Science can be ‘fun puzzles’ set by God, and a religious experience

Geoffrey Woollard understands the perceived conflict between science and religious faith. The Vancouver president of the Society of Catholic Scientists experienced it first hand while he was on the road to Catholicism. 

Woollard has a background in biological physics and is completing his PhD in computer science at UBC. He says the tension between science and religion is something he had to deal with at the start of his faith journey. “Unfortunately in the very early days of my conversation I … inherited an implicit suspicion of science from the first Catholics I came into contact with,” he said.

It’s not only Catholics or religious believers who share that suspicion. Much of mainstream society harbours a widespread assumption that science and faith are inherently at odds.

Fortunately for Woollard, his studies at UBC led him to encounters with individuals who were able to bridge the perceived conflict between science and religion. “When I moved to Vancouver for university, I had fantastic experiences at UBC with both faith and science, especially with devout Catholic scientists and engineers who were members of Opus Dei.”

Woollard is working with the society to help bridge that presumed gap between faith and science and to reach out to other Catholic scientists in Vancouver. Last month the organization organized a Zoom event with Vatican astronomer Brother Guy Consolmagno, SJ, about how faith and science can work together to draw people closer to God.

Brother Consolmagno discussed past views of religions and science, popes who have promoted scientific discoveries, and his own experience as a scientist and religious, saying science and faith are both tools to promote an encounter with God and the truth, shaping man’s understanding of the common good. 

The society also co-hosted the annual Gold Mass in November, celebrated near the feast of St. Albert the Great, patron saint of scientists.

Suzana Kovacic attended both Brother Consolmagno’s talk and the Gold Mass at St. Mark’s Church at UBC and said the homily by Father Rob Allore, “reminded me why I’m doing this [work].”

Father Allore spoke about ways faith can influence science, making it a mystical experience of meeting God face-to-face.

“We know science doesn’t come our way without a fair bit of work,” said the Jesuit chaplain at St. Mark’s, who speaks from experience about the intersection of faith and science. He began his studies in biology at the University of Ottawa and then obtained a PhD in immunology from the University of Toronto. He spent several years working as a researcher before joining the Jesuits. 

“So there is a mystical reward from study and discipline and practice,” Father Allore said at the Gold Mass. “I think many in the sciences will understand that, because after long times of study and labour, we know we sometimes come to these places where Mother Nature shows us something she has never shown anybody else, and if that’s not a religious experience, I don’t know what is.”

For Kovacic, events like the Gold Mass are not only an opportunity for fellowship with others in her field but remind her there is a supernatural level to her research.

Kovacic, a research associate at SFU, has a PhD in chemistry and is currently researching COVID-19, a topic that Father Allore said needs to be understood and discussed globally. 

“This conversation is important for the way in which we will care for God’s creation and be leaders in that care and how we will care for our neighbour, our neighbour who is sick or in danger of being sick,” Father Allore said in his homily.

Brother Consolmagno echoed the idea that study of the universe can draw us closer to God, describing how Job looked at the immensity of creation and despaired over understanding God.

God turns the questions around, asking Job about creation. God’s questions weren’t to intimidate Job, said Brother Consolmagno, but an invitation to use his imagination to explore the beginning, to come to God, and to make discoveries, because that’s the only way Job or any of us can fully appreciate who God is.

Brother Consomlogno compared science to prayer: “For scientists, this exploration of God’s creation is a response to an invitation to spend time with the Creator. We get to play with him, so to speak, to uncover the fun puzzles he set for us. We get to marvel at the way the laws of the universe fit together with logic that’s harmonious and elegant.”

Kovacic understands this way of approaching God. She did her PhD on a specific bacterial enzyme, focusing on two amino acids in the enzyme. At times she would lose sight of the bigger picture as she studied such precise subject matter.

“Father Rob reminded me that God saw those two amino acids. He made those two amino acids there, in that protein, and he knew one day I would be the one to study those two particular amino acids,” she said.

“There are very few people who have studied that particular enzyme to the degree I’ve studied it, so it was a very personal interaction I had with something God created.”

The Society of Catholic Scientists continues to host regular topics related to faith and science so Catholic scientists can share their knowledge, ideas, and gifts with each other.

It also offers a mentorship program that matches science students with senior colleagues as role models. “We really hope to be a place where first-year undergrads can get formation and experience community, and not be turned off science because it seems somehow not a place for them,” said Woollard.

To learn more about the society and its events visit catholicscientistsvan.org.

Pursuing truth, ‘even while it remains a mystery’

At its root, Geoffrey Woollard’s fascination with science comes down to two things: dancing, and math. 

Woollard is the president of the Vancouver chapter of the Society of Catholic Scientists, and he’s now integrating his background in biological physics with his PhD work in computer science.

“I’m interested in what life looks like, and how information dances around with electrons and atomic nuclei,” he said.

On the surface his work appears highly technological, making use of high-powered electron microscopes and contemporary perspectives in computer science such as machine learning, deep learning, probability, and statistics. But he jokes that basically it all comes down to math.

Woollard’s search for truth and the basics behind it has also served him well in his understanding of his faith, in particular his journey to the Catholic Church. When he moved to Vancouver to attend UBC, he became involved with Opus Dei.

Fellow scientists he met there helped him “shrug off any defensive or adversarial attitude, and trained me how to dialogue, seek common ground, and vigorously pursue the truth, even while it remains a mystery.”

He has also pursued questions about Biblical revelations on the origins of the natural world and our lived experience in it. “I’m quite satisfied with the wisdom I’ve found in our theological and philosophical tradition about what original sin really means, and the open unfolding of creation and its destiny in the new creation.” 

Through the society, Woollard has met many other devout Catholic scientists with whom he has published articles while enjoying dialogue and friendship. The Gold Mass is not only an opportunity to celebrate the gifts of science and faith, but an apostolic opportunity to share with non-Catholic friends, in a public way, his experience of God.

It’s also one of the ways he’ll remain connected with other Catholic scientists long after his graduate work is behind him.