Fr. John Kartje: Astrophysicist and Parish Priest

First Friday Club of Chicago podcast

Rediscovering Awe and Mystery: What Science and Faith Can Tell Us This Advent

Long before he became a priest, Chicago’s Father John Kartje was a scientist, getting a Ph.D. in astrophysics from the University of Chicago. What’s the one constant between these two vocations? “Both the scientist and the person of faith are always engaging with mystery,” he says.

Kartje describes Advent as that pregnant pause in each year when we once more engage the mystery, bringing along our new hopes and anxieties, seeing the story through fresh eyes whether we’re 30 or 70.

Currently the rector/president of the University of Saint Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary, Fr. John Kartje takes issue with the supposed disconnect between faith and science. The way science looks at the world should absolutely inform the way people of faith do so, he says. That’s why the Vatican convenes groups of scientists, of any faith or of none, to report on conditions such as climate change. Good scientists, he says, can help people of faith to stay honest.