Scientists to celebrate 'Gold Mass' - Science and Faith are compatible

Science can explain how, but faith tells us why.

Scientists at MIT are about to celebrate a 'Gold Mass' as a way to affirm the compatibility of faith and science.

LOS ANGELES, CA (California Network) - There has been a long debate for the past few centuries over the compatibility of faith and science. Science deals with the material world and relies upon measurement. It is a method of critical inquiry and peer review intended to uncover the truth. Meanwhile, faith is belief without material evidence. This is not to say there is no material evidence for God, but that such evidence is not essential to belief.

Because scientists follow a method of rational inquiry that relies on the measurement of material things, it seems incongruent with faith. God and faith cannot be measured. There are no units of measurement for God. There are no scales to weigh faith.

While many scientists become atheists, and others try to keep the two disciplines separated, some scientists find God at the bottom of their test tubes.

It's not just that we cannot explain everything we observe (God of the gaps). It's that we see order amid the chaos. We see a necessary first cause. We see the fingerprint of God on the universe.

These scientists can occasionally feel alienated and marginalized. As a result, there is a need to minister to these people.

A group of Catholics has formed the Society of Catholic Scientists and they plan to have a 'Gold Mass' at MIT on November 15. November 15 is the feast day of St. Albert the Great (Albertus Magnus), who was an alchemist. Alchemists were the forefathers of modern scientists.

The Gold Mass is part of a tradition for professional Catholics. Police have a Blue Mass, lawyers and judges have a Red Mass, and doctors have a White Mass. 

The Society is incorporated in the Diocese of Philadelphia and is seeking to grow to incorporate scientists across the nation.

The society has pointed out the many contributions from Catholic scientists. Most famously, the Big Bang theory was first proposed by Belgian priest, Georges Lemaitre.

The Catholic Church itself operates the world's oldest, longest running scientific mission though the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. The study of creation through science is another way to know God.

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