There is a tradition of celebrating special Masses for the members of a professional group. Accordingly, lawyers have Red Mass since the 13th Century and the White Mass for Healthcare professionals. Similarly, in the United States a group of American Catholics have recently formed the Society of Catholic Scientists. Their first event was an evening Gold Mass for scientists celebrated in Cambridge at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s chapel. Catholic scientists chose the colour gold because it is the colour of the hoods worn by those graduating with a doctorate in science and because the patron saint of scientists, St Albert the Great, was an alchemist who worked to turn base metals into gold. The first Gold Mass was celebrated on his feast day on November 15.

The Church has the tradition of encouraging science and many historians of science consider Christianity as the cradle of modern science. St Albert the Great and other gifted Catholic scientists proved that there is no conflict between the two disciplines. Fr Georges Lemaitre, a Belgian priest, an astronomer and professor of physics who first proposed what would later be called the Big Bang theory, and Fr Gregor Mendel, Father of modern genetics, are some examples of the bridge-building between science and religion. “Faith and reason are both gifts from God. Science is just one expression of how the human person uses reason to interrogate reality,” said Dominican Fr Nicanor Austriaco, who celebrated the inaugural Gold Mass. “I think a lot of young people think they have to choose between science and their faith, and we want to show them that it is not an either or situation.” “I think a lot of young people think they have to choose between science and their faith, and we want to show them that it is not an either or situation.”

It often happens that young scientists are often bombarded with the message that they must choose between their Catholic faith and their field of study. Catholic scientists are often in the minority and do not work with other Catholics. The new society is meant to show that they are not alone. Any person of faith who approaches science in a respectful way is exploring God’s work.