Many people believe there is hostility in our society between science and the Christian faith. According to Alycia Bischoff, a religion teacher at Red Bank Catholic, “there is a lot of misinformation out there” that perpetuates this belief. She and her colleague, RBC science teacher Colleen Flanagan, are prepared to dispel those misunderstandings for their students. Ms. Bischoff and Mrs. Flanagan were among a select group of Catholic high school religion and science teachers from throughout the US that attended “The Steno Learning Program in Faith and Science” over the summer. The week-long seminar, held at St. Joseph’s Seminary College in Covington, LA, is made possible by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation. Its goal is to educate Catholic high school teachers about the relationship that exists between science and faith in the Catholic intellectual tradition.
The doctoral-level moderators guided the participants through presentations and discussions to give them the tools to educate their students about the Church’s openness to scientific discovery. “The experience was 100% worthwhile,” Ms. Bischoff notes, “It was very intense but it was amazing.”
In preparation for the seminar, participants read a library of books and articles on the subject including Modern Physics and Ancient Faith, Essential Galileo, and works by CS Lewis. Upon completion, Ms. Bischoff and Mrs. Flanagan gave a presentation to the entire RBC faculty and shared what they learned. They will present in more detail throughout the year to the religion and science departments, and will write and implement new lesson plans for them to guide their students in the faith-science dialogue.
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In their presentation, they note how the Church has never condemned the idea of evolution, and reference the nine addresses Pope John Paul II gave to the world regarding the relationship between reason and faith. He made the point that “faith can never conflict with reason” and “each can draw the other into a wider world, a world in which both can flourish.”
Both teachers are excited to share what they learned with their students, and feel the seminar was a life-changing experience. Mrs. Flanagan sums it up well: “I gained knowledge, I gained insight, I gained friends and I gained in my faith.”
