A certain individual shares his thoughts:
"A friend asked me to reflect on some controversy over the public statements emerging from The Vatican on the subject of evolution and Christian Faith. This is certainly not authoritative information from the Catholic Church, but personal reflections and observations from one who finds his home within that Church.
My father was probably the most devout man I knew. His piety and faith were both inspiring and a stumbling block to me. The inspiration is obvious, a man of such easy intelligence who never discarded the depths of faith in God and belief in Jesus as His Son, our Savior. The stumbling block may be tougher to understand, unless you are a boy, trying to be like Dad. I felt I could never achieve such heights, nor such certainty and sure knowledge as he possessed.
Dad was a man of science.He had a PhD and a constantly challenging inquisitive mind which made him both a font of knowledge to me and a goad, encouraging and tasking me to aspire to learn, to study, to explore. There was always a book at hand, somewhere to make a point. Even as a child, if the time arose where I could cite a source to back my opinion, and provide evidence, than Dad would acknowledge the accuracy of my statement, even as it might refute something I had previously been taught, even if by himself.
As I grew and learned, I discovered, as most sons will, that Dad did not know everything, and he was beset by the same doubts and frailties and weaknesses which afflict most men. We had occasional conversations on various matters, as breezy as football and dating, as deep as science and faith. I recall one conversation, which has always lingered in my memories. My father revealed to me that early in his career, in the early 1960’s that he was often challenged on two sides. One would challenge his bona fides as a ‘true scientist’ as he was a devout Roman Catholic. From the other side he would be questioned on the verity of his faith, as he worked in the field of science, which challenged religious faith and dogma. He maintained relentlessy that there was, and could not be a conflict. Science and Faith were equally important, and need not contradicted each other."
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this reflective article here.
