Science Week is a week-long event in Ireland each November, celebrating science in our everyday lives. Science Week includes a wide variety of events involving industry, colleges, schools, libraries, teachers, researchers and students throughout Ireland.
We in the Church acknowledge 'Science Week' and the importance of both faith and reason. In fact, we would not be able to do science in the first place if the universe did not have a certain intelligibility that allows us to study and observe the natural world. We believe that creation is marked by intelligibility because it was moved into being by a supreme intelligence we call the Creator God.
It just so happens that the feast of St Albert the Great is celebrated during Science Week on 15th November.
In a General Audience back in 2010, Pope Benedict XVI said of St Albert:
'He still has a lot to teach us. Above all, St Albert shows that there is no opposition between faith and science, despite certain episodes of misunderstanding that have been recorded in history. A man of faith and prayer, as was St. Albert the Great, can serenely foster the study of the natural sciences and progress in knowledge of the micro- and macrocosm, discovering the laws proper to the subject, since all this contributes to fostering thirst for and love of God … St. Albert the Great reminds us that there is friendship between science and faith and that through their vocation to the study of nature, scientists can take an authentic and fascinating path of holiness.
But did you know about the Church's commitment to science with the Vatican Observatory? It is an astronomical research and educational institution supported by the Holy See. Originally based in the Roman College of Rome, the Observatory is now headquartered in Castel Gandolfo, Italy and operates a telescope at the Mount Graham International Observatory in the United States. The Director of the Observatory is Brother Guy Consolmagno, an American Jesuit. In the video below, Br Guy introduces himself and the work of the observatory. As a scientist and a believer, Guy shows us how both faith in science and faith in God is possible.