The Gadfly “To persuade and reproach” - Socrates, The Apology
Vol. IX, Iss. II September 23, 2008
Fuzzies v.s. Techies Occasionally, in my rare breaks between studying for lab practicals and Microbiology exams, I like to imagine what would happen if Cosmas & Damian and Egan went to war. Against each other. Seriously, think about it! Mobs of frenzied theology majors charging down the stairs, swinging their Catechisms and chanting. Chemistry major cackling maniacally as they mix up huge vats of toxic chemicals. (Cosda would totally win, of course. You liberal arts types might have strength in numbers, but we left-brainers have carcinogenic ink dyes. Not to mention physics lab equipment that could be easily converted into trebuchets.) All daydreaming aside, I actually do recognize that the sciences and liberal arts have a healthy respect for each other’s disciplines at Franciscan.
(Except for this one time where my roommate had an entire Environmental Ethics course laughing at my reaction to her paper on the being of trees, but that’s another story.) What I’m wondering about is the imbalance that currently exists. There are certainly many more philosophy and theology majors than there are biology and chemistry. This is understandable – this school is nationally known for its catechetics and theology programs unlike its complete anonymity in the biology world. There are, however, some substantial deficits in the sciences. There is no physics major, for example, and our engineering major was recently phased out. Is this as it should be, or could things be different? There would be a certain danger, I think, in the school’s
science programs being “too” good. After all, as the sciences improved, Franciscan would inevitable attract some less interested in religion and more interested in excellent MCAT scores. This danger of excellent academics is not as much of an issue in the fields of theology and catechatics, for obvious reasons. It makes sense that the school would focus their student and professor population in the areas in which they are renowned and which promote Catholic culture on campus. There would be a price to this kind of thinking, however, and I believe it would be too much to pay. There is a genuine need in today’s world to evangelize in subtler ways, through the secular work-force, just as there is a need to have well-formed Catholics in the parish Continued on page 6
Does the Church have a say? You can’t force your beliefs on other people. This is a secular country that upholds and protects the rights of all to practice whatever faith they choose to follow. You have your truth and I have mine. Ever hear of the separation of Church and State? Would you want American Muslims to vote their faith and work to enact Sharia law in this country? A recent poll found that 52% of Americans believe that religion has no business meddling in political affairs. The findings mark the first time that a majority of Americans have held such an opinion in the 12-year history of the poll. Political analysts are trying to determine what that means for the upcoming November elections and how it might affect voter turnout and
support for issues such as abortion and gay marriage. Yet I think the broader issue here is whether or not we, as Catholic Americans, agree with the prevailing argument that religion and public life are two separate spheres that should respect and not interfere with each other. We are not talking about establishing Catholicism as the official religion of the United States of America. This is not a discussion of whether or not to work canon law into the Constitution. That is not what the Church is calling for and it is never going to happen anyway, thank God. I am talking about whether or not our religious beliefs, morals and values, should inform and indeed shape our public life and who we choose in the voting booth. Throughout the ages, and especially in the papal encyclicals of the last 100 years
or so, the Church has made her opinion on whether or not she has a say increasingly clear. Some people say that the Church should only be concerned with the supernatural, and of the supernatural the Church is most certainly concerned. Yet the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace in its Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church responds that the “supernatural is not to be understood as an entity or a place that begins where the natural ends, but as the raising of the natural to a higher plane.” In other words, the Church cannot be silent and turn a blind eye to the realities of this world in its mission to shepherd mankind to Heaven. Rather, the mission requires Continued on page 6