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Salient. An Organ of Student Opinion at Victoria College, Wellington, N.Z. Vol. 14, No. 12. March 15, 1951
The Catholic Scientist
The Catholic Scientist
- The Church has always been opposed to science because she is afraid of its discoveries.
- The Catholic Faith is incompatible with real achievement in Science.
- Catholics, on the whole, take very little interest in science."
These accusations were dealt with by Mr. Miles O'Connor, M.Sc., in his lecture on "The Contribution of the Catholic Scientist to Culture."
Mr. O'Connor examined the various cases usually put forward as evidence that the Church was opposed to the discoveries of science, and held that the Church's record over nearly twenty centuries compares more than favourably with that of the most scientifically minded countries in this, the twentieth century.
Mr. O'Connor submitted that the number of Catholics who had made significant contributions to science, Nicholaus Copernicus, Nicholaus Steensen, Theodor Schwann, Johann Muller, Jean Baptiste Lamarck, Gregor Mendel, Louis Pasteur, to name a few, was sufficient to refute the second charge.
The charge, that Catholics as a whole take very little interest in Science, was, however, not so easy to refute. "The time has arrived when we should carefully examine the position with a view to finding the reasons for the poor representation of Catholics among those who have achieved eminence in science.
"There is no such thing as the Catholic Scientist as distinct from any other kind of scientist. All scientists are concerned with the discovery of truth about the external world."