Benedict XVI Summer Institute

MADISON  As usually happens, science and religion end up pitted against each other in the classrooms of academia. That is because some scientists and philosophers ask people of faith to leave God by the door when discussing science and its study of the universe and its origins, arguing that religion is at odds with logic and reason and that the empirical method of science cannot prove or disprove the existence of a Creator.

However, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has argued often that science and faith can — and do — work in harmony. That is because Jesus — who is the “logos” or source of all rationality, meaning and purpose in the universe — gives us the intellect and rationality to discover God’s thumbprints in the universe, Father Joseph Laracy, assistant professor of systematic theology in the School of Theology at Seton Hall University in South Orange, said last week.

He spoke from June 8-10 about “Faith and the Science of Creation” for the 2020 Benedict XVI Summer Institute held by St. Paul Inside the Walls: the Diocesan Evangelization Center here.

“In the work of Benedict, one finds an exceptional articulation of Christian faith, rooted in a total openness to the full capacity of human reason. This reason respects the mathematical structure of the material universe and the method of natural science while also appreciating the metaphysical aspects of Creation and indeed the Creator himself,” said Father Laracy, who conducted three evening lectures on Zoom for students, including Bishop Serratelli, who watched from home as they followed shelter-in-place-mandates to help slow the spread of the coronavirus. “Through his development of the theology of creation and brilliant dialogue with philosophers and scientists who seek to impose illegitimate restraints on human reason, the intrinsic compatibility of Christian faith with the natural sciences has been made manifestly clearer by Pope Benedict,” the priest said.

During the series, Father Laracy spoke on “What is Creation?” talking about the contributions of Catholic scientists such as Pierre Duhem and the Benedictine Father Stanley Jaki. He also explored pre-Christian views of Creation and the emergence of natural science in Christian Europe. The priest talked especially about Benedict’s contributions to the dialogue of the theology of Creation and natural science. Both a theologian and scientist, Father Laracy also is affiliated with the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science and Department of Catholic Studies at Seton Hall. He holds several academic and ecclesiastical degrees including a master’s degree in engineering systems from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Doctor of Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

“Let us recognize the face of the Creator and make us realize once again that at the very beginning and foundation of all being there is a creating Intelligence. The universe is not the product of darkness and unreason. It comes from intelligence, freedom, and from the beauty that is identical with love,” Father Laracy quoted from “In the Beginning: a Catholic Understanding of the Story of Creation and the Fall,” a book by Benedict, then known as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

In his book, Cardinal Ratzinger writes that God is one, God is good and God created the world out of love. By breathing life into man, God gave us a soul, dominion over Creation and a share in his divine life — a fact that “proclaims the dignity of the human life from the moment of conception until death.” Because all of us are descended from the first man, we are all part of one human family and need to demonstrate “concern for one’s neighbor,” Father Laracy said.

In the final session, Father Laracy asserted that one of Benedict’s major contributions to the dialogue between faith and science has been the concept of “the primacy of logos himself: Jesus, the Eternal Son of the Father, who is the source of all rationality, meaning and purpose in the universe.”

“The intelligibility of nature and indeed the divine revelation itself rest on man’s ability to share in the logos in Creation. Openness to the full breath of logos provides for the appropriate autonomy and study of philosophy, theology, history, mathematics, physical science and biological science,” Benedict declared in 2006 in an address to the scientific community at the University of Regensburg in Germany in his lecture “Faith, Reason and the University: Memories and Reflections.”

In his address, Benedict criticized those who believe that “scientific certainty is the only legitimate form of knowledge and that it can only be found as a result of analyses based on the interplay of mathematical and empirical elements.” Instead, he stated that modern scientific reason can “point beyond itself” to what empirical science cannot measure fully: God’s handprints in Creation, Father Laracy said.

“The truly divine God is the God who has revealed himself as logos and as logos has acted and continues to act lovingly on our behalf,” Benedict said at the University of Regensburg.

Echoing Benedict from his Regensburg address, Father Laracy warned: “When theological and particularly moral questions become completely personal matters, religion and ethics are placed outside the scope of reason and as the history of the 20th century makes very clear, ‘disturbing pathologies of religion and reason…necessarily erupt.’ ” Benedict also has emphasized that God of the Scriptures invites us into a loving relationship with him, Father Laracy said.

The idea for the summer institute came from a passionate Catholic professional woman who called Father Paul Manning, St. Paul’s executive director and diocesan vicar for evangelization, in 2014. The woman, who wanted to remain anonymous, offered funding for a program that promoted the teachings of Benedict. She said that she and her husband “felt that his teachings are brilliant and under-appreciated and that the local Church needed to find a way to promote it and make it more accessible,” the priest said.

Each session concluded with students posting questions on a Zoom chat board for Father Laracy to answer. At the end of the final class, Father Manning announced the next Benedict XVI Summer Institute on “Benedict on Truth and Tolerance” from June 7-9, 2021 with Father Rocco Viviano, a scholar on Benedict and current missionary in Japan.

“Benedict says that scientific knowledge is not enough. We long for a deeper perception of the truth: wisdom — seeing reality through the eyes of God. We are called to be wiser,” Father Manning told Father Laracy at the conclusion of the third class.