Photo: Bradley Kanaris
By Paul Dobbyn
WOULD actor Bruce Willis armed with a bomb be able to take out an earth-bound asteroid?
The answer is definitely no, according to Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno, this year’s awardee of the Carl Sagan Medal for Excellence in Public Communication in Planetary Science.
He used the example as a way to explain the value of his more than 20-year study of the density of meteorites.
The astronomer and Jesuit, based in Rome and the US, was in Brisbane to address an Assembly of Catholic Professionals luncheon on October 16.
Br Consolmagno also shared his love of science with other audiences including students from St Thomas More and Clairvaux MacKillop Colleges as well as the Queensland University of Technology.
During his visit he also spoke with The Catholic Leader on his latest book Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrial?…and Other Questions From The Astronomers’ In-box at the Vatican Observatory.
Br Consolmagno was quick to clear up a perception that he was “the Pope’s Astronomer”.
“I am not ‘the’ astronomer … there are a dozen of us,” he said.
“I’m not even the boss; he’s from Argentina (Fr José Gabriel Funes).
“Interestingly, when he decided to become a Jesuit many years ago, his interviewer was Father Bergoglio, now Pope Francis.”
In terms of whether he would actually baptise an extraterrestrial, Br Consolmagno gave his stock answer: “Only if they asked.”
However, the Jesuit brother was confident he wouldn’t have to make such a decision.
“Intelligent life conceivably exists somewhere in the galaxy outside earth … It’s so vast,” he said.
“And it’s still a hunch, a great hunch … but it’s going to be a long time before we see any definitive proof of this.
“Such a discovery certainly wouldn’t shake my faith in the way the universe works.
“It would be more: ‘OK we expected it and here we are.’”
A necessity to prove God’s existence is not something that exercises Br Consolmagno’s mind either.
“I don’t need proof of God’s existence any more than I need proof that my parents love me,” he said.
“If that isn’t so obvious and natural to you then you’ve already got problems.
“What’s worse is that anything that has power to prove God also has power to disprove God so in a sense it’s not a real proof.
“Of course you have doubts; if you didn’t you wouldn’t have the need for faith.”
Br Consolmagno said his life as a scientist in a religious order was “pretty much similar” to that of any other scientist but with “certain twists”.
“The difference lies in why I do the work,” he said.
“It’s not for own career or advancement or to heap praise on some university I’m at.
“I’m doing it to give glory to God and it really changes way you approach the work.”
Br Consolmagno’s said his final stop in Australia before returning to some study work in the US was to be a retreat at the Jesuit’s Sevenhill Centre of Ignatian Spirituality.
