From the Friars Daily eLetter

September 1, 2008

Note: Fr. Benedict has requested that this e-letter be re-posted. This was written by Fr. Benedict several years ago.

Purgation and Evolution

You may have noticed that there is a debate going on in the United States right now over evolutionary theory and what is called “intelligent design.” You may be wondering what this is all about. Cardinal Schönborn, a good friend of our community, has written some very good articles on it, including one in this month’s edition of First Things.

The issues are not easily understood, and various people, including Catholics and priests, are on different sides of the issue.

What is an ordinary person supposed to do with these discussions? The fact is that the obvious order and design of the universe needs a mind behind it. There are many people in the scientific community who see this, yet many who do not. On the other hand it is not the duty of science to teach religious truth. It should neither affirm nor deny religious truth, because that’s not what science is about.

I found a wonderful quotation that I want to share with you from Dr. Albert Einstein. Rabbi Dalin, in his excellent new book, The Myth of Hitler’s Pope (Regnery 2005), says that Einstein had a great admiration for the Catholic Church, saying that it was the only effective opposition to Hitler. Einstein was also fascinated by the Catholic doctrine of the Blessed Sacrament.

The following quotation from Einstein would be an excellent thing to put in the front of every high school science book. It would solve the issue very well.

“The most beautiful and most profound emotion we can experience is the sensation of the mystical. It is the sower of all true science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive forms – this knowledge, this feeling is at the center of true religiousness.”

“My religion,” he says, “consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble minds. That deeply emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God.”

Dr. Albert Einstein

The Universe and Dr. Einstein by Lincoln Barnett

-Fr. Benedict Groeschel, CFR



September 1, 2008 *Note: Fr. Benedict has requested that this e-letter be re-posted. This was written by Fr. Benedict several years ago.* Purgation and Evolution You may have noticed that there is a debate going on in the United States right now over evolutionary theory and what is called “intelligent design.” You may be wondering what this is all about. Cardinal Schönborn, a good friend of our community, has written some very good articles on it, including one in this month’s edition of First Things. The issues are not easily understood, and various people, including Catholics and priests, are on different sides of the issue. What is an ordinary person supposed to do with these discussions? The fact is that the obvious order and design of the universe needs a mind behind it. There are many people in the scientific community who see this, yet many who do not. On the other hand it is not the duty of science to teach religious truth. It should neither affirm nor deny religious truth, because that’s not what science is about. I found a wonderful quotation that I want to share with you from Dr. Albert Einstein. Rabbi Dalin, in his excellent new book, The Myth of Hitler’s Pope (Regnery 2005), says that Einstein had a great admiration for the Catholic Church, saying that it was the only effective opposition to Hitler. Einstein was also fascinated by the Catholic doctrine of the Blessed Sacrament. The following quotation from Einstein would be an excellent thing to put in the front of every high school science book. It would solve the issue very well. “The most beautiful and most profound emotion we can experience is the sensation of the mystical. It is the sower of all true science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive forms – this knowledge, this feeling is at the center of true religiousness.” “My religion,” he says, “consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble minds. That deeply emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God.” Dr. Albert Einstein The Universe and Dr. Einstein by Lincoln Barnett -Fr. Benedict Groeschel, CFR