The Gadfly “To persuade and reproach” - Socrates, The Apology
Vol. XI, Iss. I September 8, 2009
Franciscan Leftovers Welcome back to Franciscan University, the Catholic university with pep to spare. Smiling faces greet you everywhere you go. It’s cool to go to Mass every day and hard core to do it at 6:30 a.m. Yes, we are all constantly reminded of the unique atmosphere here at Franciscan, and if you’re new, then you probably have been starting to feel this uniqueness for the first time. In fact, if newbies are anything like I was when I first came then they’ll be impressed by how well the University handles orientation and acclimating new students, but even though new students are
given great opportunities to meet each other and are often invited to become involved on campus, there are still those who slip through the cracks. While it is the job of the University to greet newcomers with a sense of welcome it is really the job of us veteran students to actually befriend these students after the excitement of orientation has settled down and the grind of the semester kicks in. Although anyone can feasibly come here as a new student and end up feeling left out, some people are more likely to go from an excited prospective student to a
wallowing Franciscan Leftover. If a student is not particularly outgoing then they may find themselves simply uninvited to events and gatherings. More liberal students will be overwhelmed by the strong conservative thinking on campus. Protestants may keep their mouth shut when points of difference come up in conversation. Although it is true that our campus is filled with people who would always love to invite a new person into their group, our campus is also filled with people who get very close to one another very See “Franciscan Leftovers,” page 5
AMERICAN POLITICS AND THE CHALLENGE OF CARITAS IN VERITATE A seminarian friend of mine warned me a few months ago that a new encyclical was coming out – one that would shake things up and make people feel a little uncomfortable. In Caritas in Veritate, released on June 29th, Pope Benedict hits a number of hot issues on the head with fundamental Church teaching. The document is truly prophetic and magisterial in that the Holy Father powerfully brings the wisdom of God to the contemporary temporal scene shaking up the sleepers – left and right alike.
This document has the potential to change – or at least tweak – how we as orthodox Catholics view the world. To begin, it means that while the right to life is rightly the key issue for Catholics in politics today, Pope Benedict teaches that this fundamental issue builds onto and supports other issues – issues that we may not readily associate it with because of the limits of our American political environment. For example, in Caritas in Veritate, the Holy Father speaks very strongly in terms not only of charity but justice of the political responsibility those nations and individuals with means
in our affluent and technologically advanced times to help provide opportunity for underdeveloped peoples at home and abroad who cannot help themselves. He also emphasizes our responsibility to give reasonable care for the environment as stewards of creation. The Holy Father emphasizes the dignity of the individual human person, but also his need for the help of community and his duty toward it. Thus he teaches that justice isn't just about sticking with your agreeSee “American Politics”, page 4
Page 2
St. Clare, pray for us!
Staff:
Dearly Beloved, We are gathered together to cruel comments you said about
Michael J. Ruszala (M.R.) Amanda LaMuro (A.M.) Tony Leccecce (T.L.) Emilyn Haremza (E.H.) Layout Editor: Rosalie Doudna (R.D.) Business Manager: Charles Pobee-Mensah (C.P.M.) Editor in Chief: Gillian LaMuro (G.L.) ** Please note that the views held in the individual articles do not necessarily express the views of the whole staff. **
celebrate this thing called life! Or so said Prince once before he became the artist formerly know as Prince and was still unashamed of wearing crushed velvet Regency era-inspired clothing apparel…This is a truly horribly way to begin an editorial, but there really is no way back, and for many of you, this is also the case (whew! Did not know if I could turn that one around! Anyway…). You are no longer knowledgeable high school seniors, but meager college freshman and you cannot turn back the clock, my friends. You may be lonely and scared. You may pine for your mother and regret the
her cooking before you knew true fear and were exposed to the dreaded domain known as a the Caf! And let’s not even mention laundry, and may you never have to dance the inside out clean underwear dance! But don’t get low! You can turn this thing around! Right Round! Hey, if a rather tepid song from the eighties sung by an eyepatch wearing transvestite in a band named Dead or Alive can come back as a meg-hit for a beefy rapper with extravagant sideburns in our time, well, anything is possible! Rock it, freshmeat! The Editor
The Man Who Would Be Hahn Interested in joining our staff? Email us at notestothegadfly@gmail.com
~Mission Statement~ The Gadfly is an attempt to “bite the sleeping horse” in the spirit of Socrates. It is a student publication whose purpose is to facilitate discussion concerning campus and cultural issues as they pertain to students of Franciscan University. It aims to be a forum for open, well-thought out, and honest discussion towards the end of knowing and loving truth in its most robust sense.
Advisor: Dr. John White Advisor Extraordinaire
This may come as a shock to you, but I have reached an astounding conclusion. Well, the fact that I have reached a conclusion should not be so shocking but you know what I mean. Anyway, here it is: there is no Scott Hahn. I know, I am as shocked as you are. You see, I have looked at the man behind the myth and have discovered that well…he is a myth. Hahn is a veritable Catholic boogie man told by Protestant mamas to their wee bairns to warn them against reading too much Scripture. A Catholic Iron Man created in the fiery basement workshops of the Vatican to combat the fire-breathing dragon of Protestant literalism. This discovery was at the end of a long investigation and I believe I have a duty to tell of its strange and eerie
truth. It all began in the fall semester of my freshman year when I started attending Franciscan University of Steubenville, a school mainly notable for its strong Catholic background and the typhoon that is Scott Hahn. You see, to those Catholics who tend to home-school and read Chesterton and name their children Patrick, Michael and Joseph or Catherine, Mary, and Anne, or sometimes combination of the three such as Mary Ann or Patrick Joseph and sometimes even Mary Michael, Scott Hahn is a superstar, just below Mother Angelica. Yeah, you have your Jeff Cavins, your Patrick Madrid, your Regis Martin… you know your average apologists, but somehow Scott’s different, man. You listen to his
St. Martha, pray for us!
tapes on your way to piano lessons. You’re marooned with his books in the bathroom and find solace from his soothing words. You find spare copies of A Father Who Keeps His Promises with cola stains on them among the petrified French fries in the minivan when your mother agrees to drive the ratty neighbor kids to the orthodontists when their little sister decided to arrive two weeks early and what’s been good enough for you to drive in for the last three months suddenly becomes “disgusting.” Anyway, what I’m driving at is that Scott’s a celebrity and I for one was very excited to actually speak to him. Well, glance at him in the hallways because he is, after all, Scott Hahn. But after a few months and no Hahn sightings, I began to wonder. I saw that he had an office on the top floor of Egan, but I never saw him in it even when I camped outside of it for two hours with my camera phone so I could send a picture of him to my Mom. (I don’t know why I have to keep explaining this to people. It is not that weird. I knew he gave classes, but no one I knew well had ever taken one with him. The few who had were, for lack of a better word, weird. They seemed (slightly) normal at first, but when asked about Scott, a strange look came over their eyes and they each repeated the same words verbatim to me. “He’s awesome, tough but awesome. I really enjoyed his classes. I hope to take them again.” They would then shake off their reverie and upon their faces would cross a pained, confused expression which could only be compared to the sorrowful eyes of Vietnam War veterans I had known in my youth. Well, the one.
Page 3
His name was Bob and he bore a striking resemblance to Christopher Lloyd. Maybe that’s the look I’m thinking of. Hey, it’s still creepy to start looking like Christopher Lloyd, especially if you’re a girl. Well, anyway, these students were very Manchurian Candidate and I can tell you with the deepest sincerity, it freaked me out. It forced me to question: who was the man who would be Hahn? I mean, flip over an early copy of Rome Sweet Home and see the picture on the cover. Look at that face, isn’t it too perfect. Inspiring, but nevertheless, reassuring, here is a man with whom you could not only debate theodicy, but also invite for Friday night tuna casserole. This is a man who knows the finer tunings of the Pauline letters, yet is as fond of a good pun as the rest of us. Who could forget Mariah Kyrie? Makes me laugh every time. I mean isn’t this all just too round a picture? Isn’t he just too good a weapon in the good fight? To answer these thoughtful questions, I will answer: YES, he is too whole a pie. In fact, he is a composite of all the good things about Catholicism. Convert, check, (sad to say, us cradle Catholics are considered pretty low on the totem pole of high octane Catholicism) beautiful, intelligent wife and kids, check, homeschooler, check (not that I’m biased or anything), groovy beard, check. It’s all there, people. So, there you go, I have just uncovered the biggest Catholic plot since…I don’t know, okay. So you can all thank me later. So as I go call my top secret sources at the Vatican I leave you with this question: do you know who your professors are? (Reprinted)
Don’t be Squished.
Have your say.
notestothegadfly@gmail.com
Professor Quotes of the Week:
“If I was a real ninja . . . I wouldn’t tell you.” - Prof. Sanford
Page 4
“American Politics…”, continued from page 1
-ments in transactions, since a powerful man is still wrong to withhold a just wage from the worker even if the worker agrees. Justice is also seen in what society owes to the individual because of his human dignity as well as what the individual owes to society. This understanding of social justice is rooted in the teachings of St. Thomas and is developed organically by modern Popes including Leo XIII, John XXIII, Paul VI, and John Paul II. Neither the Republican Party nor the Democratic Party can fully hold up to Caritas in Veritate. This past January, Rush Limbaugh gave one of his best talks, presenting a passionate televised defense of American conservatism and rugged individualism – even how it will help the poor. But I cannot fully agree with him because, as Pope Benedict teaches, we are not and ought not be fully “self-made men,” but need the help of others and the community. As the Pope teaches, the free market has its limits when it comes to bringing about true human development. On the other hand, I cannot vote for any pro-choice candidate because this reveals a major philosophical distortion and cooperates in evil. The Democratic Party tends to emphasize concern for the underprivileged, but the party does this from a very defective philosophy of man with a skewed understanding of human progress and underdevelopment. From this, they have fostered a radical social ideology championing fabricated “rights” that themselves violate the natural law – such as “a woman's right to choose” and the “right” to gay marriage – and elements in the party further try
St. Radegunde, pray for us!
to impose these ideas on the public conscience in moral terms and by way of social engineering. Caritas in Veritate warned about such phony “rights,” phony moral language, and improper understandings of human progress. We find ourselves in a political dichotomy with different issues important to the Catholic conscience – the individual and the community – championed in part by opposing sides. In this environment, if we stick with the two major parties – and I think we should at the time being since We find ourselves in a unique they are the ones shaping Amerilaboratory here at Franciscan can government and politics – we University—a microcosm and are forced to make our choice magnification of the Christian based on what is more fundamenconfrontation with secular culture tal. In order to get community right, first we have to get man as an individual right – and his most basic right is life. But this dichotomy exists largely because of a shift that took place in the 60's. As Obama writes in Audacity to Hope, prior to the 60's, the two parties were concerned not so much with battling for the social framework of American culture as with fiscal concerns – i.e. the interests of business (GOP) and the interests of workers (DNC). Most Catholics were Democrats since the Church stood up for the little guy. But with the Civil Rights movement came a shift in politics from primarily fiscal issues to more blatantly morally-charged social issues. As even Obama admits, after rightly championing the cause of Civil Rights, the Democrats started to attract every kind of “disenfranchised” person and became thought of as the party of hippies and social rebels. I would personally argue that their lack of philosophical rooting left them
unable to distinguish between the truly needy and those who should be encouraged to change their lifestyle – a lack of discretion that Obama himself seems to share. Meanwhile the GOP, lead by Reagan, stood against the hippie mentality by encouraging moral values, respect for authority, and personal responsibility – including responsibility for the care of the unborn. That's where we find ourselves today and that's why so many orthodox Catholics were right to switch their party affiliation from Democrat to Republican some decades ago. But this also leads us to wrongly associate being Pro-Life with the whole gamut of right wing politics. The GOP is right about a lot of fundamentals about the individual – but not fully, because it tends to limit the importance of the community for the individual. So what is the Republican Party to do? Toward the end of Bush's term, the Republican Party moved toward the center. McCain lost. Some pundits argued that voters associated him too closely with Bush. Others – i.e. Rush Limbaugh – argued that voters associated him too closely with the Democrats. According to Limbaugh, the GOP historically wins elections by driving deep right. Pragmatically, he may be right about that. But just because something “works” in politics doesn't mean it conforms to the truth about man or that it always has to be that way. Republicans and Democrats both oversimplify the world. Also, just because the Democrats are right about the need in justice to help the underdeveloped doesn't necessarily mean they have the best solutions to offer. As Pope Benedict warns in See “American Government,” page 5
St. John, pray for us!
Page 5
“Franciscan Leftovers,” continued from page 1
quickly. People cling into tight knit groups of friends and can often overlook someone who is lonely, not because they don’t want them included, but because they don’t realize that they don’t have their own group of friends yet. You’d be surprised how many people simply assume that that new person they’ve met must have a group of friends that they hang out with, but this is simply not always the case. What can we do about it? Ask. If you meet someone new on campus try and throw that question into the conversation. You may find that more people than you would have realized don’t have plans this weekend, or a group of friends that they can count of for support. If
you’re a new student then speak up. Very few of us would think it rude or impolite for you to invite yourself into our group when you don’t quite have one yourself. It is really the thing that we would do ourselves if we noticed the situation in the first place. As our school increases in size with every new incoming class Franciscan will also have a greater number of students who don’t fit the typical mold of the school. This University can be an intimidating place for someone who isn’t used to the lifestyle of the school, and a lonely place for someone who doesn’t find the right friends at first. Though orientation will be a great time for most new students to meet people, many of them will find them-
selves hanging out with a totally different group of people even a month after orientation is done and over with. That’s a big social shift for a growing university. So, do your part and help let our new students’ biggest concern be classes and homework, not finding someone to relax with when the weekend comes.
“American Government,” continued from page 4
focusing power on the units of society closest to the individual – i.e. family, church, and local government – and encourages grassroots cooperation and empowerment rather than simply government money and centralized control. If the Republican Party is to make a successful transition to moderate conservatism, I believe they should make a niche for themselves by doing something truly unique. Moderates should stop following Democratic lead on social issues because that will lead towards the same philosophical pitfalls the Democrats are in, and – just as Rush Limbaugh says – it won't give voters much reason to vote for Republicans over Democrats. What they need to do is to genuinely work to solve social issues by offering real and viable alternatives rooted
in a solid natural law foundation, balancing both the individual responsibility inherent in the tradition of American conservatism with the communal solidarity that makes it whole. There is definitely precedent for this in the party. Look at George W. Bush's “compassionate conservatism” on faith-based initiatives, AIDS in Africa, and Mexican immigrants, and John McCain on campaign finance reform and health care reform. Both politicians lost public support largely over other issues, but in the wake of a likely failure on the part of Obama to succeed on the economy and nationalized health care, Republicans may have a window of opportunity in coming elections for the birth of real “change” – through compassionate conservatism. ~M.R.
Caritas in Veritate, when a society – or in this case a party – supports abortion while at the same time working to help the poor, they are apt to misunderstand the real need of the poor man qua human. And that's precisely what's happening. For example, while making health care more affordable and giving poor people access to it is a noble goal, nationalized health care centralized under the watchful eyes of pro-choice social engineers is probably not the best way to go about it. Also, fostering a centralized government bureaucracy and paternalistic dependence on the government offers little incentive for the poor to raise themselves up as befits their dignity. These tendencies go against the principle of subsidiarity as taught in Caritas in Veritate, which upholds individual responsibility by
~C.P.M.
Page 6
St. Thomas Aquinas, pray for us!
St. Teresa of Avila, pray for us!
Page 7
j|Çx? j|à tÇw jtzzxÜç Beating People Over the Head I have been a Catholic now for almost three years, and in that time, I have yet to hear even one homily preached about hell, or the extreme danger of hell that comes with being human. Now, this is very odd considering that there is more about hell from the lips of Jesus than anywhere else in the Bible combined. If Christ was so concerned about hell, why are we not? Christ felt the need to explain this doctrine to his apostles who gave up all they had to follow him. Of course, it is not only hell that is hardly ever preached about, but it is anything "hard" or "negative" like judgment, homosexuality, contraception and so on. For this article, though, let us stick to the example of hell. Whenever the question is raised, "Why aren't hard teachings like hell talked about?" the answer is usually something like, "Well it's not good to 'beat people over the head' with that kind of stuff", or "If we talk about that kind of thing people will just 'put walls up'." We use metaphors like this because we live in a time that worships the ego, and counts sensitivity as one of the highest virtues. Thus, as soon as we hear anything challenging we "put walls up", and to teach someone
hard truths that could possibly damage there ego is considered committing the grave sin of "beating some one over the head" with the truth. The consequences of this ego worship have been neglected teachings, a warped belief in heaven and hell, and tepidity. Of course, many Christians "say" they believe in heaven and hell, but do we believe it the same way Christ taught it? Do we believe that "The gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it" (Mt 7:14)? Do we believe that "neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor boy prostitutes nor sodomites nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Cor 6:9-10), or do we take the philosophy of entitlement that lurks in the air of our times and believe heaven is a given? Whenever someone dies we almost always hear, "So and so is in a better place now". Really? How do we know that? We should never presume or despair that any soul is in hell, but we should also not presume that everyone makes it to heaven. This is why the Church has always suggested that we pray for
the dead and beg for Gods mercy. Where I come from we do not pray for the dead who need our prayers. We assume they are in heaven. Love of God and a fear of hell are what guard us against lukewarmness. If we truly believe, as the Church teaches, that if we die in a state of mortal sin we forfeit heaven and suffer the pains of hell for all eternity, and keep this before our minds often, how likely are we to continue in mortal sin? St. Alphonsus Ligouri wrote, "To know we must die, that after death will depend eternal happiness or misery, and still refuse to take every possible means of securing a happy death, is surely the extreme of foolishness", elsewhere he writes, "How right are the decisions, how correct the actions of the person who judges and acts with the fact of his death in mind." Many people will say that hell is not preached about because we shouldn't be righteous out of fear of hell, but because we love God above all things. I say Amen to that, but for the rest of us who are not yet perfected in love, it doesn't hurt to get the hell scared out of us every now and then. Literally. ~ T.L.
TELL US WHAT YOU THINK!
notestothegadfly@gmail.com