Volume XII, Issue 6

The Gadfly “To persuade and reproach” - Socrates, The Apology

Vol. XII, Iss. VI April 29, 2010

A Man Named Truth “The Truth will set you free,” writes the author of the Gospel of John. Many people do not realize the value of the Truth. Many people are afraid of the Truth, because after all, “the Truth hurts.”

What good is this Truth we hear about? Are you afraid of it?

Some people like to try and live their lives by avoiding pain and suffering; so if the Truth hurts, which at times it does, why not try and avoid it? Fearing the Truth is something that is constantly seen in people who live in one of two extremes: pride and despair.

I am sure that by you reading this, you, like me, are taking part

in the active search for the Truth, or you are wasting your time when you should be studying.

Either way, you must either be 1) Constantly searching for the Truth, or 2) You are suffering too greatly from pride or despair to even give the Truth a fair chance, or 3) Potentially, too caught up in the world to the point that Truth has lost its meaning to you and you are thus numb to the idea, and you simply do not know.

What do you know about the Truth? What is Truth to you?

How do you take Truth and serve it to others? Or rather, do you shove this “truth” down other people's throats? Is the Truth a

subjective experience to you, or rather, an objective reality for us all?

Thankfully, you have the courage to ask these questions, and hopefully you can ask them out loud. You must be courageous to ask for the Truth, the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth.

However, having the Truth and living in it are two different things. One comes from having the Truth to living in it through humility. Humility: the oh-sohappy peace-filled middle path between pride and despair.

Surely, you laugh at the idea of yourself of all people, especially on this campus, suffering from Continued on page 4

A Clean Heart On November 21, 2009, I attended a retreat entitled, "Capture my Heart." The happiness and joy I received from this retreat cannot be expressed through words. As some of y'all know, I am 18 years old and have never had a boyfriend. I often tell people this to receive pity or some sort of praise. My insecurities often take over who I really am as a person.

Along with my insecurities, I also have never thought of myself as being pretty and that was why I had not had a boyfriend. People

would tell me I was pretty, but I would deny it and beat myself up about it. I would cry myself to sleep at times, wishing I looked like a model and not like plain, boring old Olivia Dvorjak. Being gorgeous was something I strived for. However, after this retreat, I've realized that being beautiful isn't about being a stick and having the hottest body or face. It is about how you shine on the inside and out. I could wear the skimpiest clothes and pounds of makeup, but I wouldn't be attracting

men in the right way. Being a beautiful woman is to strive to have an intimate relationship with Christ. After Capture My Heart, I've realized that I AM BEAUTIFUL! And if the world tells me otherwise, they are the ones that are wrong, not me. God made me in His image and to deny that is to deny Him ... I had been longing for a man a lot in the first part of the semester, especially after coming to a school like Franciscan. I just wanted someone to hold my hand and be with me. I would Continued on page 2

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St. Clare, pray for us!

Staff: Michael J. Ruszala (M.J.R.) Amanda LaMuro (A.L.) Tony Leccece (T.L.) Emilyn Haremza (E.H.) Daniel Romeyn Davis (D.R.D.) Maria Cecilia Rocha (M.C.R.) Charles Pobee-Mensah (C.P.M.) Olivia Dvorjak (O.D.) Copy Editor Caitlin Garrett (C.G.) Layout Editor: Rosalie Doudna (R.D.) Business Manager: Anna Tang (A.T.) 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. ** 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

From the Editor’s Desk In the December of 1653, Oliver Cromwell became the Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Ireland, and Scotland. He rose to power by promising a more democratic government than that governed by the rightful monarch, Charles I, but in reality he became the first modern dictator. Although he promised more parliamentary rule, he soon dissolved parliament just as Charles had so frequently done, but at least more dramatically: he swung the traditional emblem of parliament, the mace, around and shouted, “You all are just use-

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force myself to like someone and force myself to picture them with me for the rest of my life. I wasn't putting God first at all.

During the retreat, I prayed for the graces to long for Him. And guess what? He gave it to me! I went back to campus and I wasn't looking at the guys the way I was before. It's incredible. I also asked God for more humility and it is becoming easier for me accept compliments. (So if you say something to me and I don't accept it, yell at me!) My heart has been completely changed, and I have turned a complete 180 degrees. I went to the retreat expecting a lot less than I got out of it ... The moment I got to the retreat, I noticed pink, blue,

less!” One thorn in his side was the dark haired cavalier Reginald de Kettle who smuggled in the Prince of Wales, the future Charles II to England from his exile in the Netherlands, and organized uprisings in Scotland and Wales against the Puritan dictator. Cromwell famously denounced him as “that black dog de Kettle” which everyone found rather ironic.

He was, after all, despot calling de Kettle black.

Enjoy!

green, and white papers on the walls with Bible verses and quotes. Throughout the weekend, I would look at them and read them. But in the main meeting room, there was one verse on a bright yellow piece of paper: Psalm 51, "Create in me a clean heart, O God." I kept staring at it and wanting to cry. HE GAVE ME A CLEAN HEART in the end. He took it for Himself! So, I've come a long way in just three days! Every girl on the FUS campus should go once. God will put the desire to apply on your heart when He feels ready. Just remember, YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL and GOD LOVES YOU. ~O.D.

St. Martha, pray for us!

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Letters to the Editor Dear Editor: David Mamet, an American, is among the most successful playwrights of the last half-century. His writing--especially his dialogue--is superb: it is so poetic that it is practically verse. Mamet’s list of awards and award nominations is staggering.

And most of his plays are saturated with cuss words. Mamet’s dialogue uses profanity to great effect: “Mametspeak” is an attempt to produce “a poetic impression of streetwise jargon” (as several websites tell me), and it simply would not succeed at that, or at poetically expressing Mamet’s vision of the death of the American dream, without extensive use of cussing.

The next time Gillian La Muro feels like denouncing everyone who cusses as an idiot, I suggest that she write to Mr. Mamet and tell him that “he is simply showing the limits of his poor imagination” when he “uses an ob-

scenity instead of using [sic] a truly sophisticated phrase.”

Don’t be Squished.

- Christopher Haas

Dear Editor: In regards to Anthony Cerrato's article on "Sexism that Dares Not Speak it Name," I wanted to make a quick comment. While I do not agree with everything in the article and would personally consider it absolutely awesome if men came back from their manhood retreats with swords, I wanted to thank Cerrato for calling me on. At first I was a little uncomfortable by many of the generalizations made. But so many good points were made that I was forced to reflect on my own actions throughout the day and maybe perform more acts of service myself. So, thank you Anthony Cerrato for making me a more thoughtful person.

Have your say.

notestothegadfly@gmail.com

Professor Quotes of the Week:

~ Alessandra Genoese-Zerbi

The Classics?!

On The Fellowship of the Ring:

[Wisdom] is not made, but is, as she hath been, and so shall she be ever; yea rather, to “have been” and to “be hereafter” are not in her, but only “to be” since she is eternal. For to “have been” and to “be hereafter” are not eternal.

Sam is like the Shire, but moving.

Confessions Book IX, St. Augustine

~Dr. Welker

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St. Etheldreda, pray for us!

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pride or despair. Surely, you are not one of the few and the proud who enjoy their comfort zone and refrain from engaging in out-of-the-box thinking! (After all, you wouldn't want to be called a pagan or a heretic, would you?) Since it isn't you who is suffering from these symptoms, I'll help you identify those who might be.

Pride is a suffering from dogmatism, as Peter Kreeft puts it in Making Sense out of Suffering. In the same fashion, being immersed into despair is a suffering from skepticism. The pride and despair found here are from those who think they know Truth, or the lack of it, like the back of their own hand. The dogmatist will laugh at your questioning his ideas and dogmas. He is always right and can't handle being questioned. He will shun you and attempt to make you look stupid. He insists that you take what he gives you and make it your own because he is right and you won't be right until you believe him. This is “the truth” that he will shove down your throat and arrogantly expect you to enjoy it. He is proud of what he has proposed to you as the one, holy, and objective Truth. The skeptic, on the other

hand, won't waste time on your questions because there are no answers. You can't know anything with enough certainty to live by it, and thus should live your life “freely” and without caution. It doesn't matter what is right and what is wrong; do whatever you want. Though in the end the skeptic is living in despair, he has nothing to hold on to; he is lost, weak, and cowardly, unable to move forward and seek the Truth which, even though it might hurt, will set him free. Being from California, I tend to see a good mix of the proud and the despairing. Both live in fear, fear of the Truth that wants to be a part of their lives.

Don't fear the Truth. Don't make excuses that will “purge” you from your sins. Don't always look for a way out to avoid pain or change. Don't fear change. What is wrong with you?

The souls of the proud and despairing are always running, even though they stand still right in front of you. They fear the Truth and they won't take you seriously—after all, you are just a college student. You come from a family that means nothing to them. Stand up and live in the Truth. Learn about the Truth.

Have you figured out what

the Truth is? God is Truth. God is love. I see friends run from Truth, manipulating it in to some form that will help them and unfortunately, intentionally or not, hurt others. This is not the Truth. The “truth” you manipulate is not the Truth. When the way you are in front of one person is different than the way you are in front of another, you may not be living in the Truth.

The Truth is authentic; living different lives is not. Look for the real Truth; look for the Word Incarnate; look for Jesus Christ, the walking and talking Truth. Jesus Christ was a man of compassion, and He lived in the Truth, so if you want to do the same, imitate Him. It hurts looking into the eyes of an image of Christ, because I see Truth, I see that I messed up and I am in need of the Truth, just like you.

The Truth hurts, but the Truth heals, because the Truth is love.

Never should you expect to shove any Truth down anyone's throat, and at the same time, never revoke the offer to lead one to the Truth. Be authentic; don't be a conformist; live in the Truth.

~Keith Michael Estrada

TELL US WHAT YOU THINK!

notestothegadfly@gmail.com

St. John, pray for us!

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Sinner’s Mass I’m what people at home call a Mass-hopper: I’m “loyal” to the Masses at my parish but depending on my plans and whether I have to serve at Mass, I may go to a 4pm on Saturday, the 11:30 on Sunday and even the 5 or 8pm at the church on the University of Arkansas campus. Growing up, I loved going to the 6pm LIFE TEEN Mass as well. It has been brought to my attention that if I attend Mass on Saturday or latenight Sunday it’s called a Sinner’s Mass. Until I arrived on this campus I had never heard of a Mass time being called a Sinner’s Mass and still find the concept rather…well, un-Christian.

My understanding of the “Sinner’s Mass” is that you go to the Vigil on Saturday night or the late night on Sunday because you were doing something inappropriate Saturday night that inhibits you from waking up at the crack of dawn to go to early morning Sunday Mass. WOW! Talk about a judgment! Here’s my response to this “Sinner’s Mass”…well, “sin”.

ONE: we should NEVER assume that because someone goes to an über early or über late Mass that it was because they were out partying, drinking, or doing something that would keep them from going to the 8:30am Mass. I prefer going to the later Masses, especially in the summer, because I like ending my Sundays with Mass (I can come home, change and get ready for bed—what a great way to end the weekend and to start my Monday!), or maybe when it’s nice outside I can get homework or yard work done during the day-

light hours (it doesn’t make sense to me to get all nice and dressed up to come home and get dirty and take another shower), or maybe I’m traveling that day (I have family 3 hours away and normally I make it a day trip and of course I have to go to Mass so I’ll go the day before). My first point is that maybe I’m going to those Masses because I’m being responsible and making sure I not only go to Mass but get stuff done that needs to get done.

TWO: Isn’t every Mass technically a “Sinner’s Mass”? If we weren’t sinners then would we have a need for Mass? Now, I’m not trying to get theologically deep here (knowing my luck I’d accidentally say something heretical without meaning to); I’m just trying to point out that we all fall short of grace. Rather than judging Catholics who go to later or earlier Masses by saying they go to the “Sinner’s Mass,” shouldn’t we be rejoicing that they are in fact GOING to Mass? Which would you prefer: someone to go to a late Mass or not go at all? (I’m pretty sure we’re supposed to desire our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ to join us in a community of faith. Someone should ask one of the Theology professors for me…)

THREE: If there was a theological problem and a problem with Tradition with people going to late Masses (or early ones for that matter), wouldn’t it make sense that Rome would put a stop to it? Don’t you think we’d be hearing from bishops how we have to say only two Masses every Sunday: one a sun-up and

one at 9:00am? So far, however, I have not heard that homily or received that letter. If you have, please be so kind as to forward it to me or drop it in my box.

FOUR: People have different schedules. At home, the early 9:00am Mass is really suited for families with younger children, and I really don’t care for the screams of kids during Mass (it distracts me from the liturgy and thus defeats the purpose of me going). The 4pm Saturday Mass, while I stomach it, is suited best for those who are pre-Vatican II: Latin, incense, chant music—the works. The LIFE TEEN Mass is at 6pm and is designed that way so that after Mass the teens can go into their Sunday School classes (for lack of better terminology) and it works!

Some people are morning people who enjoy waking up and going to an early morning Mass. Maybe it’s part of your family tradition to go to the 10:00 Mass with pearls. Either way, I don’t really care which Mass you go to as long as you go! I recognize that my mom’s one day to sleep in is on Sunday, and she passed on this little bit of advice to me: if you’re going early and you’re simply going to fall asleep and not be actively participating in Mass, then get the sleep both you and God know you need, and go to a later Mass where you can participate and really be there not only physically, but mentally.

I’m sure God doesn’t care when you show up, as long as you go.

~C.G.

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St. Thomas Aquinas, pray for us!

St. Teresa of Avila, pray for us!

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j|Çx? j|à tÇw jtzzxÜç Rated PG-13 for Mild Use of Common Sense I was watching TV the other day when a preview for the new movie The Bounty Hunter came on. Being a fan of both Butler and Aniston, I watched it but was turned off rather quickly by the content of the preview and figured it to be along the lines of another Butler movie, namely The Ugly Truth. I didn’t care for The Ugly Truth at all: I found it degrading, pointless, and—save for a few funny lines and scenarios— absolutely revolting and worthy of its R rating. I was enraged when I found out that The Bounty Hunter is rated PG-13 for “sexual content including suggestive comments, language and some violence” where as The Ugly Truth is rated R for “sexual content and language”. Are we becoming more lax on our rating system?

I was shocked as well when I found out that UP was rated PG for “some peril and action”. Okay, so it’s not Barney or Thomas the Tank Engine, but seriously? I am sure we all remember the days of the original Land Before Time (for those of you who don’t, this is the original—no numbers attached!). Well, this movie had action and every now and then there was a scary Sharp-Tooth! This movie is widely accepted as G or All Patronages. Now, I’d vote that the elements in that movie are far more scary or violent than the ones in UP. Are we making it harder to create a G rated movie?

It seems that while we are scrutinizing the movies the younger generations are watching (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing), we are simultaneously turning a blind eye to things that 20 years ago would have been deemed R (and probably should still be today). The media is okay with deeming sexual content, drug usage and language as okay for a PG-13 rating. Granted, the more each of these themes occurs, the higher the rating. It seems that today we are lowering the bar for these things and allowing more to enter into those PG-13 movies. Take for instance Transformers II: Revenge

of the Fallen. I adore the Transformers movies, having grown up with them. With the first one, I blocked out the sexual references. By the second, however, I was so distracted by the crass language and lewd behavior that I couldn’t enjoy the movie for the Autobots on the screen. Now that’s not to say I’m a prude when it comes to movies! One of my favorites of all time is rated R and it’s not my favorite because of the language or the drug usage; I think it makes very good points and I love the struggle between characters (in case you’re wondering, it’s The Breakfast Club).

We have this system right now that says it is either PG-13 or R and I think that because filmmakers fear that if they put the appropriate rating of R on some of these movies, they’ll lose moviegoers. That is probably true. I already think twice before seeing an R rated movie, but if more movies came out that were rated R instead of PG-13, we’d have to start making Puritan okay-ed movies. I’m not pro-Puritan because I, like most other girls, enjoy a chick-flick every now and then and we girls know that most of those are not without their scarlet letters.

Maybe we okay those things in movies because we, as a culture, are becoming more desensitized and we can no longer sit through a good ol’ fashioned movie that doesn’t rely on violence, sex and language to make the point clear. Maybe we care so much about the young minds of our children that we don’t want to poison their minds with a G movie that really is more of a PG consistency. My point, plain and simple, is this: if in doubt of movie rating, stay consistent and bump the rating up. Don’t say that movies that should be R are equivalent of PG-13. Maybe one day there will be a rating along the lines of PG-15 or -16 that offers an in between. Until then, I’ll have to settle for vulgar PG-13 movies. ~C.G