“The Church’s love for all forms of knowing, including scientific knowledge, springs from a core conviction that faith and reason are allies and not foes. St. Anselm gives voice to this conviction in his famous dictum that theology is faith seeking understanding, “fides quaerens intellectum.” The need for well-trained priests in today’s world to ensure that this dialogue between science and religion contributes to integral, human flourishing is of critical importance. Pope John Paul II has captured the importance of the theme of this conference in his powerful comment: “Science can purify religion from error and superstition. Religion can purify science from idolatry and false absolutes.” My hope is that an enduring legacy of this conference will be the development of resources and strategies to assist seminary faculties to equip future priests with the necessary skills to facilitate the dialogue between science and religion.”
Msgr. Jeremiah McCarthy
National Catholic Educational Association, Seminary Department
Biography
Msgr. Jeremiah McCarthy, Ph.D., began in September 2010 as the executive director of the Seminary Department of the National Catholic Educational Association, Arlington, Virginia, United States. He taught in 2009-10 at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, California. From 2002-2009, he was director of accreditation and institutional evaluation at the Association of Theological Schools in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He served for twenty years (1982-2002) at St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo, California, as professor of moral theology, academic dean, vice-rector and rector. He earned his Ph.D. from the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California. Msgr. McCarthy is a priest of the Diocese of Tucson, Arizona.