Opinion

The lost department

My figure drawing teacher gets coffee at Starbucks in LaFun every morning. One day he came to class and told us about his barista that particular day. She asked if he was a student. I'm guessing he laughed at that and said no, he taught drawing and painting. This girl, allegedly, was amazed and said something to the effect of, "Oh, cool! I didn't know we had that!" and he responded, "Umm, we have an art department." At this she was all "Nuh uh! No we don't!" Jason probably felt like responding "No, you're right. I lied. I haven't devoted a chunk of my life to the Notre Dame Department of Art, Art History and Design. I just come in everyday at 8 a.m. to get coffee and then bum around campus, sleeping in the bushes and chasing squirrels. I just made up that art professor crap." But being somewhat tactful, he said something like, "No really. Our building, Riley, it's connected to Nieuwland." To which she continued to look skeptical.

A positive-sum mentality

From the factory to the gridiron

Frivolities left and right

Last week was it.

Sharing the magic

Be there for the Notre Dame family

The Avengers and U.S. foreign policy

I saw "The Avengers" when it played as the SUB movie a couple of weeks ago. In addition to gratuitous amounts of magical and technological destruction, the movie contained one very striking scene. In it, Loki, the movie's main villain, commands a group of innocent bystanders to kneel before him outside of a museum in Germany.

A call to action

It's Eating Disorder Awareness Week on our campus. Let's talk about body image. As Notre Dame students, we are perfectionists. As perfectionists, we notice imperfections and are critical of them. We are constantly critiquing ourselves and others, and this mentality sets all of us up for discontentment as we strive to attain an unattainable standard.

Copycat

Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. I did not come up with that idea - Charles Caleb Colton did, around the start of the nineteenth century. Although I'm sure he wouldn't mind me using his idea, he would mind if I didn't show that it was his originally, because humans are prideful beings.

Student integrity

After years of losses and mediocre seasons, it's hard to believe that our football team is finally 4-0. During these times I realize how strong and close the Notre Dame community truly is. The way the fans cheer for the team shows how much we all love and support one another. It's hard to not feel moved when the senior class unveils the Irish flag, when the marching band plays the alma mater and when the student body wears leis in honor of MantiTe'o.

Michigan's Frankenstein

"Frankenstein," Mary Shelly's iconic Gothic horror tale, has been embellished throughout the literary and artistic worlds since its first publication in the early 1800s. Behind the novel's plot lies Victor Frankenstein who, from an early age attempts to instill life into lifeless bodies. Eventually, when his creature is finally born, the replicated beauty he anticipates is in fact a stomach-turning hideous monster. What began with the noblest of intentions becomes an abject fiend. In Michigan, a similarly monstrous statewide referendum simmers atop their November ballot. Voters will decide whether to overturn Public Act 4, the state's so-called Emergency Manager Law. Under this act, the state government - like Frankenstein himself - attempts to breathe new life into fiscally lifeless communities through a brutal control process. The ill-conceived law thrusts conflict into local communities by bestowing broad, unbridled, unilateral power upon a solitary state appointee who wrestles authority away from the locally elected officials in a city or school district. A released poll this week from the Lansing-based firm, Marketing Resource Group, found Republicans (62 percent) overwhelming favor appointing emergency czars as compared to supportive Democrats (29 percent). The GOP views the law as a way to improve depressed regions in Michigan. Conversely, Democrats believe emergency managers spuriously overreach into the sovereign jurisdiction of local communities. Ironically, both sides cite the current widespread deployment of this Michigan monster to support themselves. Today, state appointees are in place controlling the operations of the cities of Benton Harbor, Ecorse, Flint and Pontiac while Detroit, Inkster and River Rouge operate under consent agreements. The public school districts in Detroit, Highland Park and Muskegon Heights are also under the total control of these state-appointed "emergency" managers who unnecessarily swoop in with almost absolute powers. Unfortunately, these managers routinely seize all daily operational responsibility from duly elected officials or impose operational guidelines through strict consent agreements. Like Frankenstein's grotesque monster, these managers extract the local soul from traditional community self-rule procedures. This Michigan approach of granting unfettered authority to an outsider is fundamentally undemocratic. The act as it currently stands is wrong on two fronts. First, it is absolutely un-American to enshrine a sole czar who can goosestep into a community and usurp the will of the electorate by hijacking the duties of duly elected public representatives. Our nation's history is littered with wars in which our forefathers sacrificed their lives to stand against such principles. Secondly, the emergency manager's authority should not allow for any one individual to personally establish initiatives within a community to solve a fiscal crisis. The manager's role should be modeled on the process established in the Voting Rights Act whereby the courts and U.S. Justice Department have oversight through an approval or veto authority. It is essential for the locally elected representatives to decide which methods best reduce costs in reaching a benchmark, not for the emergency manager to dictate policy. A city council member, school board member and mayor - always accountable to the voting citizenry - must decide which difficult path to walk while balancing choices like closing down a library as opposed to reducing the police force ranks. Such measured and balanced approaches avoid potentially hostile conflicts like when a Detroit-based czar tries to dictate policy cuts to an Upper Peninsula community, or vice versa. One needs to look no farther than at two states' recent but differing attempts to close budget deficits. The labor-friendly Maryland governor invited labor to the negotiating table while the Wisconsin governor attacked the entire public sector union structure through a contentious fight followed by a chaotic recall process. Both states ultimately reduced their deficits, albeit with quite opposite public goodwill. Authoritarian conflict need not be the fabric upon which Public Act 4 currently creates a combative atmosphere. Local communities must decide how to meet financial goals within established timelines rather than allow outside czars to force a political or personal or foreign philosophy upon their community ideals. Moreover, to perfect Public Act 4, a new mandate must exist that requires elected officials to fulfill their duties in good faith under predetermined statewide guidelines or face their own recall and removal. Emergency managers - or for larger municipalities, control boards - must partner with localities to reach budgetary goals through an approval or veto process. Never should one person individually or unilaterally dictate specific policy to an elected body on how to achieve bottom-line benchmarks. Voiding the Emergency Manager Law allows for a much-needed rewrite or "Young Frankenstein" revision - guiding localities through a fiscal crisis while engaging local officials to make hard decisions. Elected officials must choose methods that are never the antithesis of their local community values or traditions. That sensible solution always stimulates the type of happy singing that ended the "Young Frankenstein" movie as it faded to a closed.

The Notre Dame family

It's a phrase tossed around like a pigskin on campus: "The Notre Dame family." We've heard it before we were students from our admissions office tour guides. We heard it all during freshmen orientation. You probably hear it bandied about on a regular basis. And for those whose parents attended the University, they've been hearing it their entire life. But the Notre Dame family isn't just a phrase to pad tour guides' itineraries or sell the University to prospective students. It is the backbone of the University. We see it in the actions of students, professors and staff every single day. Our family is a part of who we are as the University of Notre Dame, just like football or exceptional academics. If you ever doubted the power of the Notre Dame family beyond just being a phrase, look no further than last weekend's football game against Michigan State - and then look forward to this Saturday night's matchup versus Michigan. Days before the team was set to square off against the Spartans, senior linebacker MantiTe'o's grandmother and girlfriend both passed away. Manti suited up for the game and played with the heart of a champion, registering 12 tackles in the Irish victory. After the game, Te'o was asked if the game could have gone any better. "Yeah, I could call my girlfriend right now and talk about the game," he said. "But I've just got to get on my knees, say a prayer and I can talk to her that way."Te'o's teammates and coaches were there for him, naturally. But the Notre Dame fans who made the trip to East Lansing, Mich., also were there to support Manti, cheering his name throughout the game. The 12 tackles were nice, as was the win. But right then and there, Irish fans weren't cheering onward to victory. They were there as family, supporting one of their own. Saturday, we'll see this in action again. Thousands of students, alumni and fans alike are planning to sport leis to the long-awaited matchup against archrival Michigan. This game is special more than just because it's against Michigan or because it's a night game. This game will be a display of the power of Notre Dame. These leis go beyond showing support for Manti in what is an unimaginably difficult series of days. They are a show of solidarity and gratitude, for putting so much into the University in a time of such sadness. They are a display of family, because that's what family does - stand behind the brave, support the suffering and thank the selfless. This game means a lot on the field for the Irish. But it means even more off of it. We must also take something away from the game Saturday - a reminder of how important family is to Notre Dame. Without it, we're a university. With it, we're the University. Manti Te'o isn't the only one on campus going through struggles. Just because he puts it all on the line on the field, does not mean he is more a part of the Notre Dame family than anyone else. Remember that suffering knows no names. Whether they are fellow members of our residence halls, clubs or classmates, professors or staff members, rectors or roommates, everyone who is a part of Notre Dame is family to us. In times of need, that means supporting them unconditionally. Surprisingly, for some Notre Dame fans, football is secondary. When we came to the University, we may not have been able to tell a touchdown from a touchback. But family is natural for us. Family is universal here. Without family, we wouldn't be the University of Notre Dame.

Celebrate life!

Dear Ms. Sullivan, Thank you for voicing your concerns about our club and the use of Dr. Seuss' quote. Our intent in using the Dr. Seuss quote was to promote the idea that everyone has value and that value is not dependent on size, capabilities, age or talent. We support and celebrate life from conception until natural death. To that end, our club participates in volunteering at Hannah and Friends, Hannah's House, The Women's Care Center, and Portage Manor. Upholding the sanctity of all human life is the mission of our club and for that reason our club T-shirts this year feature Matthew Kelly's quote, "The best way to defend life, is to celebrate life. We would like to invite you and the entire Notre Dame family to learn more about our club. Our next meeting will be announced on our website, nd.edu/~prolife. We would love to discuss more fully our club and our mission. Please join us in celebrating the value and joy of life in all its stages.Dear Ms. Sullivan, Thank you for voicing your concerns about our club and the use of Dr. Seuss' quote. Our intent in using the Dr. Seuss quote was to promote the idea that everyone has value and that value is not dependent on size, capabilities, age or talent. We support and celebrate life from conception until natural death. To that end, our club participates in volunteering at Hannah and Friends, Hannah's House, The Women's Care Center, and Portage Manor. Upholding the sanctity of all human life is the mission of our club and for that reason our club T-shirts this year feature Matthew Kelly's quote, "The best way to defend life, is to celebrate life." We would like to invite you and the entire Notre Dame family to learn more about our club. Our next meeting will be announced on our website, nd.edu/~prolife. We would love to discuss more fully our club and our mission. Please join us in celebrating the value and joy of life in all its stages.

Just friends

Second semester of my senior year in high school, I decided I would write down some of the things I most strongly believe in. I felt that my beliefs would be challenged in college and I needed intellectual responses of why I believed what I did. One of the things I firmly believe in is that boys and girls can be friends - just friends. I do not think that during the friendship they cannot fall for one another, care very deeply for each other or realize that they should be together. I'm not denying that there is most often an addition feelings than "just friends." Nonetheless, I think through self control and being circumspect, everyone is perfectly able to have a healthy friendship with a person of the opposite gender. Dave Matthew's band sang: "A guy and a girl can be just friends, but at one point or another, they will fall for each other. Maybe temporarily, maybe at the wrong, maybe too late, or maybe forever". Aristotle says in his Nicomachean Ethics, "It is, therefore, in the friendship of good men that feelings of affection and friendship exist in their highest and best form." All that needs to exist is trust, affection, and good will in order for friendship thrive - regardless of gender.

Sisters are friends

Ms. Galassini, Your column ("Sisters for life," Sept. 18) on sorority life in other schools was arragont, pretentious and extremely ignorant. And here is why. Going to college is hard. It is hard to be forced to leave high school where one has usually developed a relativly comfortable social scene and be thrust into a complelty different environment and instructed simply "make friends."  Therefore, one socially rational person will use all the resources available so as to not spend the next four years of their life alone and miserable. It was hard for me, it was hard for the friends I have made and if you cannot empathize then you must be Miss Popular McPopularson or whatever. Every college is different and thus the social structure of the university is different. One way to make friends at another school is not better than ours. Belitting those friendships made in sororities and fraternities by stating  hings like "Nor did I have to fake my way into friendships that I will later pay for" is extremely ignorant of the bonds that they share. I would really like to know how you got the information on how friendships are formed in other schools while you are sitting on your laptop judging them through the internet. Furthermore, you continue to put down Greek Life at other schools because it "bothers" you on Facebook. You state "Go ahead and make a status or profile picture ... don't make me decipher Greek puzzles though." This is laughably judgmental and pretentious. No one is making you do anything on Facebook. These college freshmen are engaging in a perfectly natural human action which is trying to find comfort in a situation where they are extremely scared. Your article struck a chord with me because my sister is a freshman at Villanova and is going through this sorority process. She could literally dominate my newsfeed of her sorority sisters 24 hours a day, seven days a week with all her new friends doing sorority squats in a courtyard making Greek letters with their hands and I would be the happiest person. It would mean she is making friends and will eventually leave that extremely scary time of the first few weeks of college which I hated. Have some compassion and realize the other people in the world besides you. Ryan Zurcher senior off campus Sept. 18

Where do we draw the line?

Like most other sports, running has its share of scandal and controversy. For instance, a quick Internet search of the phrase "bandit running" produces over 15 million results, with hundreds of opinionated blogs debating the ethics of running a race as a "bandit." For those who have never heard the term, or for those who have more important things to do than read the USA Track and Field "Road Racing Rules and Etiquette" guide, bandit running may be defined as participating in a race without registering for it. According to said USATF guide, "The term 'thief' would be more appropriate. These uncaring individuals cause numerous problems for race officials at the start, during and at the finish of a road race." Runners' opinions of bandits vary. Some race directors bemoan the extra, unaccounted-for numbers of runners on already crowded city streets, and the draining of resources by unregistered runners who take a swig of Gatorade or swipe a bagel from the finisher's table. However, other races, the Boston Marathon included, allow and even acknowledge bandits. Despite not receiving a medal, official time, certificate or t-shirt, thousands of people run the Boston Marathon unregistered. They may have planned to run the race all year, and then missed the qualifying time by two seconds, or they may jump in to run the last 6.2 miles with a son or daughter. Since the 1970s, a dedicated group of runners and artists has "bandited" the Boston Marathon. They run in the back of the pack, and call themselves the "Red Snakes," because, as director Gary Tucker says, "They're hard to kill, and very passionate." Runners sure are a passionate bunch, which may be why they get so fired up about the latest polemical topic in their sport. Most recently, the Chicago Marathon has been a subject of conversation for its decision to ban Lance Armstrong from running the marathon this October.  According to race officials, Armstrong had never formally registered for the race, but would have run as a member of Livestrong's charity team, part of a fundraiser for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Just a few weeks ago, Lance Armstrong surrendered in his fight against charges that he had used performance-enhancing drugs throughout his career. In a statement, Armstrong said, "There comes a point in every man's life when he has to say, 'Enough is enough.'  For me, that time is now." According to Armstrong, "this nonsense" had simply taken too much of a toll on his family and his efforts for his cancer foundation. According to the World Anti-Doping Code, Armstrong's decision will strip him of his seven Tour de France titles, his bronze medal from the 2000 Olympics, and all other titles, awards and money won since August 1998. Furthermore, and of significance to the Chicago Marathon, Armstrong will also be barred for life from competing, coaching or having any official role with any sport that follows the World Anti-Doping Code.               Brett Cavanaugh, a Notre Dame senior, runner and fan of Lance Armstrong since childhood, says, "While I do not support the use of performance-enhancing drugs, I find it unfortunate that Lance will not be allowed to race in Chicago. He was hoping to run to raise money for his foundation. There will be close to 40,000 finishers in Chicago, some of whom are using PEDs. While top finishers will take a drug test after the race, people like you or I do not have to." The Chicago Marathon abides strictly by USATF code. Besides increasing the reputation of the race around the world, USATF sanctions guarantee that race results and records are nationally recognized. These rules and regulations remain the same for all runners, elite or amateur, bandit or non-bandit, performance-enhanced or drug-free. Regardless of one's opinions of performance enhancing drugs, and the charges against Lance Armstrong, the Chicago Marathon's refusal to allow Armstrong to run in this year's race is an undeniable blow against an already broken man.   Carolyn Green is the student director of the Holy Half Marathon. She can be reached at cgreen9@nd.edu     The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

Fickleness

Sports analysts and writers are as fickle as a certain Katy Perry song or Brian Kelly choosing quarterbacks. And on behalf of all sports writers, I would like to formally apologize for our flaw of fickleness. We cannot help it. One week a team is living up to expectations, the next week the same team is irrelevant, overrated and has been lucky up to that point. A week later, this same team, with relatively no changes, is a serious threat. Now at this point, you might think I am talking using a certain team as an example. Well, you are correct.   Last week everyone and their mother, except for good ol' Lou (and Mrs. Holtz of course) chose Michigan State to win. Notre Dame was the away team, had a questionable defense, an unproven quarterback and not enough criminals. But after the 20-3 win over State, Notre Dame was projected to be in the Fiesta Bowl. The defense even lost veteran Jamoris Slaughter in the secondary, but that did not stop analysts from praising Notre Dame this week. Trevor Matich on SportsCenter yesterday said Notre Dame's front seven was second in the nation to Alabama. I understand there is a difference between the front seven and the secondary, but analysts have been talking about the defense as a whole. Kirk Herbstreit has long bashed on Notre Dame in years past, but after the one win we are now relevant again. Why were we irrelevant in the first place, Herby? One could argue that Notre Dame simply proved something this past weekend against a strong team, but does that one game entitle sports writers and analysts to be so wishy-washy. How can someone change his/her mind so quickly?   Now, don't get me wrong, I love the attention Notre Dame is getting. I am excited that our team is playing well and proving all the long-time naysayers wrong. My concern is that all of these naysayers become yaysayers, and Notre Dame loses the chip on its shoulder. I hope the team goes out every week with the mindset that they have to continually prove the hot-and-cold analysts wrong. Maybe, it is the supposed hipster in me, but I have a hard time believing analysts who just last week said we were a second-rate team, now say we are contenders for a BCS game. Notre Dame must have done something really right to make Adam Schefter, a Michigan alum, choose Notre Dame this weekend over his former school. However, there is still Mark May, who I can always count on to continue being a naysayer and keep that chip on Notre Dame's shoulder.

The Kingdom of God is (sort of) at hand

This Sunday, we will hear at Mass the well-known story of how Jesus once took a child, wrapped his arms lovingly around it and told his disciples - who had been busy arguing about which one of them was the greatest - "Whoever wishes to be first, must become the least of all." Of course, there are plenty of meaty theological and spiritual questions that this famous scene evokes for us. What are the distracting effects of pride and selfish ambition in our lives? How am I being called to a life of servant-leadership? What does it mean for adults to become child-like, in such a way that we become more open to God's presence and invitations?  All are important questions. Yet this morning, for some reason, as I read this Gospel scene, I found myself saying, I wonder who that child was?  I wonder how old she was?  Was she alone or with a friend?  What was she doing there, in the house at Capernaum that day? Probably, like most children, she was initially curious when the adults arrived, then bored out of her mind, listening to them argue about adult things, in which she had not the slightest interest. Maybe she was playing, in which case she was probably slightly annoyed at Jesus picking her up, not realizing she was about to be immortalized in a Gospel passage. Or perhaps, as children sometimes do, she was making herself conspicuously noticed, wanting some attention, darting in and out between Peter and Andrew, James and John, kicking their heels or tapping their shoulders, then fleeing away, before Jesus finally nabbed her.   If she was anything like my niece while I am saying a family Mass, she was doing anything but listening to Jesus' homily. In any case - and this seems to be one of the crucial assumptions of this Gospel passage - the child was, to most in the room, a distraction. Secondary. Outside the important group and the important conversation. Marginal. Irrelevant to the weighty matters at hand. Inconsequential. To everyone. Except Jesus. Somehow she caught his attention. And not as an annoyance or a distraction. Rather, somehow, as a sign of the present breaking-forth of the Kingdom of God, right there in the midst of the adults' busy and important and self-centeredly ambitious lives. I'd love to have seen Jesus' eyes the moment he noticed her, surrounded by bickering grown-ups, and recognized she was where his Father was trying to become known at that moment. This is hardly the first time, nor hardly the last, when Jesus' eyes, and then heart, were drawn away from the seemingly urgent arguments and agendas and responsibilities and important people who constantly demanded his attention. Walking with a group of disciples outside the city of Nain, teaching and moderating their religious squabbles, he suddenly heard a woman crying in the distance. He veered off from his group, and encountered the weeping mother, a widow (so of basement social status) following the coffin of her recently deceased and only child (thus, motherless, placing her even lower than the basement), whom he then raised from the dead. It's this Sunday's Gospel, in more urgent and dramatic circumstances. Again, away from the center, away from the immediate busyness of his life, in a seemingly utterly inconsequential, but suffering, person on the absolute margin of life, God's presence burst forth in awesome, death-defying power. A Syrophoenician woman, a leper, Bartimaeus the blind man lying on the side of the road - each of them, the Gospels are careful to note, were not a part of the group that was presently engaging Jesus, when suddenly his attention was drawn to them. In his last moment of life, hanging on the cross, the important people of his world continue to demand his attention: "If you are God, come down from there and save yourself." Jesus' focus? A convicted thief, hanging next to him, drained of all status and identity, almost drained of life. "Today the Kingdom of God will be opened to you." God is present - just not where everybody was looking.  Everybody except Jesus. We thirst for God. We long for God's presence in our lives. Sometimes, we question whether or how God is present. We get bored of waiting, or hardship, or God's apparent silence, seems to knock the faith out of us. We get busy. Really busy. With important and urgent stuff. We often get distracted. (I think that if Sunday's Gospel played out in my life today, I - pathetically - probably would have missed the child, not because I was having a theological argument with my friends, but because I was checking scores on my iPhone.) And yet, through it all, we still thirst. We seek God. Somewhere deep in our being, we hope for the day when the Kingdom of God will bring peace, healing, justice and mercy into our lives and the lives of all people. To us, time and time again, Jesus says, "The Kingdom of God is in your midst." But perhaps, on this one, Jesus can be fairly accused of imprecise language. For the Kingdom of God rarely broke forth in his midst - but usually just off to the side. Have time to look?  This week's Faithpoint is written by Fr. Lou DelFra, ACE director of Pastoral Life and resident of Keenan Hall.  He can be reached at delfra.2@nd.edu     The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

Challenge accepted

In a Letter to the Editor on Sept. 19 ("Catholics and liberals"), readers were challenged to respond to an "irrefutable" contention that "it is not possible to be a liberal and Roman Catholic." And so here I stand. To the author's first argument, I respond that liberals are not encouraged by abortion.  I believe, as many do, that abortions are a tremendous societal tragedy. I believe, however, that combating this tragedy requires that we not ignore its causes, but attempt to assuage its underlying conditions.   In this light, I would refer to a fact that our own Prof. Sebastian Rosato raised during a forum on just this subject:  abortions fell by more under the Clinton (read: liberal) Administration than under the Bush Administration. To his second point, I agree wholeheartedly that private society can do things far more effectively in a broad spectrum of areas.  But private society's reach is not perfect. In some aspects, government can, and I believe, should, positively impact lives. I believe this because it wasn't a desire to marginalize churches and communities that led to Medicare, but rather because private society's handling of the issue led to 50 percent of seniors being uninsured. As a Catholic liberal, I believe in the sanctity of life. I believe in it at all stages. I believe we must continue to care for life after birth, and abandon it neither in its most nascent stages of childhood nor in its final years. I believe government can aid in such endeavors, and thus find no issue with programs such as Medicare or USAID that protect the life of millions. The author contends that to be liberal and Catholic are exclusive. I reject that notion as false. I look to a Catholic vote that has leaned Democratic and do not see legions of faux Catholics. I reflect on our nation's only Catholic President and Vice President, liberals both. Ultimately, I am a liberal. And I am a Catholic. I will vote the former in November, and practice the latter this Sunday in the Siegfried chapel. I invite all to join me in both. Matthew Miklavic sophomore Siegfried Hall Sept. 19

True Catholicism

Mr. Whichard (Catholics and liberals, Sept. 18):I proudly identify as both liberal and Catholic, and every Catholic should, despite the GOP touting its anti-abortion stance. Little to nothing can be done on a federal level on the matter without a constitutional amendment or a flood of state-based legal challenges. You misrepresented the concept of subsidiarity, which is and always must be tied with solidarity ("forced inter-dependency") and recognizes the government's role as essential.  The White House is in opposition to the HHS mandate and conservatives errantly seem to believe that personal charity is a replacement for the requirements of justice. The bishops have clearly identified Ryan's budget as a "moral failure," and Mitt Romney has personally profited from abortions (National Catholic Reporter, August 10). But your original letter has a flawed premise. John Carr, recently retired from the USCCB's Department of Justice, Peace,and Human Development, has often said Catholics are politically homeless; he's right. We do not fit into either political party well. We feel forced to choose between defending the unborn and ignoring the dignity of most others, or accepting abortion as an unavoidable evil while standing up for Scripture's widows and orphans. Neither position is right. Instead, as Archbishop Pates points out, we are called to challenge the paradigm of both parties (America, Aug. 13). We are called to actively engage in public life as lay Catholics, as a prophetic people building the Kingdom. We're called to pursue women's reproductive health while preserving human dignity. We're challenged to be fiscally responsible while forming a "circle of protection" around Christ's "least of these." To suggest otherwise is folly, irresponsible and reprehensible. The culture of life is a seamless garment and should never be distorted by "Don't tread on me" attitudes. We cannot be conservative Catholics, nor liberal, red or blue ones. We must be Catholics - period. Samuel Evola junior O'Neill Hall Sept. 19