Why Evangelize Fellow Catholics?

The Pew Research Forum report America’s Changing Religious Landscape,points out the following:

• for every Catholic convert, 6 Catholics leave. A higher rate than any other denomination. 
• 13% of all Americans self-describe as “former Catholic.”
• In 2007 23.9% of Americans were Catholic. In 2014, 20.8%. “Unaffiliated” went from 16.1% to 22.8%.
• 71% of Catholics who become Protestant say the most important reason was “spiritual needs were not being met.”
• 71% of Catholics who become unaffiliated say they “just drifted away.”

In Christ, Ken.

News on Lemaitre

Last time we read about the priest-scientist, Father Georges Lemaître. One day after submitting the article I saw this news report:

Einstein and Fr. Lemaître

The International Astronomical Union has voted in favor of a recommendation to rename the Hubble Law the “Hubble-Lemaître Law,” in order to acknowledge the contributions of the Belgian priest and astronomer Georges Lemaître to the scientific theory of the expansion of the universe.

“To honor the intellectual integrity and the supremely significant discovery by Georges Lemaître, the IAU is pleased to recommend that the expansion of the universe be referred to as the Hubble–Lemaître Law,” the association stated Oct. 29.  Among the resolution’s desires was “to honor the intellectual integrity of Georges Lemaître that made him value more the progress of science rather than his own visibility.”

The IAU is an international organization of professional astronomers and is the internationally recognized authority for naming celestial bodies.

Catholic and Scientist - Not an Oxymoron

A popular myth is the absurd notion that Catholics are anti-science. Not true, and the data proves it. For example, Jesuit priests and brothers have contributed so much to the study of earthquakes, the study of seismology is often referred to as "the Jesuit science." 

Einstein and Fr. Lemaître

And in 1916, Albert Einstein published his general theory of relativity, confirming the widely held view that the universe was eternally old and would go on forever, stable and unchanging. But then in 1927, a young Cambridge priest-scientist named Fr. Georges Lemaître came up with a new alternative. His calculations suggested the universe may actually be expanding, having originated from a single minuscule point. He called his theory “the hypothesis of the primeval atom,” but it later became known, derogatorily, as the big bang theory. ¹

The total list of Catholic priest/scientists and mathematicians would be impossible to put together. However, Angelo Stagnaro has compiled a list of 244 Catholic priests, brothers, bishops, abbots, cardinals, popes and, in at least four cases, saints, who have made major contributions to science. These men are specifically cleric-scientists and mathematicians and not lay Catholic scientists. If you would like a copy, click here.

In Christ, Ken.

1.    Vogt, Brandon. Why I Am Catholic