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Three Ways to Spread What’s Going On…

The Catholic Astronomer avatarPosted on by

I got an email recently from someone who’d read an interview of mine...

Hi Br. Guy, I just came across this 2017 article. Your quote, “More scientists who are church-goers need to make their science known to their parishioners”  is something that I have contemplated over the years but wasn't really sure about how to exactly go about it, do you have any suggestions?

Good question, actually. Here's how I answered him:

Outreach can take you to strange and wonderful places! While giving talks in Cork, Ireland, in 2009 I got to hold a replica of Rory Gallagher's famous guitar. Can you tell that I had never held a guitar before in my life?

 

 

Great to hear from you! And good on you, to call my bluff about me saying what “somebody else” should be doing! So here are some thoughts off the top of my head…

Then I sent the following:
1. Read and spread the word about our two web sites, The Catholic Astronomer and our Faith and Science resource site.
2. Get involved with groups already in existence in your parish, such as
  • the CCD classes
  • the Knights of Columbus
  • your local parish Mens’ club if one exists

Once you know them and they know you, volunteer to give a talk about how your faith and your science work together.

What I find works best for me (your mileage may vary) is to have a very short (10-15) summary of who you are and what you do, followed by questions and answers. You can find resources that might be useful at the above we sites or on our YouTube channel.

3. If there is a youth group, maybe organize a telescope night in the church parking lot… the local astronomy club might be able to help out as well with telescopes and folks eager to show them off.
Those are my three "dynamite" ideas – but dynamite only works when you set it off.
It occurs to me that the group-mind on this page might have some ideas of your own. So, here are mine. If you come up with other ideas, let us know in the comments! 
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Posted in Diary, Outreach Tagged , permalink
Br. Guy Consolmagno

About Br. Guy Consolmagno

Brother Guy Consolmagno SJ is Director of the the Vatican Observatory and President of the Vatican Observatory Foundation. A native of Detroit, Michigan, he earned undergraduate and masters' degrees from MIT, and a Ph. D. in Planetary Science from the University of Arizona; he was a postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard and MIT, served in the US Peace Corps (Kenya), and taught university physics at Lafayette College before entering the Jesuits in 1989.

At the Vatican Observatory since 1993, his research explores connections between meteorites, asteroids, and the evolution of small solar system bodies, observing Kuiper Belt comets with the Vatican's 1.8 meter telescope in Arizona, and applying his measure of meteorite physical properties to understanding asteroid origins and structure. Along with more than 200 scientific publications, he is the author of a number of popular books including Turn Left at Orion (with Dan Davis), and most recently Would You Baptize an Extraterrestial? (with Father Paul Mueller, SJ). He also has hosted science programs for BBC Radio 4, been interviewed in numerous documentary films, appeared on The Colbert Report, and for more than ten years he has written a monthly science column for the British Catholic magazine, The Tablet.

Dr. Consolmagno's work has taken him to every continent on Earth; for example, in 1996 he spent six weeks collecting meteorites with a NASA team on the blue ice regions of East Antarctica. He has served on the governing boards of the Meteoritical Society; the American Astronomical Society Division for Planetary Sciences (of which he was chair in 2006-2007); and IAU Commission 16 (Planets and Satellites). In 2000, the small bodies nomenclature committee of the IAU named an asteroid, 4597 Consolmagno, in recognition of his work. In 2014 he received the Carl Sagan Medal from the American Astronomical Society Division for Planetary Sciences for excellence in public communication in planetary sciences.

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Comments

Three Ways to Spread What’s Going On… — 2 Comments

  1. Note, since this was published, the guy who wrote me wrote again giving me permission to list who he was… so, here’s a shout out to Dr. James W. Rice, Jr., Mars Exploration Rover Project: Geology Team Leader, Mars Space Flight Facility. Mind you, he’s at that Other University Up the Road from Tucson (i.e. Arizona State) but we’ll accept good ideas from anyone. That’s why they call us Catholic astronomers!

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