The Catholic faith that has nurtured my vocation rejects this caricature of religion as well as the idea of the necessary conflict between the traditions of science and religion. Coming of age in a church that was buoyed by the graces of the Second Vatican Council, I was raised to believe that the church is, in fact, concerned with all that is genuinely human. Noting the critical character of our present age, the church invites all people to labour for the good of their neighbour and indeed for the whole of God’s creation. Addressing the scientific community, the church calls for the tools of science to be used to promote a just and sustainable future.

As if to underscore the church’s openness to science, the Catholic tradition designates St. Albert the Great as the patron saint of scientists. The universities and scientific research institutes supported by the church stand as concrete expressions of the ways the traditions of religion and science do collaborate for the good of all.

People of faith recognize, therefore, that the choice is not between fidelity to God and a genuine engagement with the joys and struggles of this world. Far from being at odds with religious traditions, the customs of science can actually promote an attentiveness to experience that can serve to encourage our religious sensibilities. Fr. John McCarthy, S.J., whose work as an ecologist takes him to the boreal forests of Newfoundland, is irrepressible in his expressions of gratitude for the things God reveals to him in the trees and lichens he studies.

Like other activities that are often paired with the Jesuit life, my work in the laboratory at Mount Sinai Hospital provides opportunities to delight in God’s creative love even as I labour to place the power of science at the service of my neighbour. Working with a team of dedicated colleagues, my research seeks to illuminate the intricacies of the nervous system and to discover new ways to relieve the pain and suffering caused by accident and disease.

Even as we strive to uncover the secrets of nature, my laboratory colleagues take time to engage the practices of Lent and to share food at Easter and Christmas. Observing the traditions of Passover, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur some lab members help us all to meditate on God’s mercy and fidelity. Still others invite us to share in the graces of Ramadan and Eid. We all celebrate the Lunar New Year. Between these seasons of fasting and feasting, long days at the microscope provide time to discuss the best ways to share Bible stories with children. These experiences lead me to regard my laboratory as a small monastic community where God speaks all languages.

In this laboratory environment, where the experiment is granted a place of honour, scientists challenge one another to take all our experiences seriously and to find ways to communicate these experiences to others. Working daily in this atmosphere of inquiry and dialogue, the habits of science encourage the believer to trust their experience of the living God.

Responding to this challenge I recognize how the opportunity to contemplate God’s handiwork through the lens of my microscope has deepened my sense of awe and gratitude for His elegant and creative ways. I also appreciate how the truths revealed by science can provide new insights into God’s ongoing care for the world. This has helped to sharpen my awareness of God’s presence among us, speaking to us in many and varied ways, urging us to embrace the graced experiences that are part of each new day.

(Robert J. Allore, a Jesuit priest, is a genetics researcher and lecturer in theology at Toronto’s Regis College.)