Lecturer from University of Notre Dame to address science and the Catholic faith

Intermountain Catholic

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SALT LAKE CITY — “There’s been a strong consensus for a quite a while that science and the Catholic faith go together perfectly well.”

That’s the contention of Dr. Matthew Ashley, a University of Notre Dame associate professor of systematic theology who will present the Hesburgh lecture on Nov. 2 at St. Catherine of Siena Newman Center in Salt Lake City.

The Hesburgh Lecture is sponsored by the Notre Dame Club of Utah, the local chapter affiliated with the University of Notre Dame. The lecture is named for the late Fr. Theodore Hesburgh, CSC, who was president of the university for 35 years.  

Ashley is director of the university’s Master of Divinity program and the author of many books, the most recent of which is Ignatius and the Theologians: Ignatian Spirituality and the Reformulation of Academic Theology. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago Divinity School. His research and teaching interests are science and theology, political and liberation theology, and Christian spirituality.

He has given several Hesburgh lectures on various topics throughout the country over the years. At St. Catherine of Siena Newman Center, he will present “Science and Religion: Beyond the Myth of Eternal Warfare.”

The topic is timely because studies show that “one of the factors in young people leaving the Church is that they think that science and Christian faith are opposed to one another. … They think that in order to accept science they have to give up their beliefs,” he said.

The truth, however, is that there is no conflict between science and religion, and any complicating issues “can be resolved. … This is something that we as Catholics should be able to be very confident about,” Ashley said, adding that he hopes his lecture will help young people solidify their faith.

The lecture will be addressed to everyone “who is interested in how modern science can enrich Catholic faith,” he said. “I hope that they’ll walk away, first of all, with this sense that the myth of eternal warfare [between science and religion] is precisely that. There has not been eternal warfare between science and religion. There have been times of tension, but there have also been times of great cooperation.”

Secondly, “I hope they take away a sense that actually, when we use the science of our day to complement our understanding of the faith, we actually come to some new insights about the faith itself,” he said.

After the lecture there will be a question-and-answer session, which he enjoys, he said, because “people ask really great questions.”

The Notre Dame Club of Utah has sponsored previous Hesburgh Lectures; among the presenters was Dr. Carolyn Woo, the former chief executive officer of Catholic Relief Services.

“We usually try to vary the topic,” said Catherine O’Hare Adams of the Notre Dame Club of Utah, explaining that the club members choose the lecture topic and speaker, and for this year’s lecture they thought Ashley’s topic would be of interest to a wide audience.

“Let’s face it: All of us are constantly questioning throughout our lives, and this also gives us an opportunity to have a little bit more information on how science and religion work together,” she said.

Also, Ashley is an engaging speaker, and “his reputation for doing that is part of the reason we invited him,” she said.

WHAT: Hesburgh Lecture – “Science and Religion: Beyond the Myth of Eternal Warfare”

WHEN: Friday, Nov. 2, 7 p.m.

WHERE: St. Catherine of Siena Newman Center, 170 S. University St., Salt Lake City

Dr. Matthew Ashley, a University of Notre Dame associate professor in the Department of Theology, will present. Free and open to the public.