The Rambler Vol. 10, No. III

rambler the

Veritas Ensis Noster.

December 13, 2012- Vol. 10, No. III

In This Issue...

Rambler: Pronunciation: \ram-blər\ Function: noun Date: c. 2002 1. A student organization determined to present truth and withhold nothing, discussing a variety of subjects such as administration, morality, literature, politics, and faith.

the rambler

An Independent Student Journal Christendom College Veritas Ensis Noster

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Matthew F. Naham BUSINESS MANAGEMENT Charles J. Rollino; Peter J. Spiering LAYOUT EDITOR Theresa R. Lamirande NEWS & POLITICS EDITOR Colleen A. Harmon SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITOR Thomas A. Ferrara FAITH & REASON EDITOR Katie E. Brizek ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR Theresa R. Lamirande FACULTY ADVISOR Dr. Patrick Keats COPY EDITOR Katie R. Wunderlich CONTRIBUTORS Sean Connolly Sarah Furth Elise Nodar Jane Riccardi Melody Wood Kevin Young

News & Politics 5 STARVE THE STATE

2 | two

14

by Kevin Young

NICKLODYSSEY

by Sean Connolly

Science & Technology

The Last Word

6 SONAR, U BLIND?

15

by Sarah Furth

‘TIS THE SEASON

by The Editorial Staff

8 NO ONE HACKS YOU

by Thomas Ferrara

FRONT COVER Home for the Holidays

Faith & Reason 10 CONFESSIONS OF A FRATERNITY GIRL

by Katie Brizek

12 THE WAITING GAME

by Jane Riccardi and Melody Wood

Arts & Culture 13 LES MISERABLES: THE MOVIE

by Elise Nodar

Cover photo taken

by Theresa Lamirande

The opinions expressed by contributing writers in The Rambler are not necessarily the views of the Editors or The Rambler as a whole.

Our Mission Statement

The Rambler and its staff are dedicated to training the next generation of Catholic journalists and intellectuals. We prize the liberal arts education received from Christendom College and write about the news, arts, culture, faith, and reason from this gained perspective. We believe we will play an essential part in a renaissance of new leaders, journalists, and communicators for the 21st century.

Poetry & Prose

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Editor’s Corner

Dear Readers,

With the swift coming of the Christmas season comes also the opportunity to reunite with our nearest and dearest. Dorothy got it right: there is no place like home. Respect for your home and those who dwell in it begins with the proper disposition toward the season and its reason. This Christmas, do not let the gale-force gusts of secular-materialist X-mas tear your home apart brick by brick. The more that we forget why we celebrate Christmas, the more it becomes a burden rather than a gift, the more it becomes a time to grumble over the have-nots rather than a time of thankfulness for the haves. If you are looking for a reason to be thankful this holiday look no further than home sweet home.

On that note, we, The Rambler staff, wish you all a Blessed Advent, a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year! We hope that your return home will be speedy and safe, your hearths and hearts warm, and your tables fully stocked with the Christmassy comestibles we all enjoy. Additionally, we hope that we’ve been able to provide a product you can be proud of this semester, and we look forward to our return—to a table near you—next semester.

Lastly, always feel free to email me at any point over the break. If the Muse inspires you to write an article then do as you will. When it comes to articles, we always have a need! If there is a topic that you are passionate about, by all means take matters into your own hands. So please, don’t be bashful; my inbox at rambler.editor@gmail.com and I would love to hear from you.

In Jesu et Maria,

Matthew F. Naham Editor-in-Chief

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News Briefs

The College is pleased with the launch of its new EWTN Catholic radio station, WXDM 90.3 FM. The station officially started uninterrupted broadcasting on November 30. Make sure to tune in!

For all of those critics who say “the Catholic Church is stuck in the Dark Ages,” I regret to inform you that Pope Benedict XVI is now on Twitter! If you’re following him in real life, why not follow him on Twitter too? Show some love and follow @Pontifex today.

Recent studies show that, as gun ownership has dramatically increased over the past six years, gun-related violent crimes have gradually decreased in the state of Virginia. Somewhere the Second Amendment is smiling.

As reported by the Daily Caller, a federal judge recently ruled it unconstitutional for the state of North Carolina to issue pro-life license plates unless the option for pro-choice plates was also available. So much for free speech.

On December 11th, North Korea burst onto the scene, launching its second rocket of the year into space. Whether this was an international power play or a domestic flare is still up in the air, but I’m sure we can count on them to fly their colors again in the foreseeable future.

With the December 2nd, 2012 debate on David Hume in the books, the Debate Society welcomes the month off to recover all the oxygen it expended in a semester of robust argumentation.

We look forward to more of the same next semester.

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News & Politics

Starve the State by

Kevin Young, ‘16

W

e have a problem in this country. It is a problem unprecedented in the history of our republic, if not of Western civilization as a whole. Like all crises, it could have been stopped if men of conscience had joined forces and smashed its ugly countenance before it grew and infected the whole of society. It could have been stopped if enough people had stood and sacrificed to ensure that something like this would never happen. Unfortunately, it happened. In this land of all lands it happened, and we eventually resigned ourselves to it. We thought that, when the time came, we could control it. We did not. We could not. Now we act surprised and offended that, at long last, this abomination has finally come knocking at the doors of our sanctuaries demanding our explicit cooperation and support. We are shocked, but we should not be. What we do not realize is that we have been feeding it all along, coddling it, nursing it and allowing it to grow until the time inevitably came when it realized it could overpower us. Now, here we are, face to face with the monster of our own making, and we demand respect, we demand tolerance.

We demand the right to be heard. It will not hear us and, frankly, why should it? We took every opportunity to throw ourselves at its feet, pleading for favors and singing its praises. Pleading will do us no favors.

The time has come to slay the beast.

I am speaking of the pandemic of legalized infanticide which is aided and abetted by the government of our country. We are currently living under the most aggressively pro-choice administration the United States have ever seen and, lo and behold, it demands that we start paying for the murder of innocent children or face fines that would cripple our Church on these shores. This is intolerable. I do not mean the mandate in and of itself, though it is wrong even from a purely legal point of view. I am writing of the fact that we have allowed abortion to become so widespread in America that the government would even think of demanding that we pay for it. How did this happen? How did one of the most Christian countries on earth start paying millions upon millions of taxpayer dollars to enable women to kill their own children? Where have we been over the past 50 years? Asleep at the wheel, evidently. No less than 3,400 children are dismembered each and every day, aided with money. That should engender in us a righteous anger that would not be satiated until this evil was eradicated once and for all from this country. Why then have we hesitated?

70 million children are dead. 70 million innocent souls have been rent screaming from their bodies and denied their God-given right to life as we have stood back and watched. As Christians, particularly as Catholics, we ought to be revolted by our near-total complicity in the greatest violation of human rights the world has ever known. We ought to be revolted by our continued funding of an entity which labels infanticide a right and pays the murderers with our tax dollars. We

ought to be revolted every time a Catholic bishop desecrates the Blessed Sacrament by surrendering Him into the blood-soaked hands of prochoice politicians, a betrayal and blasphemy no less grievous than that performed by Iscariot (and in clear defiance of Canon 915 at that). The Church, perhaps more so than any other institution in history, has distinguished Herself by standing up for the lowly and oppressed, giving a voice to the voiceless and spreading the Gospel of Love amongst the world’s least loved. Yet, in the here and now, the Church in the United States stands aside and continues to fund a genocidal institution on par with anything the Nazis or Communists produced in the darkest days of the twentieth century. And then we invite some of the key perpetrators to fundraisers in the name of “dialogue”.

What, then, are we to do? How can we halt the bloody progress of the abortion industry without either compromising our absolute reverence for human life or, perhaps even worse, falling into a state of complacency on the question of abortion? The answer lies right in front of us, and perhaps we are simply too blind (or unwilling) to see it. If we truly believe that abortion is the murder of an innocent child, and the government continues to support, defend and fund infanticidal monsters, the answer seems relatively simple: starve the state. Cease to fund those who fund murderers. It is a radical proposal, I realize, but it is hardly unknown in America. In fact, quite the contrary. As Americans, we pride ourselves on such moral giants as Henry David Thoreau and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who defied corrupt regimes and refused to cooperate with an entity which was oppressing their brethren. They suffered for their obedience to the divine law over the mandates of the wicked, and they are justly praised. An unjust law is no law at all, and an unjust government is no government at all. If it fosters and defends a culture of infanticide, where children are sacrificed on the altars of selfindulgence and irresponsibility, we as Christians have an obligation to stand up and defy its dictates until the government corrects itself. It was no different for our forefathers.

I realize that others in the pro-life movement have engaged in civil disobedience, apparently to no avail. I note with particular admiration the valiant efforts of Operation Rescue, who courageously suffered arrest in defense of those who cannot defend themselves. Many, however, have given up on civil disobedience as an effective means of halting abortion. Living the Gospel is not, and never has been easy. It is not without just cause that the Lord says to His followers, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

Civil disobedience is a possibility, nay, it is more than a possibility. It is an integral component of our heritage as Americans and (Continued on page seven) as Christians. It is a duty.

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Science & Technology

Sonar, U Blind?

Or the by

Sound of Sight

Sarah Furth, ‘16

S

eeing-eye dogs are not the only answer to human blindness.

Prosthetic engineers are paving the way for successful restoration and, in some cases, development of cognitive sight in the blind. Frontiers in these technological advances have opened medical science to the possibility of achieving the ostensibly impossible: giving sight to the blind. As improbable as this sounds, medical science has made this feasible through technological and biological means. Biomedical engineers are developing hi-tech sonar vision systems and electrical impulse transmitters as sight prosthetics designed to fight both congenital and contracted blindness.

Let me start by saying that, since I have twenty-twenty vision and an artistic eye for color, shape and design, blindness had not crossed my radar until I bumped my way through an unlit street simulation at a children’s museum in 2000. It is apparent that coping with blindness isn’t just about counting the number of steps it takes to get from the kitchen to bedroom, but a whole new mindset in which seeing doesn’t happen through the eyes but through an combination of all the remaining senses in a struggle to make it safely around obstacles and down a street. When it comes to not seeing faces and colors, I begin to understand the great loss blindness is to humans. It steals from us our ability to naturally process the lighted world made for our enrichment and direction toward a certain reflection of the divine.

We are not deep-sea creatures, and certainly not cave dwellers or nocturnal animals, so blindness has never been a normal function of the human body. It is for this reason that we develop technology to do for us what certain vision-impaired animals do naturally: echolocation. These animals include toothed whales, dolphins, oilbirds, swiftelts, shrews, tenrecks and bats. They use echolocation to navigate the deep ocean, traverse labyrinthine tunnels, pilot through dense flora and fauna, and negotiate cave systems. Toothed whales have poor vision, but through echolocation they can perceive their location and identify the size, shape and density of other creatures or objects within range. Echolocation is the technique by which mammals emit a high frequency sound into their environment and process the distortion of these bouncing sound waves returning from surrounding surfaces.

Vision and hearing are similar in that in each, reflected waves of energy convey spatial information subsequent to cerebral processing, but the former uses electromagnetic energy, and the latter, kinetic vibrations.

It is true that the blind can in fact access a type of vision without hi-tech aid. This is done in a similar way to that of sightless animals. Echolocation or “acoustic localization” can be achieved by humans through clinking of the tongue against the roof of the mouth.

This technique is achieved through repetitive tongue movement against the palate. The sound of the click travels at a frequency capable of

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bouncing off nearby objects. These sound waves or “echoes” indicate to blind travelers detailed information about the proximity and arrangement of objects and environmental features. This technique is precise enough to facilitate perception of objects an arm’s length away or down a city street.

Researchers at the Edmond and Lily Safra Neuroscience Center (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) are developing a “sonar vision” device that enables the blind to perceive face shape, buildings and even written words and letters. This technology has surpassed any advancement in the field up to the present, and is sure to be a springboard to more economical solutions in the future. These advancements are simply employing readily available technology such as video cameras, eyeglasses, laptops, smartphones, and headphones within a single, networked system.

“

The device, called the Sensory Substitution Device or “SSD” makes use of a small video camera embedded in a pair of eyeglasses. A laptop or smartphone transforms images into sounds, and headphones convey the sounds produced to the listener.

”

The video camera serves as “eyes” that receive visual images into a data converter within the software system of the computer.

Through this interface, shapes are translated into detailed auditory form: an oblique line is converted into an increasingly high-pitched sound, while a vertical line is transformed into an increasingly lowerpitched sound. The classification of images into different categories such as faces, houses, or words can be perceived in a way comparable to that of vision. This is possible through specialized training to accurately associate specific sounds with their corresponding images.

The blind subject requires around 70 hours of this training in order to audibly perceive the visible world. Such development is specific to the basal ganali, a cluster of structures located in the center of the brain. Due to the directing function of this area of the brain, a special coordination of messages between multiple brain areas is facilitated.

There are separate locations in the brain responsible for controlling memory, hearing and visual processing. The occipital lobes, located at the back of the head, control visual processing, while the temporal lobes located on either side of the head, control memory and hearing.

Auditory messages from the SSD are received in the temporal lobes.

They are then processed and sent to the basal ganali to be “visualized” through a coordination of occipital and temporal neurotransmissions.

This awakening of certain parts of the brain allows victims of blindness to visualize the world in great detail and come to the same perceptions

Science & Technology

of size, shape and density as those gifted with sight do.

The blind have even been capable of ascertaining facial expressions and reading words through this technology. With the capability of the sensory substitution system to catalyze brain plasticity within the blind, the cortex that normally specializes in visual perception and having nothing to do with sound processing, becomes activated to processes sonar vision. The visual cortex begins to function as an auditory processor in addition to the parts of the brain that serve this function naturally. The performance of blind subjects in this testing who trained the visual cortex to read words transmitted to it audibly indicates that the visual cortex is selective in analyzing the shape of objects and can also accomplish this function based on visual input and, if necessary, auditory input as well. Scientists now conclude that “it may be possible, with the right technology and rehabilitation, to ‘wake up’ certain areas of the brain and access certain aspects of the visual world, even after years, or even a lifetime of blindness” (ICM Research Center).

This is not the only technology being developed today, as the Argus 2 is reported to have changed the life of California attorney Dean Lloyd. This Back To The Future looking device works similarly to the SSD but employs electrode equipment to transmit data to the brain.

Lloyd’s sudden onslaught of blindness at 34, caused by an incurable hereditary disease called retinitis rigmentosa, left him devastated. He is only one of thirty people in the world to test this new apparatus, and it has proved a success. Lloyd states, “I had no vision for at least 17 years until I had the Argus 2 implant placed in my eye in July 2007”(CBS News).

Sixty electrode plates were implanted at the back of Lloyd’s eye, while a camera mounted on his glasses transmits images by wiring them

as electrical impulses. They are not using the actual eye, but replicating the function of the cells in the damaged retina. They are able to directly access the nerves connecting the eye to the brain. From there, the brain functions as it would in a sighted person. This innovation is serviceable primarily to a victim of localized eye damage with full functionality of the visual cortex.

However, improvements must still be made in order to upgrade from a crude image, produced by only sixty points of light, to a more detailed image closer to that of a healthy eye, which contains millions of points of light. Thus far, Lloyd can only distinguish black from white and determine shapes; however, according to its developer, Dr. Eugene de Juan, there is financial interest in Argus 2 and therefore the potential to upgrade to a devise more useful to the ambulant blind.

Scientists have combined the simple digital image with electrode engineering to develop technology that in the future will change the lives of millions, as it has Lloyd’s. This concern of doctors for the restoration of sight in the blind points to a common understanding of the importance visual communication plays in our lives.

Sight is intrinsic to our human nature; it is most naturally through sight that our world becomes apparent to us physically. A loss of sight causes a part of our nature to be limited. This is why the development of such technology acknowledges the unique role sight plays in the expression of our human nature, which is different and more complex than that of animals. That computer software and neurological technology has been such a service to our nature proves that the benefits of such research have given to the future a vision of healing for those who do not have the incredible gift of sight.

Starve the State: Continued from page five Americans sing the praises of men like Thoreau, King, and the Founding Fathers, and yet when the time comes to follow in their footsteps and confront an unjust power, and sacrifice accordingly, we shrink back and content ourselves with casting a vote every four years, leaving the lives of the innocent in the hands of a callous majority. Enough! Enough with the complacency! I understand that you’re afraid and don’t want to lose your life in the pursuit of a seemingly unattainable goal. No one does. However, as Christians, we don’t have a choice. We can do this.

We must do this. We simply have to gird up our loins and call upon

the God of our Fathers, the God who loves the righteous and routs the wicked, the Help of the Helpless and Father to the Fatherless. Our cause is His cause, and His cause never fails. He will march with us, He will be mocked with us, and if the time comes, He will sit in jail with us. Of this one thing we can be certain: throughout it all, He will never leave us alone.

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Science & Technology

No One Hacks You by

Thomas Ferrara, ‘13

I

n the digital frontier of the Internet, nothing is true, and everything is permitted. That said, deception and theft occur a little differently on the Internet. In reality, pickpockets work among crowds of hundreds, stealing wallets one by one. Online, thieves work among crowds of millions, stealing data by the gigabyte. Still, digital deception relies on a large number of victims to remain profitable, at volumes that don’t admit of direct interaction with each victim. The solution is large-scale passive schemes in which victims ensnare themselves. While very few people have to worry about fending off electronic muggings, everyone has to beware the consequences of their clicks. Modern browsers like Chrome and Firefox can fend off intrusive pop-ups or clandestine downloads of deleterious software, but there are still many ways to avoid identity theft or malicious software (“malware”). Here are the top four security issues and how to deal with them.

4.Email Spam

It’s never going to go away. As long as there are confidence scams and malware to spread, unsolicited email will multiply by the millions.

At best, spam is annoying clutter than can cause you to miss or even delete the email you actually want to read. At worst, an email from what appears to be a friend’s address can contain a downloadable virus potent enough to turn your computer into a “zombie”, a machine that continues to duplicate and send malware-infested emails without your knowledge or control.

When you want to sign up for your anime fanfic forum, your crochet message boards, or doublesatan.com’s million dollar sweepstakes, use a secondary email address. Sign up for a few sites with your decoy address and you will be amazed at how fast spam starts to pour in. On the other hand, if you keep your primary email address “clean”, you will receive little or no spam. If you don’t put your address out, it won’t be taken in.

3.Spyware

Everyone (well, not everyone) has a cousin that lies around the house taking up space and food, filching money from your wallet, refusing to move out, and maybe setting parts of the house on fire. Your computer probably has the same problem in the form of “spyware”.

These are programs that hide in your hard drive, capturing data and uploading it to a distant malefactor. These programs can capture all kinds of information, in the worst-case scenario, “keylogging” you, recording all your keystrokes, including passwords and usernames. Some spyware can capture outgoing data and reroute it to another source, so what you think you are sending to your favorite website is actually being siphoned away for nefarious purposes.

Photo credit: Griffith University, insidergriffith.wordpress.com

Photo credit: Griffith University, insidergriffith.wordpress.com

Email spammers do not sit at their computers scanning some database of email addresses or mashing their faces on the keyboard to come up with more addresses to spam. They rely on the new, passive methods described above. Instead of seeking out email addresses, they approach websites that ask their users to supply their email address when creating an account. Some websites will sell lists of their user’s emails, or the spammers can run a search on those websites for email addresses with a program that harvests any phrase with “@” in it. You can avoid spam and the threat of viruses by using a “decoy” email address.

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These programs require some kind of action on the part of the user in order to download. It is rare that someone deliberately attacks an individual computer. Even so, it is easy to download spyware without knowing. It is rare for the newest browsers to allow a pop-up to start a malicious download, but there are many other ways to contract spyware. It can piggyback onto downloads from disreputable sources or third-party programs. All kinds of trivial or apparently harmless programs can host malware without detection. To avoid spyware, be careful about what you download, and from where. Even benign files can have spyware bundled with them when downloaded from a disreputable or strange site. If you think you have spyware, you can use a malware scanner program to find and remove it (I recommend Avast).

Science & Technology accounts, he has access to them all. If one of those accounts is an email

2.Phishing

There could be no better way to obtain people’s information than to have them give it to you. Phishing is the technique of creating apparently legitimate requests for data online to collect information.

This is not hacking. This is the use of legitimate access clearance volunteered by the user. Phishers will create any kind of message or request to obtain information. A phishing attempt could be a spurious advertisement ostensibly from Amazon.com, but that really leads to a look-alike website that the user enters their login information into, thinking they are logging into the real website. It could be a Facebook app that asks for your username and password, only to deliver them elsewhere, so your account can be used to send out more app invites.

Nobody hacks Facebook, eBay, or any other accounts, and nor do they need to. Large corporations have powerful defenses against hacks and other forced entries, but a lock is only as strong as the person who holds the key.

Phishers are endlessly creative in devising new tricks to entice your information out of you. Fake websites and emails from compromised addresses are just a few ways they can try. Always be careful when you receive a strange request for information, no matter how familiar the sender seems. Be on the watch for strange grammatical errors, incorrect web addresses (like facebook.net) or strange, nonsensical words; oddities like these can indicate a phishing attempt. If a stranger or friend sends you an unsolicited link which asks for your login information, think twice about entering your credentials.

address, he can use it to obtain the passwords and information linked to that account. Imagine if you had a single key for your house, car, and bank account. If someone were to duplicate or steal that key, it would be far worse than if any one of those things were compromised.

It is critical to keep the different parts of your online identity quarantined from each other, so that in the event of a stolen password the damage is contained. A compromised Facebook account can give a thief your email password, which can give him your PayPal or bank account, or any other personal data. Multiple passwords prevent a single mistake from affecting your entire online identity. One need not have a dictionary of entirely different passwords, but some variation is necessary. Try combining different words with different numerals for an easy, effective differentiation. Leverage the maximum power of your Christendom education and use Latin words or philosophers’ names to create passwords that are difficult to guess and don’t appear in typical dictionaries.

Overall, the one thing that online thieves rely on is our complacency. Real hackers are proactive people who go after high profile, lucrative targets. The people most of us have to watch for are the ones waiting for us to slip up so they can capitalize on our carelessness.

With a little precaution, you can easily form good security habits. A modicum of scrutiny can save a lot of headaches later on.

1.Password Reuse

Without a doubt, this is the single biggest problem with online security. The reuse of passwords for different accounts is a phisher’s dream. If a villain steals a single password that controls many 9 | nine

Faith & Reason

Confessions of a Fraternity Girl alp by

Katie Brizek, ‘15

I

n the circles I’ve traveled, it’s not an uncommon thing to identify yourself as ‘fraternity’ to other Catholics and expect them to know what you’re talking about. And this by no means has anything to do with living in a frat house, or wild binge drinking on the weekends.

Quite the opposite, actually. When I, or many other Catholics, make such a seemingly outrageous comment, what we are really saying is that we are parishioners at a church which is run by F.S.S.P., or the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter. The letters do correspond to the acronym, but only, which shouldn’t be surprising to Christendom students, in Latin: Fraternitas Sacerdotalis Sancti Petri. After all, FSSP is a society dedicated to the celebration of the liturgy and cherishing the faith according to the old Latin rite, known as the Tridentine.

For those who don’t know, ‘Tridentine’ refers to the Council of Trent. The Tridentine liturgy is that which observes the decrees set forth by this council, which included all Roman Catholics until the first session of the Second Vatican Council in 1962. The Council of Trent closed in 1563. If you lived at any point during the 399 years between these two councils you observed your faith according to the Tridentine rite. This was the norm for the universal Church until Vatican II.

We started going to the Tridentine, or Latin Mass, when I was four. As a little kid, I guess you could say it didn’t make much difference to me because, not being St. Therese, or Our Lady or some equally devout saint-child, I’m sure I didn’t really pay attention during Mass. But by the time I received my First Communion I started to wonder why our relatives thought we were more than a little odd. In my childish brain it seemed like it should be quite the other way around. When I went to Mass with my cousins they did all these crazy things, like receive Communion in their hands, speak in English and shake hands during Mass. As if that

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weren’t bad enough, not a single one of the girls was wearing a veil.

Horror of horrors. What I didn’t know is that my relatives were under the common misconception which was widespread in those days. They thought my mother had hit her head really hard, and so had decided to drag her whole family into schism.

It doesn’t really seem necessary to say that we weren’t. Nowadays, believing everyone who goes to the Latin Mass is schismatic is about as common as people thinking all homeschoolers are terrorists. In the past few years, each of these conservative movements have done a good job in getting their message out there and educating people on what they are actually doing. For the Tridentine movement, this has been aided greatly by Pope Benedict XVI’s support. He has made it possible for people to hear the Latin Mass at any Roman Catholic church; all that was needed was for them to request it of their parish priest. Great efforts have been made to educate the clergy on how to celebrate the Latin Mass, and the Fraternity has contributed in such ways as making instructional videos (starring much loved Fr. Gregory Pendergraft, for those who know him). Yet, the reactions I get are startling to me, even at Christendom. Outside our conservative bubble I can’t really be surprised when people think it’s a little nutty. “Isn’t it boring?” is a question I’ve gotten quite a bit. Or “but you can’t understand what’s going on.” It’s called a missal.

Buy one. At Christendom I get varied responses as well. Some people think it’s cool, but don’t go regularly just because they don’t want to get up for 7:30 Mass on Tuesdays (yes, that was an advertisement). Others do the stereotypical “that’s great for you, but not for me.” But I was shocked when people confessed to me that they go out of their way to avoid the Tridentine Mass because it’s unfamiliar, or they don’t know

Faith & Reason

what ‘extraordinary form’ is even supposed to mean. Well, put on your learning caps.

First and foremost, I confess that I prefer the Latin Mass primarily because it’s what I grew up with. It’s the exact opposite reason why most people dislike it. To me it’s comforting and familiar. When I haven’t gone in a while, because I’ve been at school, I don’t even realize I miss it until I’m back. It’s like when you go to your best friend’s house, and you’re perfectly happy, but when you get home you see that you haven’t been able to completely relax like you can with your own family in your own house. For most the main reason they don’t like the Tridentine is because it’s distant, unfamiliar and cold. But for me, it’s warm and safe. It’s full of memories, especially at my own parish, of my First Communion, my little sister’s Confirmation, baptisms, Midnight Mass, the Triduum and Easter Vigil. It’s like home.

“

So the question now is, why the Latin Mass? There are a lot of reasons, of which the majority of Novus Ordo people are completely unaware, which have been instilled in Latin Mass goers from a very young age, if that’s how long they have been going.

”

The main complaint most Tridentine parishioners have with the Novus Ordo are the abuses to the Mass which have become widespread since Vatican II. Obviously no one is positing that there were no troubles in the Church prior to the council, but with Mass now being said in the colloquial tongue it seems more frequently than not you find the celebrant adlibbing his way through the Consecration.

I can see my mother now, focused intently on the priest, for the exact words which assured her the Mass was valid, and that we wouldn’t have to pack into the car and go again.

The other thing is the fact that the Mass has been, in a word, simplified. The intention of Vatican II was to make the faith more accessible to the laity of the modern day, so that the Church could be more effective in Her evangelization. But, in some ways, it’s a little too simple. The intricacy of the prayers is part of the Latin Mass’s beauty, and in the simplification something has been taken away. There is more variation in the prayers and an emphasis on integrating the laity into the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. After all, at the Final Judgment you’ll get a participation grade, so signing up to be an altar server or a lector is a good idea. But for someone, especially for a girl, raised on the Tridentine there’s hesitation before approaching the altar. In the Latin Mass, there is plenty of participation: interiorly through prayer and mental and spiritual union with the priest’s offering, as well as exteriorly through the motions of frequently making the Sign of the Cross and reverent genuflection at the appropriate times. Though more of the spoken prayer is reserved to the priest, there is actually greater opportunity to follow the Mass more exactly as it progresses. The missal gives the people the ability to follow along and pray the Mass as the priest does. In the Novus Ordo Mass, when the priest prays silently the people either sing, or wait for him to speak. While there is a time for both singing and silence in worship, it is easier to know precisely what the priest is doing

in the Tridentine.

It would be easy enough, if you wanted to know what the big differences between the Tridentine and the Novus Ordo Masses are, to Google it. In a few nanoseconds you’ll have more information at your fingertips than I could give you in a two-page spread. But there is some personal insight I can give you, from my own experience, about what you really miss when you come from the Tridentine to the Novus Ordo. It’s true that most of the issues anyone could have with the Novus Ordo Mass are all abuses. To be honest, I never knew there was such a thing as a truly conservative Novus Ordo parish, really doing things the way Vatican II intended, until I came to Christendom. Of the many Novus Ordo parishes I’ve been to in my travels, they ranged from ‘fine’ to people dancing in the aisles. Now that I’ve experienced what it’s like to go to a Novus Ordo Mass celebrated the way it was meant to be, I feel that I am justified in making the remarks I’m going to make. And that is that intrinsically, there are just some little, reverential things which make the Tridentine Mass so much more beautiful to me, and they just aren’t there in the Novus Ordo.

I miss the priest processing in solemnly and praying at the foot of the altar before reverently approaching. I miss the Confiteor being said twice at every Mass, once during the prayers at the foot of the altar and once before Communion; I miss the priest blessing the congregation at the end of each, absolving them of all their venial sins. I miss the introit and the epistle, instead of ‘readings.’ I miss genuflecting during the Gloria when Christ’s Incarnation is announced. I miss the congregation frequently blessing themselves with the Sign of the Cross.

I miss striking my breast, three times during the Agnus Dei, and three times during the Domine non sum dignus, which I just miss being said three times. I miss repeating the Agnus Dei right before Communion.

I miss the congregation reverently kneeling for the entirety of Christ’s time on the altar, save processing up for Communion. I miss kneeling at the altar rail, with my hands covered by the Communion cloth. I miss hearing the Incarnation proclaimed by St. John eloquently in the Last Gospel. I miss the Leonine prayers at the conclusion of Mass for the conversion of Russia.

I hope my readers understand that I don’t mean to judge, or to posit that the Tridentine Mass is superior to the Novus Ordo. Both are the solemn celebration of Christ’s sacrifice for each and every one of us.

But I believe that the Tridentine is, in some small way, more beautiful because it is exceedingly reverent. I understand that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so I wanted to show you what I see so that maybe my readers can also embrace the sublimity of the Tridentine Mass. There is nothing that pains me more than to sense this divide in the faithful, whether it be there out of fear or distaste. Christendom’s mission is to mold a new generation to restore all things in Christ. That doesn’t just mean we must bring Christ back to every sphere of life, but also to restore all the things of Christ. After all, His Holiness has declared the Tridentine the extraordinary form of the holy sacrifice of the Mass. And the least we can do for Our Savior is something extraordinary.

Photo credit: The Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter

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Faith & Reason

THE wAiTiNg GAME by

Jane Riccardi

and

Melody Wood, ‘15

Y

ou are at Sunday Mass at Christendom College. Padre’s sermon on the importance of mental prayer was extra long today, and you are starving. The final blessing is complete, the choir bursts into its triumphant closing hymn, and the last altar boy has safely crossed the finish line into the gathering area. The omelet line beckons…

Do you: a) Immediately kneel back down, piously. After all, you have just partaken of God’s greatest gift to mankind, the Eucharist, and some quiet time with the Lord would be in order. By the time you make it into the Commons, there are no real potatoes left, and the cinnamon buns are gone. But hey, you don’t care. God’s worth it. b) As soon as the priest processes past your pew, you hastily genuflect and sprint out the door, flat tiring the last altar boy. Whoops. But having dashed through the crypt, you manage to obtain the seventh place in the omelet line. Sweet victory. c) When the tacit consensus to kneel comes upon the congregation, you kneel in the fashion of a good Catholic. After your minute long thanksgiving prayer, you glance to your right and left, noting dismally that on your right kneels the campus saint. You could exit quietly to your left…but then, what would this pious student think of you?

Besides, most of the congregation is still kneeling. If you get up now, everyone will notice. So, you quietly resign yourself to waiting until the seventeenth person has left. Then, you will have fulfilled your obligation to appear holy, and might still have the chance to enjoy an omelet.

Unfortunately, this last scenario is all too relatable. So many of us are preoccupied with how holy we are in the eyes of our peers. We would venture to say that almost everyone here at Christendom has at one point played the waiting game: waiting just the right amount of time so as to appear holy but still have a reasonable amount of time to move on to our next obligation.

Here at Christendom, we all too often fall into the habit of writing people off as part of the “chapel crowd” or the “party crowd,” the sheep or the goats. Whether or not we categorize ourselves and others as holy or practically heathens depends largely on how long we have stayed to “pray” following Mass. This time, which should be set aside to really grow closer to God, becomes for us instead a time of judgment. During this time, not only do we judge others, but we judge ourselves.

We view ourselves through the eyes of the community, not through the eyes of God. Instead of worrying about the state of our 12 | twelve

souls as they truly are, we agonize over the state of our souls as perceived by everyone else. After all, as long as the campus saint thinks I’m holy, I must be…

The moment you find yourself wondering how the holiest student on campus, or anyone else for that matter, perceives your current state of holiness, you have already defeated the purpose of this time of prayer. You have moved from the things of God to the things of this world.

This is not to negate the importance of this period of postMass thanksgiving. In fact, going to church back at your home parish which does not have the same tradition can feel so different, almost anticlimactic. As soon as the priest leaves the church, parishioners rush to socialize and enjoy donuts and coffee. Even worse, some people strike up conversations inside the church, and some have gone so far as to make a hasty exit immediately following Communion. With all of the hubbub surrounding you, it is hard to reflect on whom you have just received, and sometimes being the only one to kneel back down after Mass is just plain awkward. Going home without any prayer after Mass often leaves one feeling unsatisfied. But staying to pray with so many distractions around you is neither fulfilling nor meaningful.

So, where does the balance lie? While playing the waiting game is certainly not conducive to fostering a strong spiritual life, neither is cavalry charging out of Mass the moment it is over. Perhaps the answer lies in something that normally has a negative connotation: tunnel vision. Tunnel vision under these circumstances consists in turning a blind eye to your peers for the sake of focusing your attention entirely on God. The duration of your conversation with God is not for anyone else to judge. Whether this means saying a heartfelt yet brief prayer of thanks or having an extended chat with Our Lord depends entirely upon the individual.

“

From one day to the next, our spiritual needs vary, and ultimately we answer to God both in the quality and quantity of our prayers. The perfect amount of time for you to pray is not contingent upon how many people have already left the church.

”

The next time you are at the end of a Christendom Mass and find yourself calculating the right amount of time to pray, stop and take a moment. Remember to stay true to the purpose of after-Mass prayer, which is to foster your own personal relationship with God. Don’t play the waiting game.

Arts & Culture

Les Misérables: The Movie by

Elise Nodar, ‘13

O

n December 25 this year, a long-awaited, momentous event will occur: “Les Miserables” will hit theaters. Most people have seen the 1998 movie with Liam Neeson. This movie is not that movie. That movie was maddening and did not stay very true to the spirit of the book—cutting out my favorite characters did not help in this regard. The new movie is not just a movie; it is the musical in movie form (like the 2004 Phantom of Opera movie, only much better). You should see this movie.

Directed by Tom Hooper of “The King’s Speech”, the movie promises to be amazing. Usually, when it comes to musical movies, the cast prerecords their songs and then later lipsyncs in the visual shots. For this movie, however, the cast is singing live in the shots. This permits the actors greater freedom in their acting and allows them to express more raw emotion. Eddie Redmayne, playing Marius, explained, “the problem with that is you have to make all your acting choices three months before you’ve even met the actor you’re working with. By recording it live, Tom is allowing us the spontaneity of normal film acting.” This innovative and difficult concept will lend more reality and passion to the songs we all know and love so well.

For the many deprived people who have never seen or heard the musical, it is based on Victor Hugo’s 1200-page epic. The Plot: in the early 19th century, Jean Valjean steals a loaf of bread to feed his sister’s starving family and he ends up spending nineteen years in prison. After his release he undergoes a life-changing conversion and breaks his parole, assuming a new identity. He eventually promises a dying prostitute (Fantine) that he will care for her daughter (Cosette), who eventually falls in love with a young revolutionary (Marius) just before an insurrection.

Contrary to popular belief, this is NOT the French Revolution.

This is an insignificant two-day uprising in 1832 that no one except Hugo knows about. Drama emerges in five different forms: Javert, Valjean’s old nemesis and the police inspector who has been on his trail

for 15 years; the Thenardiers, a dastardly couple endlessly scheming for money; the Thenardiers’ daughter Eponine, who is secretly in love with Marius; the events of the students on the barricades; and Valjean’s own spiritual journey to overcome his past.

Now for a brief character overview: Hugh Jackman plays Jean Valjean, the protagonist struggling to find a new life after prison.

Russell Crowe plays Javert, the aforementioned police inspector—he is not “the bad guy,” just misguided and idealistic. Anne Hathaway plays Fantine, a woman who becomes a prostitute to support her daughter.

Amanda Seyfried is Cosette, Fantine’s daughter and the woman who becomes the focal point of Valjean’s life. Eddie Redmayne is Marius, the revolutionary who becomes the focal point of Cosette’s life. Samantha Barks plays Eponine, the good-hearted street girl in love with Marius. Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter play the Thenardiers, the conniving couple that functions as comic relief. Aaron Tveit plays Enjolras, the leader of the student revolutionaries. Colm Wilkinson plays the Bishop of Digne; Wilkinson was the first Valjean in the original London and Broadway productions.

Despite a few deviations from Hugo’s book, the musical truly captures the spirit of “Les Mis.” Critics at an advance screening have guaranteed an overwhelmingly positive reaction to this movie. Several posted on Twitter: “I’d call it a sure thing Picture nominee for Oscar and the probable Globe winner” (Dave Karger) and “the movie is absolutely UNREAL. Ten million points to Tom Hooper for doing this musical movie RIGHT” (Samantha Massell).

“Les Miserables” is an epic tale of love, suffering, justice, mercy, and redemption. The score is beautiful and moving and never fails to give me chills. This movie will succeed in meeting the high standards set by millions of “Les Mis” fans over the past 25 years. Devotees will not be disappointed; we have yet another reason to call Christmas “the most wonderful time of the year.”

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Poetry & Prose

Nicklodyssey by

Sean Connolly, ‘12

BOOK I

S

ing, O Spouse of the thunder-bearded Charioteer, Of the longest night’s nocturnal flight through Earth; Tell of the flame-red fabric-clad son of Heaven as he Soars through the misty fogs which shroud the Son, Born this night anew to an ever-old Earth.

Tell of the beasts which bear him up and swiftly carry, How they rush and roll in a dance through the upper airs, Hooves held aloft with a lovely woman’s grace, Swift as the falling star which bodes ill are these, The earnest bearers of insuperable good.

Recall, O Consort of the felt-capped Claus, How light and lover-like his thunder and lightning soar, When led by the red-radiant spotless face of innocent Rudolph, first despised by all, but excellent by far beyond Even great Thunder and Lightning, the blazing-fast pair.

Behold! The mighty man, the image of Zeus, aloft: He guides his flame-red thunder-chariot through a storm, His fierce beard billowing in the sharp night winds.

He tugs at the mighty reins and bellows into the open sky, And with a whip-crack he urges them on and cries: “On Dasher, On Dancer, On Prancer and Vixen, On Comet, On Cupid, On Donner & Blitzen!”

BOOK II

S

hall I tell too of the troubling torrents, The mad winds wracking the welkin?---

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Cracking his whip he cried to the open sky: “Dash it all! Dash it all! Dash away all!

Fly to the summits of houses and havens!”

Rolled then the cloud-car, rocked by the gusts, Twisted and twirled and trembled aloft: Tossed in the turbulent air, sleighbells sang terrible tropes!

O wind, why wrack’st thou that wondrous elf?

O flood, why with heaviness fillest his felt?

Thor-like he rode atop thunderheads, His hammer a handbell, heroic his beard.

With a jingle of bells he jerked at the reins: Downwards diverted, the nine reindeer dropped, Dragging the chariot crashing through clouds.

The hoof-runners plummet, approaching hard earth, As from the athlete, cobbled to suit, The black spheroid, sent from the well-tempered wrist, Threatens the wood with its twelve pounds of weight, It finger-holes empty so recently full.

And just as it falls and seems frightfully near To crashing right through, but then all at once It diverts and it rolls, sparing the wood, Striking thrice the hoped-for goal in fashion fowl; So too th’ imperiled sledge, now suddenly slowed, lands flat and stops.

Upon the housetop, amidst hooves thirty-six, Two feet step forth: himself forced the Round One Out of the cab. How few kids have seen!

In thanks prayed the Saint, now safe from the storm, Brought forth his burden, the burgeoning bag.

The Last Word

Thumbs

Another opportunity for presenting our opinions on campus occurences. Agree? Disagree? Have an opinion of your own? Let us know!

The Student Activities Council and a countless number of student volunteers worked tirelessly to host an amazing Christmas Formal two weekends ago. It was a wonderful evening for students, faculty, fairies and elves alike.

Board members arrived on campus for an appreciation dinner this past Friday.

Without their generous gifts of time and resources, we would be unable to attend Christendom and receive the education and formation that it offers.

It looks like there is progress being made on the internet situation. However, this could easily turn into a “thumbs down” next issue. The progress is, nevertheless, noticed and greatly appreciated.

Christendom Basketball looks pretty grim for the spring season. On top of the injuries which have plagued our Crusaders this year, both teams will be losing a number of key players to the Rome semester. We should remember to cheer on the remnant squads next semester!

Dearly beloved Professors, it’s not that we don’t love getting midterms back during finals week... it’s just that we don’t love getting midterms back during finals week. Have a TA help you grade your midterms next time?

We are very sad to be losing some of our seniors who are graduating this semester, and sniffle at the thought that there will only one semester left with all those graduating in May. The seniors are probably the best people on campus, so you should enjoy them while they’re here.

‘TIS THE SEASON by

The Editorial Staff

In the Christmas season, people are on edge in the weeks leading up to the big day. Those desperate for counsel and advice often write to me in trying times for my professional opinion. Here are a few selected letters to help other deal with common holiday problems.

Dear Doctor, I have a wealthy boyfriend who is in big business. We’ve grown a lot closer over the past year and I want to give him a really special gift, but he seems to really have everything. What should I get him? – Thrifty in Seattle

Dear Thrifty, Four or five more glasses of wine at Christmas dinner. Once he’s inebriated, present him with a borrowed bauble, preferably with more zeroes in the price than vowels in his name. Remove the item while he sleeps it off, and ask him sweetly in the morning how he likes it. When he cannot find it, delicately cover your eyes and bite your lip. He will be in your debt forever.

Dear Professor, Every year we have a huge family gathering at my house for Christmas. But my mother and I never get along, and the evening always turns into arguments and ill will. How can I make Christmas dinner painless? – Fed Up in Milwaukee

Dear Fed Up, Don’t invite her. If she asks later why she was not invited, insist it was an accident and you forgot Christmas’ date this year. Refuse to admit otherwise.

Dear Doctor, I have a loving girlfriend who I have been dating a long time. I don’t want her to spend money on me this Christmas since I’m the only earner in the relationship.

How do it tactfully tell her I don’t want a gift this Christmas? - Nervous in Seattle

Dear Nervous, Don’t worry about it. Have a few glasses of wine with her over Christmas dinner; I’m sure everything will work itself out.

Dear Sir, My wife doesn’t celebrate Christmas, being agnostic. This makes it really awkward around Christmas time, since I want to celebrate but she doesn’t. How can we compromise on this? – Frustrated in Los Angeles

Dear Frustrated, Not everyone likes to celebrate the reason for the season, but that doesn’t mean you have to forgo the festivities. Instead of a Christmas tree in the living room, try an oak tree or ficus plant as “holiday herbage.” You can start a cozy fire, not with a yule log, but with a “fuel log.” She and you can exchange gifts, not Christmas presents, but “bribes.” There are all kinds of ways to keep the Christmas spirit alive, even without traditional practices!

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