Volume XI, Issue 2

A Higher Calling

swept up. This is not to say that many do not willfully adopt the attitudes of political correctness, but it is to say that it is the "spirit o f t he t imes" , o r t he "default position." Political correctness is an offense against truth. It pressures us through fear to say what is clearly untrue, or to avoid saying what clearly is true. This intimi-dation is perhaps nowhere so full grown as in the classrooms of most universities. In Dinesh D'Souzas book, Letters to a Young Conservative, he gives

Whether we admit it or not, most of us have been manipulated by propaganda, coercion and fear to adopt certain attitudes deemed appropriate by the "liberal intelli-gentsia". If we submit to these ideas and attitudes we are consid-ered politically correct. If we re-fuse, we are politically incorrect. Chances are that if you are not willfully resisting the strong cur-rent of political correctness, you are living according to its man-dates. Its influences are strong like the rapids of a river; only those who resist it will not be

The GGGGadfly

three major issues that are domi-nated by the fear and pressure of political correctness, namely is-sues of race, feminism, and ho-mosexuality. For example, many college students are taught by there pro-fessors that America must still be a racist nation because a dispro-portionate number of young black males are in trouble with the law than young white males. If a student was to suggest that perhaps this is so because young black males commit more violent crimes than young white males,

(Continued on page 4)

Free Your MindFree Your MindFree Your MindFree Your Mind

I know that men studying for

the priesthood are already

pretty hard core, but I would

like to ask them to consider

adding a greater sacrifice to

their vocation. I ask them to

consider becoming a military

chaplain.

Before you ask if I moonlight as

a recruiter, let me just say that

the American Armed Forces are

experiencing a dearth of priests

at this moment, especially the

Air Force. Right now, there are

only 40 priests in the entire U.S

Air Force. This is in a community

of 327,452! In fact, there are

few to no priests in stateside

bases. Almost all of them are

deployed in overseas assignments,

many of them downrange. At my

home base of Ramstein in Ger-

many, we have two priests, one of

whom is usually deployed to Iraq,

serving four parishes.

Our soldiers in combat zones are

especially suffering from this lack

of priests. Many airmen have gone

three months without hearing

Mass or receiving the Eucharist, let

alone confession. Can you imagine

being in a life or death situation

without having heard Mass in three

months? When my father served in

Sarajevo, he went to Mass at a

Croatian monastery. Soldiers in

Iraq and Afghanistan do not have

this option.

Many of us here at Franciscan

claim to be anti-war, and maybe

joining the military would be

contrary to your values. But

frankly everyone is anti-war,

especially soldiers, and they

need the Sacraments just like

you.

When you become a priest,

your bishop has to okay your

joining the military, so this is

not entirely your decision. But

please consider the military and

ask your bishop about it when

you become ordained. Just re-

member to join the Air Force.

You want to be with the smart

people, don’t you?

~G.L.

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

Vol. XI, Iss. II

September 22, 2009

St. Clare, pray for us!

Okay, so you won’t dry up and turn

into a skeleton if you do, as we say

in the old country, “choose

poorly,” but you will receive many

nasty glares from a certain literary

notable.

Think of it as the parable of the

talents. One man did nothing with

his talents (i.e. complain about

campus, but never, ever write to

the Gadfly) and he was dealt with

rather roughly. Something about

wailing and gnashing of teeth, if I

remember correctly. And then

there was the one who used his

talents well, (ie wrote for the Gad-

fly), and was well rewarded by a

certain somebody. So basically

what I am trying to say is: write for

the Gadfly…or go to hell.

Enjoy!

Staff:

Every day, I walk past Christ the King Chapel, cross myself, and smile. No, I’m not going in. I don’t have time. Class is over for the day. Time to go blow something up. No, no, not literally. I rather like this campus, and I don’t wish to be forcibly removed from it. At least not for improper use of explosives. Maybe for something else, some-thing even more epic. But that is not this day. This day, I Brawl. For I am a female gamer: one of the valiant souls who dares brave the depths of Francis Hall, climb to its summit, and battle against the elite, all to the triumphant (and of-

ten bemused) proclamation of “Lady in the hall.” The ironic thing is, I never even saw it coming. Sure, in high school a lot of peo-ple called me a geek. But I didn’t think of myself that way. No, I was an intellectual. I didn’t play Dun-geons and Dragons. I thought otaku was some kind of food. Heck, I had never even held a game controller. I was 100 percent n00b and I knew it. Then, somewhere along the line, I converted to Catholicism and wound up here: Franciscan Univer-sity of Why-Did-I-Choose-This-School-Over-Harvard. And I was transformed.

Continued on page 7

Interested in joining our staff? Email us at

[email protected]

~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 Fran-ciscan University. It aims to be a forum for open, well-thought out, and honest discussion to-wards the end of knowing and loving truth in its most robust

sense.

Dr. John White Advisor Extraordinaire

Advisor:

Look, here’s the thing

Embracing the Game System:Embracing the Game System:Embracing the Game System:Embracing the Game System: How Catholicism Introduced Me to My Geeky Side

The way the world works today is

very, very wrong. We all know that.

To paraphrase that notable sage,

Noel Gallagher: we all know life is

terrible; there is no reason to keep

singing about it. But what do we do

to change this miserable world?

Well, little grasshopper, there are

two paths before you. Only one of

these paths can be the right one

for you and only you can choose.

Path A: You can complain about it.

You can take the Radiohead path

and whine about the injustices in

the world and annoy the pants off

those around you.

Path B: You can write funny articles

about it! Yes, this is a possibility!

You can write funny articles about

it and send it to the Gadfly for all

the student body to read.

Michael J. Ruszala (M.R.) Amanda LaMuro (A.M.)

Tony Leccecce (T.L.) Emilyn Haremza (E.H.)

Liz Norton (D.T.A.)

Layout Editor: Rosalie Doudna (R.D.)

Business Manager:

Charles Pobee-Mensah (C.P.M.)

Editor in Chief: Gillian LaMuro (G.L.)

** Please note that the views

held in the individual articles do not necessarily express the views

of the whole staff. **

“Caesar having eaten his

Wheaties, the soldiers were

elated.” ~Dr. Joseph Almeda, on participles

St. Martha, pray for us!

Professor Quotes

of the Week:

Here at Franciscan, cars are plas-tered with evangelistic and Pro-Life bumper stickers – and an occasional papal flag. Cars outside Franciscan are not always so fortunate. I recall one in particular languishing under an array of uncouth and misguided messages – stickers like this: “Church plus State equals Taliban,” “The Spanish Inquisition was a faith based initiative,” and “Let's keep theocracy out of our democracy.” Faith and politics is an important and heated topic. Whereas President Obama argues in Audacity to Hope that religion should not be allowed to seep into politics, Pope Benedict teaches in Caritas in Veritate that “adhering to the values of Christian-ity is not merely useful but essential for building a good society and for true integral human develop-ment” (no. 4). Perhaps at Franciscan, the idea that faith can speak to poli-tics is not a hard sell. But perhaps we could use a better and clearer un-derstanding of it. Begun in the days of Con-stantine and reinforced by Charle-magne, the Christendom project of church and state unity ultimately failed because of the frailty of hu-man nature. Whereas the two were intended to freely govern in their own respective realms – spiritual and temporal (see John Laux's Church History) – in effect the one dominated the other, and the direc-tion largely depended on force of personality or resources. After the Enlightenment, democracies in the West tended to emphasize the sepa-ration of church and state. Up to the mid 19th century, popes such as Gregory XVI looked unfavorably on

democracy partly because of its as-sociation with the bloody and irre-ligious French Revolution as well as because of the danger of placing truth on the same level with error for public vote. But by the late 19th century, Pope Leo XIII, taking prin-ciples from St. Thomas, taught that any form of government given the consent of the governed – even the French Republic – was to be con-sidered a legitimate authority. He even encouraged French Catholics to become patriotic towards their new Republican government. Here in America, the Founding Fathers, in adopting the First Amendment prohibiting the U.S. Government from “respecting the establishment of religion, or forbidding the free exercise thereof,” did not intend a godless state, but simply one with-out an official religion. After all, the whole argument of the Declara-tion of Independence is unequivo-cally rooted in God as guarantor of

The Catholic Church today, in the development of thought on the free-dom and the formation of con-science through Vatican II, does not so much desire a unity of church and state as it does a rise of lay Catholic politicians forming public policy through rational principles informed by a Christian conscience – conscience being a dictate of practical (moral) reason (see Vati-can II's Dignitatis Humanae, Gaudium et Spes, and St. Thomas). There are three levels of action in the Church. The first is direct action of the hierarchy, which may rightly

(Continued on next page)

Catholic Conscience in the Public Square

Don’t be Squished.

Have your say.

[email protected]

St. Radegunde, pray for us!

Continued from page 1

he would be in grave danger of being called a racist and his com-ment would be dismissed as a stereotype, even though there is much evidence to support this claim. Thus, many students would be scared to even suggest it. Also, during class discussions on women in the military, it would be difficult for someone to bring up the relevant fact that women are not as physically strong as men, without being de-monized as a sexist. During a dis-

cussion on AIDS, it would be very risky for someone in a lib-eral classroom to bring up the fact that it is much more preva-lent among homosexuals. He would be considered of course a homophobe. Anyone who loves the truth and believes in the liberty to pur-sue the truth even if people get "offended" along the way, can see the danger in political cor-rectness. No one ought to ever pressure us away from pursuing the truth. We must resist with all

that we have. We also ought not believe that because we are Catholic we are immune from political correctness. Sometimes our misguided desires to "love" and be "compassionate" can cause us to look away from the obvious inequalities and evils of certain groups so as to not offend anyone. We must love all men, but we must love them in the truth, for in truth we can love them properly. This is what Po-litical correctness destroys. ~T.L

[email protected]

Pop Culture Seminar Quote:

“All those moments will be lost in time… like

tears in the rain…”

Blade Runner 1982

Did you hear about the black bear on campus this summer?

No, what about it?

It just appeared on the hill one day. It was huge! People saw it all over!

Whoa, that’s pretty scary!

Yeah, but one day it just ran away. Almost like something chased it off.

Weird. I wonder what happened.

“Tripod, Legendary Guardian of Our Campus”

-KCK

Dear Emmie,

St. John, pray for us!

Dear Readers, Another school year is upon us, summer is coming to an end, classes are starting, and the guys and gals of Franciscan are giddy with the possibility of finding their new flame this semester. So as I watch a bunch of you aim-lessly wander around looking for Mr./Mrs. Right, I wish to provide you with some pearls of wisdom I believe will help on this en-deavor. And pay attention be-cause I’m pretty sure I’m about to correct some myths on cam-pus. 1) Guys don’t be afraid to and make sure you use the word DATE. Saying “Hey you wanna watch a movie?” is NOT I repeat NOT asking a girl on a date. What if you’re already friends with her. Think about what will be going through her head. Does he like me, does he not like me, what does watch a movie mean? There seems to be a myth in the male community that women are scared by the word date. This is false. If a woman wants to date, the word does not scare her. And trust me, once a girl has reached a certain age, date isn’t even one of the scariest words she’ll hear. So guys repeat after me. “Would you like to go out on a date?” 2) Ladies, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, don’t be afraid to say

When she stops to ask herself the questions all smart Christian women ask themselves about the man they are dating I’m sure you’ll do just fine. “Will he be a good provider for me and my children? Well, he did take me to that free on-campus event.” Yeah. Men, you wanna win over a girl? Show some effort. 4) Ladies, and this is very im-portant, STOP OBSESSING! I feel I cannot reiterate this enough on behalf of the men on campus. Your focus right now should be being a student and not who you may or may not end up marrying and when you’ll find him. The older you get the more you’ll realize you’re not on you’re own time table, you’re on God’s. There is nothing that will scare a man away quicker than a women who is desperate. And think about it, how many women do you know who ended up mar-rying some guy they never ex-pected to be there future hus-band. So in honor of the wonder-ful Catholic parents who helped you get to this University, STOP WORRYING ABOUT GET-TING MARRIED AND DO YOUR SCHOOL WORK!!!! Do you have a dating/relationship question for Emmie? Major gripe with what she says? Email her at EHaremza001@

student.franciscan.edu

WRITE! WRITE! WRITE! WRITE! WRITE!

Tell us what you think by emailing: [email protected]

no. You are not going to kill him, he is not going to become a priest because of you, you are not going be the girl he hates for the rest of his life. IF YOU DO IT RIGHT. There’s never any reason to be cruel to anyone. And let’s face it, if you feel called to marriage, and are dating, there are going to be men who ask you out that you have no interest in whatsoever. So don’t freak out, a nice smile and a “No Thank You” is just fine. Every woman knows it’s easier said than done, but once you say no you are that much closer to finding the man you were really meant to be with. But remember Let your yes mean yes and your no no, so don’t gripe when he finds someone else. This is one of those things in life which is so much harder to say than do, but take it from someone who knows, saying no is a lot better than looking back and go-ing “what was I thinking!?” 3) Guys, unless you are some sort of starving under-classesman PAY FOR A DATE. It’s not that hard and for goodness sakes let the girl see some effort! If she’s in college chances are good that she’s already been on a couple of dates, WHERE THE GUY PAID! And do you really wanna be the man that took her to the EXC!TE function? She’ll be all over that.

St. Thomas Aquinas, pray for us!

liance on lay consciences informed by philosophical truths, Catholics have also been successful in mak-ing dialogue in the public square. Evangelical Protestant writer Joel Belz notes in World that Catholics – such as Chief Justice Roberts – have largely been more successful than Protestants in advocating the Pro-Life cause in the public square precisely because while Protes-tants refer to the Bible, Catholics are ready to argue primarily from rational principles of an informed conscience – something aided by philosophy and checked by faith and the magisterium. In conclusion, while the Catholic Church does not neces-sarily look to restore the unity of church and state because of the circumstances of our fallen world and the contemporary social envi-ronment, she does call upon lay Catholics to rise up, drink deeply from the Church's doctrine on man and society, study its philosophical foundations for dialogue with non-Christians, and engage sympatheti-cally but rigorously in debate in the public square to further the spread of God's kingdom. ~M.J.R.

Catholic Conscience, continued from page 3

be called an action of the Church, as may the second, which involves the action of lay people directly supervised by the hierarchy. But the third type of action is simply that of a Catholic acting according to the principles of his Catholic conscience. This is not really an action of the Church – but this is exactly the type of action the Church calls Catholics in the pub-lic square to perform (Fogarty, Christian Democracy). Looking back to Leo XIII's social doctrine in Rerum Novarum, which was largely rooted in the natural law philosophy of St. Tho-mas, and to the Holy Father's call for Catholics to engage for perhaps the first time in the debate in the democratic public square, a group of lay Catholics in Europe founded the Union of Christian Democrats. This political party, clearly distin-guished from the Roman Catholic Church since it was simply formed through individual Catholic con-sciences, was open to other Chris-tians and people of good will with the particular aim of approaching politics with a Christian con-science. The party cut across the

distinctions we are used to in America as it was socially conser-vative in upholding tradition and morality but fiscally progressive to further social justice (Wikipedia). Standing on a foundation of natu-ral law philosophy and human dig-nity and responsibility, the party opposed the radical right wing Nazi party on one hand and the radical left wing Communist party on the other, and assisted greatly with the rebuilding of Europe and its political and social structures after World War II (Time). Unfor-tunately, Europe largely fell prey to the opposition from the side of atheistic socialists and secularists. But interestingly, in Germany, which is much more secular and pluralistic than America, the only two parties successful at nominat-ing chancellors have been the Christian Democrats and the So-cialists (Wikipedia). In fact, the current chancellor, Angela Merkel, is a Christian Democrat. If a plu-ralistic society chooses to elect a politician who claims to operate with a kind of Christian con-science in office, what should pre-vent them from doing so? In America, thanks to a re

Why limit yourself to the ordinary when you Why limit yourself to the ordinary when you Why limit yourself to the ordinary when you Why limit yourself to the ordinary when you

could experience the extraordinary?could experience the extraordinary?could experience the extraordinary?could experience the extraordinary?

Immerse yourself in centuries of tradition this Sunday, Immerse yourself in centuries of tradition this Sunday, Immerse yourself in centuries of tradition this Sunday, Immerse yourself in centuries of tradition this Sunday,

4 p.m. in Christ the King Chapel, for the 4 p.m. in Christ the King Chapel, for the 4 p.m. in Christ the King Chapel, for the 4 p.m. in Christ the King Chapel, for the

Extraordinary Form High Mass!Extraordinary Form High Mass!Extraordinary Form High Mass!Extraordinary Form High Mass!

St. Teresa of Avila, pray for us!

Extra Credit

A woodchuck would chuck only one less than half of what he should chuck. However, he could chuck four more than the sum of what he would and should chuck. If he wanted, he could chuck two less than twice what he should chuck. How much wood would the woodchuck chuck?

Yeah, I was transformed by Christ and all that, but that’s not what I’m talking about. By the end of my freshman year, I had be-come an Omnigeek. And it wasn’t a gradual change, either. It was abrupt and downright scary, like a second puberty coupled with a se-rious drug addiction. I was hooked and hormonal before I even real-ized it. So how did such a conservative campus take one bookworm and produce a die-casting, stealth-hammering, Pocky-eating mutant like me? It’s simple, really. Take a look at our student population. Look at ten members of the stu-dent body. Any ten. I’d predict that at least six or seven were home-schooled. Eight probably have more than one sibling. And more than half are probably geeks, even if they haven’t “come out of the basement” yet. Why do these statistics matter? Because geeks require acceptance (that means other geeks or geek sympathizers) to thrive. And large, tight-knit families provide that bet-ter than any after-school game ses-sion ever will. The very nature of the family units that raised our stu-dent body predisposed this “geeksplosion.” And those who

What’s

YOUR

horse?

Join the Gadfly in our mission to “Bite the sleeping horse”… send your articles

to [email protected]

are not yet geeks will eventually become so under the influence of those who were raised that way. But don’t panic. This may sound like a description of the impending zombie apocalypse (for which we geeks have more than one contin-gency plan, never fear), but I be-lieve it’s actually a good thing. Why? Because geeks make better Christians. I mean it. Talk all you will about the potential evils of geek-dom: the atheism and heathenism rampant in alternate worlds, the dangers of obsession, and even the lack of hygiene. The benefits greatly outweigh the negative as-pects. Geeks are naturally chival-rous and passionate people who believe what they believe strongly and stubbornly. Geeks don’t back down, but choose their battles wisely. And geeks are very, very persuasive. Isn’t that exactly the kind of person you want in your church? I thought so. I would explain further, but I’ve got to run. I just discovered a new web comic and I have to read through five years of archives so I can be up to date. God bless! ~D.T.A.

Answer: w = 4

begin to understand some of the so-cial despair at this school. In addi-tion, having a low ratio of men on campus will sometimes leave even the well-formed women on campus either confused or in despair. The smartest commentators on Christian dating will tell you that men have to be leaders. They recog-nize that fathers are the main vein in the family and that this mirrors God’s relationship in the trinity as well as Christ’s relationship with the Church. As leaders, or perhaps lead-ers in training, men at Franciscan also need to be leaders when initiat-ing relationships. I remember being shocked when I began hearing many beautiful, well-formed women on campus who desire and feel called toward marriage tell me about how they have never been asked out on a date at Franciscan. Furthermore I often hear of couples who only be-come so because they’ve been spending so much time together that people start accusing them of being a couple and then they somehow awkwardly slide into a relationship. While entering into a relationship in this way does sometimes work out in the end, many girls will find themselves hurt, confused, or mis-lead when a man doesn’t state things clearly, and take a decisive role in initiating things. The hard truth is that many of us can at times be un-sure of how we feel, afraid of rejec-tion, unsure of how the other person feels, or even unsure of how to say what it is that we want. We as men need to be deliberate about our ac-tions. By simply asking a girl out with clear and direct language we are engaging in a form of leadership that every woman on campus can appreciate. Understand that if the woman is properly formed then she

It doesn’t take much for us to notice that the dating scene on our campus is… well… special. On the one hand we should be proud of this fact. On a Christian campus we really don’t want our dating to look like it does on most secular campuses. We hope to see couples who are chaste, prayerful and who consider marriage to be a real possibility in their fu-tures, if not a specific calling that they are responding too. Most of us, however, also recognize the awk-ward and rocky starts to all of the flirting, courting, and dating that will happen on campus. In address-ing the men on campus I would like to offer some thoughts and ideas on dating that, for some, may prove to be a big help when deciding to take steps toward a relationship. Those of us who are familiar with John Eldredge’s hit book “Wild at Heart” may remember feeling like he understood the Christian male problem perfectly, especially when he addresses the lies that Christian men often believe. In his book he states, “The problem with men, we are told, is that they don’t know how to keep their promises, be spiritual leaders, talk to their wives, or raise their children. But, if they will try real hard they can reach the lofty summit of becoming... a nice guy” (Italics added). Eldredge goes on to produce a wonderful report on how Christian men often are trying to become what pretty much amounts to being a pansy like Jesus, rather than being a warrior like Je-sus. Eldredge correctly identified this as a mistake. I find that when you apply this concept to the dating scene at Franciscan, where there are a lot of men trying to be like Jesus but few who have been well-formed and know how to do it properly, you

Christian Dating for Men (part 1) expects you to lead with this type of clarity. Think about it. The clearer you are about how you feel, the more direct of an answer you will get from the girl. We open ourselves up to rejection and acceptance equally by taking a change and ad-mitting how we feel. That is what Christ did when he became incar-nate, and he was both accepted and rejected during his time on Earth. Perhaps you simply want to go on an innocent coffee date just to get to know one another better. Maybe you’d like to pursue a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship with someone that you suspect feels the same. Whatever the case, the task of stat-ing it clearly to the woman forces you to ponder just what it is that you want. It forces you to take action as a leader and put yourself up for re-jection just as Christ did. It forces you to be a leader and a man just a little bit more. And it also forces her to give you a clear answer so that the both of you can avoid the rela-tionship limbo of Franciscan Uni-versity and get on with zeroing in on you vocations. If you want to ask a woman out on a date, then use the word “date” when you do it; if you don’t, then don’t spend tons of time with her or give her special atten-tion. You could easily lead girls on without knowing it or give other guys the impression that you’re in-terested in her while they mistakenly back off. The negative repercussions could be vast, but it’s ultimately in our hands as men and leaders, to keep our words and actions crisp and clear, so that woman can feel safe and confident knowing that there are real men on campus who are not afraid to let her know that he’s noticed her. Happy dating. ~C.P.M.

g{x _táà jÉÜw ÉÇAAA

Volume XI, Issue 2

Documents

Transcript of Volume XI, Issue 2