Author Spotlight: Dr. Christopher Baglow Addresses US Bishops on Engaging Science in Catechesis and Evangelization

The Widespread Perception Among the Catholic Faithful of an Inherent Conflict Between Science and Faith

On February 25, 2026, Dr. Christopher T. Baglow delivered a lecture in which he addressed the widespread perception among the Catholic faithful of an inherent conflict between science and faith, which contributes to ecclesial disaffiliation and shallow assimilation of scientific ideas.

Dr. Baglow proposed five catechetical approaches to dispelling the misconceptions:

1. Catechesis should foster genuine, humble dialogue between science and faith so that scientific literacy complements religious understanding.
2. Catechesis should use “arguments from fittingness” and other non-evidential, invitational approaches that show how scientific insights can illuminate the coherence and beauty of Christian doctrine.
3. Catechesis should draw on St. John Paul II’s call for relational unity between science and religion, St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, and the Church’s tradition to show the compatibility of reason and Revelation.
4. Catechesis should use the “Book of Nature” and the “Book of Scripture” to cultivate wonder that opens Catholics to central truths.
5. Catechesis should integrate scientific topics in formation and evangelization with philosophical clarity and pastoral humility, avoiding forced syntheses or superficial dismissal of scientific results.

The lecture was delivered at “The Relation between Science and Faith as a Pastoral Issue in an Age of Disaffiliation,” a Symposium for Bishops and Archdiocesan and Diocesan Catholic Educational Leaders sponsored by the USCCB Committee on Doctrine and the McGrath Institute for Church Life.

A transcript of Dr. Baglow’s lecture is published by Church Life Journal.

Dr. Baglow is the author of Faith, Science, and Reason: Theology on the Cutting Edge, which is published by Midwest Theological Forum.