VANCOUVER—A group of Catholic researchers, professors, and students are dispelling the myth that faith and scientific pursuits are incompatible.

“I have a lot of atheist friends who don’t believe that faith and science go together,” Gail Ladua, a student of chemical biology at the University of British Columbia, told The B.C. Catholic.

But Ladua believes “science and faith do coincide.” She felt affirmed in this conviction as she joined 60 other scientists and students for the Gold Mass at St. Mark’s College at UBC Nov. 17, an event hosted by the Society of Catholic Scientists.

Brother Joachim Ostermann, a Franciscan with a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Munich, said the society was founded last year to bring like-minded professionals together.

It started with an email he received from a professor of medical physics, saying as a student “he found it hard to find fellowship and Christian Catholic community amongst his fellow students in the physics department.”

Bro. Ostermann, ordained a priest in 2014, found that story resonated with his experience in the scientific field as well.

“There are so many of us who are active, practising Catholics, and who are also scientists and work in the profession of the sciences, and we ought to have a professional society that gives us a voice and some sense of community.”

The Society of Catholic Scientists was founded in 2016 and now has about 500 members internationally, including about 16 in Canada. Three members live in B.C. and they organized the Gold Mass in Vancouver to raise more awareness and support for local scientists. The Mass was celebrated by Archbishop J. Michael Miller, CSB.

UBC students Kieran Kitchener and Gail Ladua said they felt affirmed in their convictions that Catholicism and their scientific studies are compatible. (Agnieszka Krawczynski / The B.C. Catholic)

“I’m really excited it exists and hopefully it becomes more widespread and people come to know about it more,” said Kieran Kitchener, a UBC student in his third year of studies in physics and math.

“Faith and science are compatible with each other. They ask fundamentally different questions about life, so they can work together,” said Kitchener, who hopes to get a master's in medical physics after his undergraduate degree. “Having people in these communities is a great thing. I’m really excited to see them flourish one day.”

The Archdiocese of Vancouver hosts annual Masses for particular professional communities. The Catholic Physicians’ Guild puts on an annual White Mass for health care professionals in October, while the St. Thomas More Guild hosts an annual Red Mass for judges, lawyers, and others in legal professions.

In his homily Archbishop Miller said, “Contrary to myths spread in the media, and even recently by the highest level of government, Catholics do not in any way think that the rigorous pursuit of the natural sciences compromises their faith.”

“Scientists who are believers are convinced that there is one truth which governs the world and guides the lives of all men and women. Scientific truth is itself a participation in divine truth.”

The Society of Catholic Scientists held its inaugural conference in April 2017 in Chicago. The new group plans to host its second annual conference in June 2018 at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.