Finding Forward
Exploring Faith, Reason and the Cosmos
Join us in March for a Finding Forward and Claritas Conversation with St. Thomas President Rob Vischer and Vatican Astronomer Br. Guy Consolmagno, SJ.
Finding Forward
Join us in March for a Finding Forward and Claritas Conversation with St. Thomas President Rob Vischer and Vatican Astronomer Br. Guy Consolmagno, SJ.
How do we reconcile faith and reason? Can science and Catholicism be companions in the search for truth? Are science and religion truly at war, or do they invite us into a deeper wonder? In a time of deep polarization, how can a scientific search for truth help us overcome differences?
The University of St. Thomas invites the community to an inspiring event featuring a very special guest, Brother Guy Consolmagno, SJ—renowned planetary scientist, Jesuit brother, and recent Director of the Vatican Observatory. Known globally as “the Pope’s Astronomer,” Br. Consolmagno embodies the harmony of scientific inquiry and spiritual reflection, showing how rigorous exploration of the universe deepens our understanding of both creation and the Creator.
In conversation with President Rob Vischer, Br. Consolmagno will explore how we can all lift our gaze to the stars to discover how faith, reason, beauty, and truth converge in life and in career.
Thursday, March 12
7 - 8 p.m., reception to follow
Iversen Center for Faith
Chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas Lower Level
University of St. Thomas St. Paul campus
2115 Summit Ave.
This Finding Forward will not be livestreamed. A recording will be posted a few days after the event in the past recordings section on the Finding Forward webpage.
Paid parking is available Frey Garage with additional parking in Anderson Parking Facility. After 4 p.m., the cost is $1.55 for every hour or portion of an hour. You will need to pay at the pay station which is in the hallway foyer of the garage. Click here to learn more about parking options. Please do not park on residential streets out of respect for our neighbors.
If you have questions about the event or require disability accommodations, please reach out to universityevents@stthomas.edu. Accommodation requests must be made at least one week prior to the event date.
This event is offered in partnership with the Claritas Initiative, which aims to illuminate insights regarding beauty, goodness and truth, and in doing so, reframe the education of students at St. Thomas and the experiences of our community.
St. Thomas is committed to cultivating intellectual curiosity that embraces the truths of science and the richness of faith, grounded in a vision of truth, beauty, and goodness that forms flourishing lives and purposeful careers.
If you would like to receive updates from the Claritas Initiative, including information about upcoming events and links to additional resources about beauty, goodness and truth, join our mailing list.
In spring 2000 he held the MacLean Chair for Visiting Jesuit Scholars at St. Joseph's University, Philadelphia, in 2006-2007 the Loyola Chair at Fordham University, New York, and in fall 2009 the Lanigan Chair in Science, Medicine, and Ethics at LeMoyne College, Syracuse. He has also been a visiting scientist at the Goddard Space Flight Center and a visiting professor at Loyola College, Baltimore, and Loyola University, Chicago.
Br. Consolmagno has served on the governing boards of the Meteoritical Society; the International Astronomical Union's (IAU) Division III, Planetary Systems Science (secretary, 2000 - present) and Commission 16, Moons and Planets (president, 2003-2006); and the American Astronomical Society Division for Planetary Sciences (chair, 2006-2007). Since 2008 he has been a member of the IAU Working Group on Planetary System Nomenclature and the Mars Nomenclature Task Group; in 2015 he became chair of the Mars TG.
He has coauthored two astronomy books: Turn Left at Orion (with Dan M. Davis; Cambridge University Press, 1989) and Worlds Apart (with Martha W. Schaefer; Prentice Hall, 1993). He is the author or co-author of four books exploring faith and science issues, including The Way to the Dwelling of Light (U of Notre Dame Press, 1998); Brother Astronomer (McGraw Hill, 2000); God's Mechanics (Jossey-Bass, 2007), and Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrial? (With Paul Mueller, Image, 2014). He also edited The Heavens Proclaim (Vatican Observatory Publications, 2009). Since 2004 he has written a monthly column on astronomy for the British Catholic periodical, The Tablet.