work benefits others. When we prepare meals, grow crops, or repair computers, we should be proud because our work serves others.

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