Br Guy Consolmagno, SJ
I've written extensively on this, some of it published in _Brother Astronomer_ (McGraw-Hill, 2000). Here is an extract from an article-in-progress:
...in today's world, technology is a social justice issue. Promoting scientific and technical literacy among people, especially the poor, is an essential but often-neglected element of fighting social injustice.
After all, curiosity about the world is a basic human trait. Denying it denies an essential part of a person's humanity; promoting it, promotes their personhood. Being able to take part in a scientific activity, even at the level of an amateur, affirms the identity of a person who can grasp science. A person who can study the stars, or program a computer, is someone who knows himself or herself to be as good, as smart, as fully human, as anyone in the world. This is enormously important in situations when social problems are compounded by despair and a sense of inferiority and helplessness, especially in those who feel threatened or intimidated by technology.
In addition, the ability to understand the world in a scientific sense empowers an individual. It provides the mind set that looks for cause-and-effect in the world (a world view often lacking among the poor). It gives them the power to understand the difference between forces they can control, and those beyond their immediate control. And it shows how "impossibly big" problems can be broken down into smaller, solvable ones.
Finally, the ability to deal with technology can give people the confidence to take charge in their personal lives, rather than allowing themselves to be swept along by forces that they might despair of ever understanding. It gives the poor the confidence to challenge intelligently the "experts" who may have their own agendas for the land and the environment; and to understand when the experts are actually right, and why. A scientifically literate person can cooperate, and take part in the control of the larger structures of society, rather than being hopelessly at their mercy.
Guy Consolmagno, SJ
Vatican Observatory - Specola Vaticana
V-00120 Cittá del Vaticano
Italy
Fr. Charles L. Currie, S.J.
My work as president of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities in the US is an attempt to live the ideals of GC34, e.g., partnership with the laity, sensitivy and suport for the role of women, the intellectual apostolate, and the re-affirmation of Decree 4 from GC 32.
Charles Currie, SJ
President, AJCU
Fr. Louis Carouana, S.J.
Fr. Carouana sends us a reflection on "Possible Responses of Jesuits in Science to Critical Post-Modern Culture" . You can download it here in PDF format
Fr. Louis Carouana, S.J.
Assist. Lecturer Phil. of Science, Gregorian University