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So we're asking the question whether we need Marian apparitions.

And I suppose, I don't know that I intended it as such,

but I suppose it's a provocative topic or a potentially provocative topic on the one hand because

historically trinity is a is a protestant school so it's to kind of lead with a doctrine

espoused by Catholics and found distasteful by many Protestants but it's also something that

many of us feel very strongly about, right? Because

whether anecdotally or kind of historically, for many of us, the Blessed Virgin Mary has played

a signal role in our lives of faith, perhaps in our conversions, or in the conversions of

members of our families, or of our friends. So we're deeply invested.

I don't know if you ever had the experience where you go to a lecture and you're already

thinking to yourself if he says, you know, fill in the blank with whatever act of violence

you find most suitable for the occasion. Right. So I don't know that I intended it as a provocative topic,

but I can see how it might be a provocative topic. But I'd like to take it really as an occasion

to direct our attention to the importance and the doctrinal centrality of the incarnation.

All right? You're like, wow, you said it could be provocative, and then you said

it's going to be about Christianity. Exactly. So here we are, and it ends up being a somewhat

subversibly ecumenical topic. So my answer will be no and yes. And notice that I leave very little space between no and yes

because I don't want you to resolve a judgment on the basis of the initial no before hearing and yes.

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