The Gadfly “To persuade and reproach” - Socrates, The Apology
Vol. XIV, Iss. I February 15, 2011
Can’t We All Just Get Along? Last semester, Fr. Gregory preached a memorable homily on the Charismatic Renewal and the Extraordinary Form of the Mass. It inspired me to write the following remarks which are, admittedly, rather late in coming. I was unable to write them last semester because none of my teachers asked to me write an article for the Gadfly as a homework assignment. As many of you will recall, Fr. Gregory preached this homily to encourage greater unity between students. He criticized the fact that many students label themselves as either “traditional” or “charismatic” and then frown
upon whichever group they don’t belong to. He argued that in order to be truly Catholic, one must be both “traditional” and “charismatic.” According to his homily, students should not criticize either the Extraordinary Form of the Mass or the Charismatic Renewal simply because they don’t understand them. Rather, students should learn about them and appreciate them as inspired by the Holy Spirit. He went on to say that students should not criticize the Extraordinary Form since it was the way in which the Mass had previously been celebrated for years and had developed out of many years of
Church tradition and history. Neither, he said, should students criticize the Charismatic Renewal because it has been approved by the Church. Therefore, he urged to students to embrace both and consider themselves both “traditional” and “charismatic” in order to be truly Catholic. While his efforts to bring about a greater unity between students on campus are admirable (and I do not mean this in a sarcastic way for they truly are) there was a fundamental flaw in his argument. He put the Charismatic Renewal and the Extraordinary Form of the Mass on the same level which, due to their natures, cannot be done. The Extraordinary Form Continued on page 6
The Mixing of Church and State No one would see me as a patriot, which I am glad for. I would sooner burn an American flag than raise one. If I just offended I apologize, yet what I am trying to bring to mind is the fanatical patriotism that infects various conservatives on our campus. Keith Michael Estrada from last semester was talking about rationality: clear reasoning perspective on campus; I have to echo his encouragement to do this as well. Being a patriot is an admirable thing, one thing I will not deny, but as a Catholic I do not
share this perspective. If you are faithful to God, why bring in a deeper passion for the State or a p o l i t i c a l p a r t y? Watching pundits, such as O’Reily, Beck or whoever else floats your boat, are they not unlike the T.V. evangelists? These persuasive talking heads rely on the same poignant petition that caresses all the right egos, for reasons such as these one can confuse Church and State. We all scream of how secular society separates Church and State, yet we cannot even find the right atti-
tude in how to distinguish between the two. Thomas Merton, while focusing on politics writes, “Propaganda succeeds because men want it to succeed. It works on minds because those minds want to be worked on.” How often is the majority swept away on the crest of some new wave of nationalism? In a republic, the State has to take measures to keep the public happy. This means the political process has had to adopt an entertainment value, which has made political campaigns into dog fighting. Seeing the advertise Continued on page 4