The Bulletin of the Catholic Association of Scientists and Engineers
July 13, 2005
July Meeting Announcement:
There will be a meeting of the members
of the Catholic Association of Scientists and Engineers on Wednesday
evening July 27, 2005 at 7:30 pm. at the James Bates Hall at Ascension
Catholic Church, 12700 Lanham-Severn Road, Bowie, Maryland 20720, Tel:
301 262 2227.
Space
and Religion: an interweaving of influences
Since the first ages of humanity, the contemplation of the starry sky
invited the human being to ask himself: "Who am I? What is my origin?
Where is my destiny? " After the revolution introduced by modern
astronomy into the manner for humankind of understanding itself, the
development of the aeronautical and then astronautical techniques
introduced a new experiment for humanity: that of being a citizen of
the Sky. By carrying out the dream of Icarus, has Man realized the
attempt of Prometheus? Would he have taken the place of the gods or
God? Do the religions have to fear the conquest of Space?
Far from being the place or the opportunity of new lawsuits or
woodsheds, Space arises at the eyes of believers and theologians like a
rich source of religious expressions impossible to contain for
theological researches attended to by our contemporary
societies…without forgetting the attachment with the Earth which Space
reinforces and enriches.
Depuis les premiers âges de l’humanité, la contemplation
du ciel étoilé a invité l’homme à
s’interroger : « Qui suis-je ? Quelle est mon
origine ? Où est ma destinée ? »
Après la révolution introduite par l’astronomie moderne
dans la manière pour l’homme de se comprendre, le
développement des techniques aéronautiques puis
astronautiques a introduit une nouvelle expérience au sein de
l’humanité : celle d’être citoyen du Ciel. En
réalisant le rêve d’Icare, l’Homme s’est-il introduit dans
la peau de Prométhée ? Serait-il devenu aussi fort
que les dieux ? Les religions doivent-elles craindre la
conquête spatiale ? Loin d’être le lieu ou l’occasion
de nouveaux procès d’inquisition ou de nouveaux bûchers,
l’Espace se présente aux yeux des croyants et des
théologiens comme riche d’expressions religieuses et
incontournable pour la recherche théologique soucieuse
d’être à l’écoute de notre société
contemporaine. Sans oublier l’attachement à la Terre que
l’Espace renforce et enrichit.
Jacques ARNOULD, born in 1961, is Dominican, agricultural Engineer,
Ph.D. in Sciences and Ph. D. in Theological History. He is taking an
active interest in the interrelation between sciences, cultures and
religions with a particular interest for two set of themes: the first
related to the life sciences and its evolution; the second related to
space conquest. To the first he devoted several works and publications
on the historical and theological aspect. To the second, he is the
French Space Agency (CNES) expert in charge of ethical, social and
cultural aspect of space activities.
Bibliography (books only)
Les Créationnistes, Cerf, 1996; Darwin, Teilhard de Chardin et
Cie, DDB, 1996; Les Avatars du gène (en collaboration avec
Pierre-Henri Gouyon et Jean-Pierre Henry), Belin, 1997; La
Théologie après Darwin, Cerf, 1998; Le Parfum et les
Larmes (en collaboration avec Lucienne Rousseau), Editions de
l’Atelier, 1999; Dieu, le singe et le big bang, Cerf, 2000; La Dispute
sur le vivant (en collaboration avec Jean-Didier Vincent), DDB, 2000;
L'Église et l'histoire de la nature, Cerf/Jaca, 2000; Accueillir
la différence, Editions de l’Atelier, 2001; La Seconde Chance
d’Icare. Pour une éthique de l’Espace, Cerf, 2001.
Chevaucheur des Nuées (en collaboration avec Jean-Pierre
Haigneré), Solar, 2001; Quelques pas dans l’univers de Pierre
Teilhard de Chardin, Aubin, 2002; Les Moustaches du Diable, Cerf, 2003;
La Lune dans le bénitier. Conquête spatiale et
théologie, Cerf, 2004; Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Perrin, 2005.
Mария Tимофеева (Maria
Timofeeva of Holy Spirit Section in Novosibirsk, Russia ) mtimof@inbox.ru writes: Dear Francis!
Thank you very much for sending the copy of Aquinas' Concept of Science
by Br. Dunstan Robidoux. With best wishes Maria Timofeeva
Dr. Joseph Holoubek joealh@bellsouth.net writes: Dear Dr. Kelly:
I appreciate you sending me information on the Catholic Association of
Scientists and Engineers. My only wish is that I would be closer so
that I could attend.. Father Jaki is an excellent speaker and
always has an informative message. He was guest speaker at the Catholic
Medical Association meeting several years ago.
I read the section by John Marcus with sympathy for him and I admired
the close relationship that he and his wife had with each other and
their loyalty to the Church,
The story of my late wife, Dr. Alice Baker Holoubek, follows closely
that of Mrs. Marcus. Alice too was told to have an abortion on the
first pregnancy because she had tuberculosis. We refused and found a
doctor who carried her through that pregnancy.. We had three more
children.
Alice became a convert and became very active in the church. We
attended daily Mass together for 50 years until I stopped driving. When
we built our home we included a chapel complete with stained glass
window. We use it daily.
She too developed cancer of the breast at 60 but she had no
recurrence. We practiced medicine together for 45 years.
She did much for the Church, taught Pre-Cana, stated the Gabriel group
for mothers in their first pregnancy, served on several committees of
the Catholic Medical Association, started the Health Care of the
Religious and Clergy and many other Church related activities. Pope
John Paul II appointed her a Pontifical Donina of the Order of St
Gregory the Great. We attended the meetings of the Catholic Medical
Association for 50 years and those of the Catholic Academy of Sciences
of the USA for ten years.
At 80 she started to develop little strokes which limited her
activities and eventually led to several years of total care with
full-time caretakers at home .
She died at 90 after we had been married 65 years. Her funeral was
impressive. The Bishop and twelve priests and two deacons were on the
altar.
As a convert, she became a very devoted Catholic and became a role
model for many,
I wrote the book LETTERS TO LUKE so that future generations would know
about her. Elisa in the book is modeled after her,
Incidentally the book won the first prize for religious fiction at the
Indepemdent Publishers Convention is New York last week,
Sincerely, Joe
Future meetings: The tentative dates for the next group of CAS+E
meetings here in Bowie MD are as follows:
August Fr.Greg Coan
gcoan@catholic.org The
Human Embryo Wed Aug. 24th at 7:30
President’s Message: Please
pray for our members to volunteer to help with the administrative
chores of CAS+E. Please submit comments and articles for our web
site and bulletin (kellyfjp@msn.com
). We can do often more to please Our Lord and Our
Lady when we work and pray together rather than in solitary
effort. Best Regards, Frank Kelly