Modeling Science and Faith Integration May Be More Powerful than Words: Reflections on The Study of Science in Catholic Higher Education in the United States: A Modern Nuisance?

Abstract

In “The study of science in Catholic higher education in the United States: A modern nuisance?”, Fr. Cunningham offers a thoughtful and engaging commentary on the history and state of science education in Catholic universities in the United States, carefully weaving history, science, and even politics in a seamless and multilayered manner. But before offering reflections on what he said in his paper, I’d like to make a few comments on who he is which, at the end of the day, might be actually more important. Fr. Cunningham is a physics professor at Loyola University Chicago. He studies experimental particles and astrophysics including cosmic rays, dark energy, and heavy quark particles. He also wears a Roman collar as a Jesuit priest. Like Copernicus, Mendel, Boscovich, de Chardin, and many others, he is both a top-flight scientist and a Roman Catholic priest. This important fact speaks volumes and perhaps louder than his words. In our increasingly polarized community where too many believe that you must be either a person of faith or a person of science (e.g., supporting and embracing creationism or evolution, prayer or medicine, science or religion), Fr. Cunningham is living proof that