{"id":20870,"date":"2012-08-06T07:30:35","date_gmt":"2012-08-06T12:30:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.austincnm.com\/?p=20870"},"modified":"2012-08-06T08:53:42","modified_gmt":"2012-08-06T13:53:42","slug":"our-churchs-curiosity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2012\/08\/our-churchs-curiosity\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Church&#8217;s Curiosity"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Curiosity<\/em> landed early this morning on the surface of Mars. The robot, the size of a car, was launched on November 26th, 2011 with initial planning for the mission goes back at least to April 2004. This was a long time coming for engineers and scientists at NASA&#8217;s Jet\u00a0Propulsion\u00a0Lab.<\/p>\n<p>With no\u00a0astronauts\u00a0on board, no required quotations we all must know going forward, although,\u00a0<em>Curiosity<\/em> has a bit of humor as you can follow on the official <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MarsCuriosity\">Twitter account<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">It once was one small step&#8230; now it&#39;s six big wheels. Here&#39;s a look at one of them on the soil of Mars <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/MSL?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#MSL<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/t.co\/uzO99NZz\">http:\/\/t.co\/uzO99NZz<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MarsCuriosity\/status\/232354875189628929?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 6, 2012<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Call me, maybe? All the ways I could phone home after landing on Mars  <a href=\"http:\/\/t.co\/IiqrN6LW\">http:\/\/t.co\/IiqrN6LW<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MarsCuriosity\/status\/231841838485626881?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 4, 2012<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Catholics and the Catholic Church have always been promoters of the sciences. The church pioneered universities and the scientific method. There has been rough patches that folks point to as proof that the church isn&#8217;t compatible with scientific research; however, in the end, sciences provides discoveries not possible\u2014nor desirable\u2014from the Church alone.<\/p>\n<p>Science and theology do inform each other. Theology teaches us about creation. Theology teaches us that we are created by God. Science teaches us that the universe was created, the working theory says, in a Big Bang with natural processes leading to the human\u00a0species. These statements are\u00a0complementary.<\/p>\n<p>The issues arise, though, when science attempts to move beyond natural philosophy and explain things beyond the scope of science. For example, \u00a0science tells us that evolution led us to the current state of biology on earth. This is great. Awesome. When that information is then applied to indicate that thus no god created anything as it was the by-product of this natural evolution, then we fall off the rails.<\/p>\n<p>The hard sciences are meant to explain what can be seen and touched, what can be determined through\u00a0empirical research. Theology is to explain what&#8217;s beyond that. Faith and belief. Purpose and reason. Theology can&#8217;t tell us <em>how<\/em> the world was created no more than science can&#8217;t tell us <em>why<\/em> the world was created.<\/p>\n<p>Science helps us keep our faith rational. While faith talks about a &#8220;heaven above&#8221;, we know that heaven isn&#8217;t a few miles beyond the skies and that the place of the dead is below, beyond how far we can dig. The imagery speaks to a spiritual realm, not a\u00a0physical\u00a0one.<\/p>\n<p>Theology helps keep our science ordered. Science can&#8217;t place value on human life; it must rely on outside criteria for establishing the ethical and moral methods of\u00a0scientific\u00a0discovery. Theology rightly informs sciences in this way.<\/p>\n<p>As\u00a0<em>Curiosity<\/em> begins to poke around Mars, seeing sights unseen and, hopefully, collecting\u00a0valuable\u00a0information that can inform us on the nature of space and\u00a0planetary\u00a0evolution, no matter what it discovers, the discoveries will always be compatible with our faith.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_20871\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20871\" class=\"size-large wp-image-20871\" title=\"PIA15279_3rovers-stand_D2011_1215_D521\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/PIA15279_3rovers-stand_D2011_1215_D521-630x318.jpg?resize=630%2C318\" alt=\"\" width=\"630\" height=\"318\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-20871\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Three generation of Mars rovers. Sojourner (front),1997, Mars Pathfinder. Mars Exploration Rover Project (left), 2004, a working sibling to Spirit and Opportunity, 2004). On the right is a Mars Science Laboratory test rover the size of that project&#8217;s Mars rover, Curiosity, which landed on Mars today.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em>Update:<\/em> Vatican Radio <a href=\"http:\/\/www.radiovaticana.org\/EN1\/Articolo.asp?c=610774\">interviewed the Director<\/a> of the <a href=\"http:\/\/vaticanobservatory.org\/\">Vatican Observatory<\/a> about the landing. A little local Austin connection. The Observatory is a graphic design client of Austin CNM&#8217;s own <a href=\"http:\/\/www.austincnm.com\/index.php\/author\/kathryn\/\">Kathryn Whitaker<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Curiosity landed early this morning on the surface of Mars. The robot, the size of a car, was launched on November 26th, 2011 with initial planning for the mission goes back at least to April 2004. This was a long time coming for engineers and scientists at NASA&#8217;s Jet\u00a0Propulsion\u00a0Lab. With no\u00a0astronauts\u00a0on board, no required quotations&#8230;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2012\/08\/our-churchs-curiosity\/\">[Read&nbsp;More]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[4,90],"tags":[921,920,645],"class_list":{"0":"post-20870","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-blog","7":"category-faith-blog","8":"tag-evolution","9":"tag-mars","10":"tag-science","11":"entry","12":"has-post-thumbnail"},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":40225,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2013\/06\/two-guys-a-girl-and-a-catholic-podcast-episode-99-coming-into-the-homestretch\/","url_meta":{"origin":20870,"position":0},"title":"Two Guys a Girl and a Catholic Podcast Episode 99: Coming into the Homestretch","author":"2GGCP","date":"June 21, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Episode 99 [powerpress] Feedback: Lots of feedback!! \u00a0 Current Events: Next transformers 4 movie is being filmed in our Diocese!! http:\/\/www.kxan.com\/dpp\/news\/texas\/transformers-invade-lockhart US President undermines Catholic schools after Vatican Prefect praised them http:\/\/www.sconews.co.uk\/news\/29253\/us-president-undermines-catholic-schools-after-vatican-prefect-praised-them\/ Church News: Pope Benedict XVI called religious liberty the \u201cmost cherished of American freedoms.\u201d \u00a0Is our most cherished\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Two Guys, a Girl and a Catholic Podcast&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Two Guys, a Girl and a Catholic Podcast","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/podcast\/2guysagirl\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"2GGCP-LOGO2.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/2GGCP-LOGO2-300x231.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":20922,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2012\/08\/why-should-i-believe\/","url_meta":{"origin":20870,"position":1},"title":"Why Should I Believe?","author":"Matt Sullivan","date":"August 23, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Bewildered truth seeker: Don't you think it's time for the Catholic Church to give up and get with the times? I mean, your heyday has passed, your belief system is ancient, and people are leaving your church in droves.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Faith&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Faith","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/faith-blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/frame-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":22985,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2012\/09\/wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey\/","url_meta":{"origin":20870,"position":2},"title":"Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey.","author":"Laura Gonzalez","date":"September 11, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect. But actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey \u2026stuff. -The Doctor It is not exactly a statement that would make one\u2019s heart melt, but it did for me. Actually, many\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Blog&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Catholicism and Doctor WHO","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/6050713642_2923b8968e.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":23717,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2012\/09\/seven-big-myths-about-the-catholic-church-dr-kaczor-interview\/","url_meta":{"origin":20870,"position":3},"title":"Seven Big Myths About the Catholic Church &#8211; Dr Kaczor Interview","author":"Cristina Almanza","date":"September 26, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I had the opportunity to interview Ignatius Press, author Dr. Christopher Kaczor by email\u00a0through the Maximus Group this week. His new book is called The Seven Big Myths about the\u00a0Catholic Church. The book has been released today, Wednesday, September 26. The book is very well written and describes in detail\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Faith&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Faith","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/faith-blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/SevenMyths.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":21074,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2012\/08\/two-guys-a-girl-and-a-catholic-podcast-episode-64-mckayla-maroney-frowning-upon-your-shenanigans\/","url_meta":{"origin":20870,"position":4},"title":"Two Guys a Girl and a Catholic Podcast Episode 64: McKayla Maroney Frowning Upon Your Shenanigans","author":"2GGCP","date":"August 10, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Episode 64 [powerpress] Feedback: Current Events: NASA\u2019s Curiosity Lands on Mars http:\/\/marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov\/ http:\/\/twitter.com\/MarsCuriosity Missy Franklin thinking about becoming Catholic http:\/\/www.siena.org\/August-2012\/olympic-champion-missy-franklin-is-thinking-of-becoming-catholic http:\/\/www.catholicreview.org\/article\/home\/swimmer-says-having-worlds-best-friends-family-keeps-her-grounded Church News: Project Rachel is beginning an eight-week long Prayer and Study Group for women seeking healing from a past abortion on Wednesdays, from 7 to 9 p.m. beginning\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Two Guys, a Girl and a Catholic Podcast&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Two Guys, a Girl and a Catholic Podcast","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/podcast\/2guysagirl\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/2GGCP-LOGO2-300x231.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":17764,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2012\/06\/the-catholic-church-vs-the-early-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":20870,"position":5},"title":"The Catholic Church vs. the Early Church?","author":"Steve Scott","date":"June 10, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Continuing from the previous blog post on the Catholic classic, the Spirit of Catholicism- we continue to look at the introductory Chapter 1.\u00a0\u00a0 One of the questions that we are sometimes called to answer is: \"WHAT\u00a0EXACTLY IS CATHOLICISM AND\u00a0WHAT MAKES IT DIFFERENT FROM OTHER RELIGIONS AND PHILOSOPHIES?\" Many people\u00a0THINK they\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Blog&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Christ-dna-in-Church4.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20870\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}