The Gadfly “To persuade and reproach” - Socrates, The Apology
Vol. XIII, Iss. II October 7, 2010
Is Mary Coredemptrix Ecumenical? One of the cries those who promote the fifth Marian dogma of Mary Coredemptrix, Meditraix of all Graces, and Advocate of the People of God so often hear tirelessly repeated is that this dogma is somehow against the ecumenical mandate of the Second Vatican Council. We are often told that to promote such Marian "maximalism" is excessively offensive to Protestant Christians. I thought it would be helpful to clarify why exactly the opposite is the case. And I am not going to merely parrot the usual response that ecumenism authentically understood means uniting all Christians and all persons into the one Body of Christ, that is the Catholic Church. In a recent class for Mary in the Modern World, we discussed the need to reiterate publicly the Catholic
belief that we are all called to be coredeemers in Christ; the dogma of Mary Coredemptrix will help drastically in bringing Catholics back to the understanding of redemption precisely by clarifying authentic Catholic dogma on coredemption. Coredemption presupposes, as well as further preserving and safeguarding, the universal Christian belief in redemption. The Refomers such as Martin Luther and John Calvin, among others, all believed that the Catholic Church was so corrupt because of false medieval accretions that they sincerely wanted to go back to the clear teaching of the Gospel about the centrality of the Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Basic Reformation principles are sola fide, we are saved by faith in Jesus Christ alone; sola gratia, that we are saved
by the grace of Jesus Christ alone; solus Christus, that Jesus Christ alone saves us; sola Scriptura, that the Bible alone is sufficient for salvation; and solus Deus gloria, that God alone is to be given all glory. Interestingly, even as Catholics we might do well to return to these fundamental principles. While they are clearly heretical and incomplete in and of themselves, therein are contained many truths which are forgotten, neglected, and even—sadly—explicitly rejected by not just many Protestants but even a good number of Catholics today. Apart from the "alone", these teachings are all legitimate and totally true Catholic doctrines that are tragically being undermined in the years since the Second Vatican Council. Authentic Protestant Evangelicals and Fundamentalists who believe Continued on pg 6
Love Me, Don’t Judge Me I've come not to hold your Frannie hands, but to invite myself to become a vessel of accountability through writing... of course. Fellow students, must I resort to being blunt about things? I thought at one point in time I could approach things in a more civilized and passive manner. Obviously, I've been driven to this new method of discourse, which leads me to be a little bit more direct than usual. For
those of you who have been patient, who have been understanding, who have been able to entertain differing opinions, thank you. Please pardon my potential rudeness when I say the following: some of the biggest fences people have to jump and trip over to reach the truth and love that our Church has to offer consists of our fellow students.
I ask, can you entertain the thought of being held to a higher standard, a standard set higher than those of other college students who are not followers of Christ? If the answer is no, please refrain from wasting your time reading this article, which will probably only upset you, and unfortunately fail at helping expand your intellectual capacity. If yes, good pagan, please continue (To you pagans on campus, reading.) Continued on pg 5
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St. Clare, pray for us!
Staff:
From the Editor’s Desk
Tony Leccece (T.L.) Daniel Romeyn Davis (D.R.D.) Keith Michael Estrada (K.M.E.) Maria Cecilia Rocha (M.C.R.) Riza Norton (COR) Michael Andreola (M.A.) Olivia Dvorjak (O.D.)
Layout Editor: Kimberly Doudna (K.D.)
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day. Editor in Chief: Gillian LaMuro (G.L.)
Enjoy! ** 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
The Perspective on a Definition Words are flexible. Like it or not, society has seen words develop and evolve, yet we still get hung up on what these quaint little symbols originally meant. In fact, it causes enough of an issue with some that we argue over what the words mean. To a great degree, it becomes so outrageous that it seems quite pointless, and there is one such word that has created a lot of strife as of late. The word I want to bring up is “Marriage.” In today’s society, it has become, as George Orwell would say, one of the “Meaningless words.” As Catholics we obviously do not think of marriage as a meaningless word, or institution for that matter. We can see this in our fervor over the homosexual marriage debate over in California, which has caused all sorts of hate rather than the love associated with marriage. I will put aside all the factors that have caused same-sex couples to want marriage as well. What I want to focus on is the word marriage
itself and why I think we need not be hung up on a single word. I am not saying that marriage is lessened in the Catholic sense or is made weaker from my own perspective, but what is key is to understand how others view marriage. Starting straight from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, (CCC) Paragraph 1601 describes the sacrament of Marriage as that “which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life, this covenant between baptized persons has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament.” Now, I know that many Protestants do not keep to such a definition of marriage. We, as Catholics, do not think of Marriage as a “purely human institution” (CCC Para. 1603). Though the world does think that marriage is a human institution, that does not matter either since the world is not subject to the Church’s authority. With this premise set how can we expect the Continued on pg 7
St. Martha, pray for us!
In regards to your advertisement: "[I followed your directions and from] north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought there were so many in the whole country as were brought together by that single advertisement. Every shade of color they were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real vivid flame-colored tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found ourselves in the office.
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Don’t be Squished.
Have your say. "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn came the little man was much more favorable to me than to any of the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he might have a private word with us. "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is willing to fill a vacancy in the League.'
notestothegadfly@gmail.com
Professor Quotes of the Week:
"'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my success. "'It would be injustice to hesitate,’ said he. ‘You will, however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the manager. "
Just thought you should know the position has been filled,
Many thanks, Mr. Jabez Wilson
Actually, Dirty Harry was a fan of ceramics. What he really said was, "go ahead, punk, bake my clay!" ~ Dr. Holmes
notestothegadfly@gmail.com
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St. Etheldreda, pray for us!
An Unnecessary Evil Profanities and expletives aggravate the ears, but stereotypes such as ‘nerd’ and ‘geek’ ought to aggravate the ears a little bit too. These contemptuous terms see too little of the person they artificially label. Most of the time when we label others with such stereotypes, the problem usually lies not in the other person but within ourselves. Whenever someone excels in the same areas that we do, or in areas that we do poorly in, we may support them or be envious of them. If we are envious, then we have sparked a war of words. Name calling is the most common war tactic in the war of words. This ad hominem argument attempts to destroy the other’s name in ignominy while bolstering one’s own. These slanderous debates usually sound quite juvenile due to the fact that they often involve callow and shallow words. Yet we feel empowered by sharpening words with our tongue. Unfortunately, this war of words has paralyzed the minds of men so much that our language is shrinking. We have become so accustomed to argue and debate with an overly simplified vocabulary, that when one ventures outside its limits, he or she is deemed, simply, a nerd. These name-callers could at least jazz things up a bit with a robust vocabulary and resurrect a type of neoShakespearean name-calling: then nerds could be avant-garde, highbrowed, ostentatious intellectualists.
Our generation does not use the term ‘intellectuals.’ The pinnacle of intellectuals has been renamed the pinnacle of ‘nerdiness’ – what every studious college student aspires to. Even old Webster found it necessary to also define a ‘geek’ as a computer nerd. While the term ‘nerd’ has become trendy, it still holds us in contempt for being intellectually good at what we love to study. It seems that namecallers wish to hide nerdy talent so as to keep an even distribution of talent where are all equally talented. It is feared that too much intellectual development infects one with the nerdy virus, causing an epidemic transformation from human to Vulcan, that emotionless and rationalistic creature. Thus, nerds and geeks are held in contempt for lacking a social life. It is believed that to have a social life we must do anything but read. Reading magazines, the comics, or blogs are acceptable, but reading substantial critical works are found burdensome, enigmatic, and monotonous. Such reading is seen as trivially straining the self. Nerds who read a good critical book and then try to talk about it are usually told to “get a life.” It is understood that if a nerd only reads and does nothing else, then yes, his recluse existence needs to partake in other available joys of life, but do not force him to completely give up his life filled with the joy of reading in order to “get a life.” For those nerds that love language and are under attack, they can easily fall prey to the trap of arrogant, haughty, lofty language. The lofty language war
tactic among nerds is a weak dichotomy that attempts to defend themselves, the “smart” ones, from the so called “dumb.” Educated bookworms not only read voraciously, but if provoked, will bite their opponent with sharp words. What was seen as an emotionless and lifeless creature suddenly attacks with lofty words, but unfortunately with lack of humble grace and noble character. This war tactic intends to lampoon the enemy, but in the end it only makes the defender a big buffoon. Yes, we the educated can fall victim to prideful arrogance just as easily as Name-callers, but that is no reason to shun language. A healthy language articulates a healthy self. The problem with the war of words is that it is all too busy shouting sharp words of accusation rather than taking a good look at ourselves. Are we afraid that we are going to look at ourselves and see Edwards Munich’s The Scream? Is a world where talents are not evenly distributed somehow grotesque? Must we all be the same? The war of words is us screaming, yelling, and howling. Something in the self hurts. Interpreting our cries is no small task. The right words will eventually come. Language is not a burden, but a key to peaceful resolutions.
~R. G.
Pop Culture Seminar Quote: "Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock." The Third Man (1949)
St. John, pray for us! Continued from pg 1
Let me try to jump this first fence. Allow us to entertain the idea of loving our neighbors, all of them. Yes, let us love the Christians (including the Protestants), the Jews, the Muslims, the Atheists, the Agnostics, the confused, and the others. I would dare say that we are called to such an action of loving our neighbors, all of them. So what is the problem? Well, we either don't love, or are selective about whom we love, which is pretty much the same thing. I would argue that aside from the forced conversions that we find in our Church's history, we have remained a strong institution by the way we love, not only one another, but the ones without faith among us. Allow me to proceed towards a second fence. It is white and short, and I have tripped. Ah yes. The judgment is so thick here, I could take a bite right into it. (Delicious? I think not.) It has reached the level of absurdity that it has become quite obvious that it is fear driven. If only it was something as simple as judging someone’s manner of appearance. I thank Allah for the blessing of not having any homosexuals, especially those who are not ashamed of who they are as
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people, here on campus. We offer enormous tuition discounts for locals, and oh my goodness, it is glorious to know that the amount of Muslims in the local area is quite small. You would judge the goodness out of them. I miss my gay and Muslim friends, would they survive here? Do you care? Or is it your intention to suffocate them? The third fence involves our inter-clan judging. This poor fence has judgment written all over it and is accompanied by the names of many familiar households on campus. I am referring to those of you who try to judge the spiritual life of other people on campus. I did not know that that God took a break from that and let you fill in. You say you do not condemn the 'bad' but merely choose to hang out with and uplift the 'good' on campus? Is there not a little judgment involved in this? This is not merely reserved to spiritual, but also intellectual judging. Allow me to provide one simple suggestion: next time you threaten me, offer me anything, or desire something of me like my blood at a blood drive (to you blood Nazis out there), realize that I will probably say no, or no thank you, or not today, out
of the kindness of my heart and respect for you in your position to recruit for some sort of activity. If you ask me to “pray about it,” please, don't be shocked if I throw a textbook at you, or tell you to shut up. Why don't you pray about being alleviated from your stupidity? The next time I entertain the idea of and promote the excellent aspects of an ideal, like Socialism, please don't condemn me to hell. First, read a book on it, then discuss: you're good at that! Learn the difference between holding someone accountable and judging, thank you. The last fence is coming, and I'm running towards the good, the true, the beautiful, and you bet someone here is going to trip me. My hope in men is usually destroyed by men. We really get way ahead of ourselves here, as we “call men to holiness.” Let us instead 'call men to common-sense and maturity' first. I know that's asking a lot, but if we lower our standards we have all but given in.
~K.M.E.
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wholeheartedly in Jesus Christ alone, in the power of His Cross, in the necessity of Redemption, in the necessity of Grace, should and definitely would find great brothers and sisters in Christ amongst deeply Marian "maximilalist" Catholics who equally wholeheartedly promote and defend Mary Coredemptrix. We who believe in coredemption equally wholeheartedly believe in redemption. We who believe in Mary Mediatrix equally wholeheartedly believe in Jesus the one Mediator between God and men. We who believe in the Mary's universal mediation of all Grace equally wholeheartedly believe in the necessity of the Grace of Jesus Christ. We who believe in the beautiful Marian interpretations implicit in Scripture (as St. Bonaventure says, every page of Scripture is filled with Mary), believe just as wholeheartedly in the inerrancy of Scripture. Catholics who support Mary Coredemptrix are thus just as fanatical and passionate and in love with the very things Fundamentalists, Evangelicals, and anyone who truly holds to the original, authentic Protestant teachings are so much in love with...namely, Grace, the Cross, the Bible, and above all else Jesus Christ Himself! We who desire with all of our hearts for Mary to be given Her crowning glory in Heaven when this fifth Marian dogma is proclaimed, are just as desirous as any serious Protestant to give all the glory to God alone...What we know, and sadly what they don't yet know, is that acknowledging, celebrating, and rejoicing in Mary's role and truly Her glory in Heaven, only gives all the more honor and glory to God Himself! Acknowledging what God has done in and through His highlyfavored Daughter, Mary, only gives Him all the more glory! To deny or in any way diminish the glory that has rightly been given by God to Mary, would also sadly deny God His due honor and glory. To not promote the fifth Marian
St. Thomas Aquinas, pray for us!
dogma on ecumenical grounds is to fundamentally misunderstand not merely ecumenism itself, but Christianity itself. Christianity is based on the Cross and on Redemption. And Marian maximalism is merely based on Mary's specific role always with and under Jesus both at the Cross and in Redemption. Mary never takes away from authentic Christianity and love for Jesus, but infallibly brings her sincere lovers and slaves ever closer to authentic Christianity and love for Jesus. In this way, sincere Protestant Christians who love the Cross and love Christ are much more fundamentally united to Catholics who are just as passionately in love with Mary Coredemptrix... clearly much more so than are lukewarm Catholics who no longer even believe in the Cross nor in the necessity of Jesus Christ for salvation. It is indeed ironic that often those who are united in their similar passion and love are equally estranged and disunited out of dissimilar passions and loves. But let us trust that Mary Coredemptrix, when (not if) she is solemnly defined by the Vicar of Christ in her fifth Marian dogma, will sow these seeds of unity which are already very much implicit amongst both fervent Protestants and fervent Catholics. Clearly we who desire to imitate the Martyr of Charity, St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe, in giving our entire lives for the Immaculate, are already very much united with those who give their entire lives to Christ alone. The Catholic apologist Peter Kreeft in an interview he gave with Ignatius Insight told a very pertinent reallife story that beautifully illustrates this very point: "Why would any Catholic think for even a minute that a fundamentalist, who believes in God,
the divinity of Christ, the physical resurrection, creation, the Fall, original sin, the need for salvation, repentance, a real moral law, miracles, heaven, and hell, would be more of a problem to the Catholic Faith than a secularist who believes in none of these things? No matter how stupid, bigoted, and angry the fundamentalist person may be, and no matter how sweet, open, honest, personable, and loving the secularist person may be, if we are comparing beliefs rather than personalities, we are comparing a ¾ full glass with an empty one. A few years ago I had lunch with a fairly famous Catholic writer (I forget his name), who said he liked one of my books about heaven; but I got the distinct impression that he didn’t want to distinguish between believing and not believing anything. I remember asking him a simple question like, “Do you believe that there really is a heaven and a hell?” and getting a Clintonesque answer (Basically, “It all depends on what you mean by ‘is.’”) I then went to my office and was confronted by a Fundamentalist evangelist who tried to convert me away from the Whore of Babylon because he had a “burden” for my “salvation.” I could not convince him that Catholics were Christians. When he left, I thought to myself, “I feel closer to this poor stupid man than I do to the famous writer, because at least the fundamentalist believes there is a heaven and a hell, and at least he cares enough about me to want to save me from hell.”
~Edward Abdallah
St. Teresa of Avila, pray for us! Continued from pg 2
world, specifically homosexuals, to see Marriage the same way we do? Many Catholics do not see Marriage the same way the Catechism has dictated. The marital covenant is an agreement within a marriage toward a completion of love where a man and woman become one flesh. The divorce rate is quite high, as we all know, even among Catholics. We can say that fallen humanity accounts for that, yet as Catholics we are held to a higher standard, a higher truth. So in reality, even Catholics struggle with the actual ideal that we identify with the word Marriage. Ok, sure, maybe I might be committing a heresy here by saying we should disregard the word Marriage and that we should keep letting the homosexuals marry and, as the CCC states, homosexual marriages are “disordered.” Yet for some reason this translates to a necessity for perpetually bashing homosexuals and attacking the fact that they want to be married? Yes, I know it is a sin, but do they even have a real concept of sin beside something that is supposedly a “bad” thing in their book?
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The thing that I am trying to point out, even if it does seem a bit strange and new, is that people don’t see things in black and white or even shades of gray like Catholics do. Our perspective is our own, just as the perspective of homosexuals is their own. The thing that I would like to see more from Catholics is to have them “accept with respect, compassion, and sensitivity” (CCC Para. 2358). And sure, this isn’t just with Catholics, but with Protestants as well as far as discriminating against homosexuals. I am not saying that we have to accept their sin, but that we have to be tolerant of the way they are, because it is only true Christian action that will provide real conversion. It seems as soon as you mention the word “tolerance” it means that you “accept” too, which again shows how words have lost their meaning today. Again this is a flaw of logic in the general public’s outlook as well as that of many Catholics. What I am asking is for Catholics to get out of the box and just be kind to homosexuals, rather than tearing down who they are. Last time I checked, Catholics weren’t about tearing down
others. Sure, they may get the government privilege to marry, but is it the same kind of Marriage, we as Catholics speak of? I think not. If one is willing to get caught up in the bureaucratic red tape of a word, then such an individual needs to leave it alone, for that is just so trivial. There are plenty of other issues we can legitimately defend and fight, but over something as vague as a word, there is no need. We just have to learn to level with people and view it as a whole rather than from our slant. Otherwise, we deserve every label the world puts upon us Catholics and those really aren’t too appealing. ~Alexander Pyles.
The Classics?! “Discussing words with words is as entangled as interlocking one’s fingers and rubbing them together, where hardly anyone but the person doing it can distinguish the fingers that itch from the fingers scratching the itch.” The Teacher, Augustine
j|Çx? j|à tÇw jtzzxÜç On The Life Fantastical I have often wondered why it is so easy for many of us to get drawn into a fantasy world. By this, I am not referring to reading fantasy novels or watching movies. Nor am I referring to a blatant lie of sorts. Rather, I mean willing ourselves into a reality separate from that which really exists. For instance, I may believe myself to be a superhero, or the last remnant of a forgotten race. Sure, there’s no evidence to support this, but that may not stop me for wanting it so badly that it becomes real to me. I think one of the reasons behind such a delusion is the human desire for the world to make sense. The hero should get the girl. The lost wallet should be found still full of money. The victim should be saved. That is how it is supposed to work, right? Well, what happens when it doesn’t? Sometimes the hero never quite works up the courage to tell the girl how he feels, and the girl is too traditional to pursue him. Sometimes people steal from each other. Sometimes the victim suffers, and it seems that this suffering is needless and ends only with death. How do we face a world where the story isn’t as pretty as we would like? There are two ways we can deal with it: face the world for what it really is — a
struggle until death—and overcome these obstacles to find true fulfillment, or pretend that we are already fulfilled and ignore them. Unfortunately, many people (myself often included) choose the latter path. This is a great shame, a tragedy. Why? Because by avoiding the hard times and the struggles, we actually lose the story, as well as ourselves. The drama is gone. There is no reason to continue living in a world without obstacles. To attempt this leads to ennui and despair. It does not have to be this way. Every hard moment, frustration, and troublesome fear is an opportunity for heroism — that is, to become the main character in our own lives, to struggle, and to overcome. If the hero is afraid of reaching out to the girl, he must overcome his fears and pursue her. If the wallet is returned empty, the owner must move on and work to earn back what has been lost. If the victim is suffering without aid, he must will himself to overcome even this (or find someone who will help him if he is not strong enough). When we as a culture learn this lesson, we will truly be a culture alive. Apathy will fade. And we will regain Truth.
-COR