January 23, 2022 - "Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno"

Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno, Director of the Vatican Observatory, is someone whom I have followed now for a number of years.  Smart and witty, he has written a number of articles and given a number of addresses that I have consistently found helpful.  Recently I saw that Carol Glatz wrote in Catholic News Service about an article he had published in the Italian Jesuit Journal La Civiltà Cattolica.  In that article Brother Guy stating that those who were stubbornly skeptical of science and those who eagerly embrace science as infallible both have a dangerous misunderstanding of the nature of science.  This is the temptation to turn science or faith into a fortress against the basic and human fear of uncertainty.
 
“We trust the (COVID-19) vaccine not because it is perfect, but because it greatly increases the probability of not getting sick.  The real and obvious problem lies in the fact that most of us cannot understand how probability works: that is why casinos and lotteries are so successful,” wrote Brother Consolmagno in the article published on January 15, 2022 in La Civilità Cattolica.
 
Brother Consolmagno stated there that anti-vax proponents and conspiracy theorists have a mistaken idea of what science is and what it can promise.  At the same time those who hold up science as being infallible fuel skepticism about science. As a planetary scientist, Brother Consolmagno wrote that it is important the people understand the true purpose of science and how important necessary doubt is for achieving progress and acquiring greater understanding.
 
As an example of this he points to a popular slogan in the fight against the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic is “Trust the science.”
 
He comments that this slogan should be understood as saying that science is a reliable and trustworthy path toward the truth.  Unfortunately, for some the saying suggests that science is “the only” trustworthy guide.
 
Brother Consolmagno goes on to say that “The opposition between faith in science and faith in religion has implications beyond the mistrust of vaccines.  It is evidence of a fallacious view of what science is and what it can promise.”
 
“This misunderstanding is widespread not only among those who are skeptical of science, but also, and perhaps more dangerously, among those who embrace (science) too hastily” because when science does not live up to any kind of “exaggerated reliability, this failure only fuels skepticism” about science in general, he said.
 
Even though people may not want to admit it, there is a grain of truth, he noted, in a fear of granting unconditional trust in science because science sometimes makes mistakes.

Referring once again to the COVID-19 vaccines Brother Consolmagno remarked that they prevent disease in the overwhelming majority of those who are vaccinated and reduce the severity of the disease.  On the other hand, vaccines are not perfect.  People can still get sick, although it is rare that they become seriously ill. 
 
Brother Consolmagno noted that science is based on doubt and error.  With science failure is not an option.  It is a requirement and knowing that one knows nothing is what drives deeper study and progress.  He believes that science is always incomplete by its very nature.  It is always growing as new knowledge and experience accumulate.  While it might be all right to read an old book on philosophy or theology, you would never study your grandfather’s biology textbook.
 
As a scientist Brother Consolmagno recognizes that science does not give the perfect truth but experiments and theories can be constantly refined.  This provides people with increasingly precise descriptions of nature.  He believes that doing science depends on loving even the boring parts of doing meticulous study.  It is believing even when our trust in our scientific progress wavers.  It is being willing to forgive and learn from those who made mistakes in the past.  Loving means living with uncertainty and learning to trust.
 
Brother Consolmagno believes that living with the uncertainty of disease, the fallibility of science, and the fear of losing one’s personal autonomy requires us to trust in the work of others which, like love, should be with caution and audacity. His concludes his article by recommending that we should be reasonably cautious, and we should not jump in blindly.  We should, nevertheless, believe in knowledge, which is both beautiful and fallible. Despite the imperfection of science, it still leads to an increased likelihood of living a healthy life.  “We are happy that God has given us the ability to understand and appreciate his creation through our science.”
 
Here is the link for the entire article by Carol Glatz: https://www.catholicnews.com/trust-the-science-but-do-not-idolize-it-says-vatican-astronomer/.
 
Until next week,
Fr. John