American Catholics and Science

AMERICAN CATHOLICS AND SCIENCE SINCE the time of Voltaire and the French encyclopedists there has been a constant effort to discredit religion in general, and the Catholic Church in particular, for its alleged antagonism to natural science. The accusation is without foundation, for religion and science have entirely different goals and deal with different subject matters. Religion is concerned primarily with the supernatural, while the experimental and observational sciences are interested only in the natural. It happens that religion and science are practised by men, often the same men. Their successes or failures in the realm of either religion or science are sometimes fal$ely attributed to religion or to science itself. In 1931 Lehman and Witty 1 made a study of church affiliation, or the lack of it, among American scientists who were considered" outstanding." "Outstanding " was defined as inclusion in Who's Who and being starred in American Men of Science. They reported: 1. " Only about 25% of the outstanding scientists in America report church affiliation in their biographical sketches in Who's Who," whereas " about 50% of all individuals whose names appear in Who's Who provide this information." 2. " The 25% who give information regarding church affiliation are associated in most instances with the relatively liberal denominations," such as the Unitarians and Congregationalists. 3. "Noticeable indeed is the small frequency of Roman Catholics among the starred names in American Men of Science ." Among 1189 outstanding scientists, three only report membership in the Catholic Church." 4. From this they come to the unwarranted conclusion: " The conspicuous dearth of scientists among Catholics sug1 Harvey C. Lehman and Paul A. Witty, "Scientific Eminence and Church Membership," Scientific Monthly, XXID (1981), 544. 639 640 PATRICK H. YANCEY gests that the tenets of that church are not consonant with scientific endeavor." In spite of the evident non sequitur of the conclusion, and of the questionable method by which it was reached, the article of Lehman and Witty stimulated a great deal of soul-searching among American Catholics in the sciences. Many Catholics realized the shortcomings as much as, if not more than, the authors of the article. Indeed, some had anticipated the writers by several years, and had taken steps to improve the quantity and quality of scientific teaching and research in Catholic institutions by organizing what was called the " Catholic Round Table of Science.'' The prime movers of this activity were the late Monsignor Cooper, anthropologist of the Catholic University, and Father Anselm Keefe, 0. Praem., of St. Norbert College, who acted as secretary throughout most of the organization's existence. The group met annually at the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a small publication, The Tabloid Scientist, was issued. Both in the meetings and in the pages of the paper the Catholic's inadequacies in the sciences were incisively singled out, and remedies were suggested. Unfortunately, the organization began to hold meetings apart from the AAAS and other scientific societies at which technical papers were presented. While the motive-the stimulating of research among Catholic scientists-was good, such a program was inevitably divisive. If pursued, it would wall the Catholic scientist off from his colleagues and tend to the development of a " Catholic " science. This was directly contrary to the intention of the founders of the Round Table, and met with the marked displeasure of many of the members. Attendance at the national meetings fell off to such an extent that they were discontinued. The Catholic Round Table ceased to exist as a national organization. During its life, it had improved the status of science among Catholics. It inspired many to undertake research programs. They appeared in greater numbers at meetings of scientific societies and became more AMERICAN CATHOLICS AND SCIENCE 641 active in their affairs. Best of all, perhaps, it brought a healthy discontent to Catholic scientists. Dissatisfied with the accomplishments of Catholic institutions, they demanded more men and money for science. In spite of these demands and their partial satisfaction, Catholic institutions were still lagging. A more exhaustive survey of "The Origins of U. S. Scientists" made by Goodrich, Knapp and Boehm 2 in 1951 showed that Catholic institutions had...