To Set the World Afire: Catholic Contributions to Science

The trope of a conflict between faith and science is by now quite tired, but it is still trotted out regularly by both fundamentalists and secularists to undermine either one or the other. As Catholics, we deny the “either/or” and prefer the “both/and”. In this presentation, we’ll take a slightly whimsical tour through the amazing contributions that Catholics have made to the sciences over the ages. Along the way, we’ll learn to tell our story – the Catholic story – about the harmony between faith and reason which both have their source in God.

Fr. Aaron Qureshi (“Fr. Q”) was born in Tucson and spent his adolescent years in Phoenix. He graduated from Brophy College Preparatory and then took an extended sojourn to the East Coast for college and work. After working several years in the finance and tech sectors, he entered seminary in Washington, DC, studying first at the Catholic University of America and then later at the North American College in Rome. He was ordained to the diocesan priesthood in 2014 at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. He served in various parish assignments in the Archdiocese of Washington, most recently as pastor of two small rural parishes in southern Maryland, before returning to Phoenix in 2022. He holds various degrees in mathematics, classical languages, and biblical studies, and enjoys tennis and swimming.