At the 2023 American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) winter meeting in Portland, OR, just one of the presenters wore a brown habit and veil. Sr. Mary Honorata Grzeszczuk of Felician University’s Physics Department, gave a talk called “Learning vs. Becoming,” inspired by St. Pope John Paul II’s 1993 encyclical, Fides et Ratio. John Paul II wrote, “Reason has wilted under the weight of so much knowledge and little by little has lost the capacity to lift its gaze to the heights, not daring to rise to the truth of being.” Mindful of the importance of guiding students beyond facts to “the truth of being,” Sr. Honorata encouraged Physics instructors to shift from information to integration in undergraduate instruction, using mindfulness and reflection to help young people reach their full potential as scientists – and as human beings.
Sr. Honorata has made a career of reconciling science and faith. A physics professor at Felician University, she keeps a blog that celebrates both serious academics – with sections on kinematics, dynamics, and optics – as well as the wonders of God’s creation. Find Sr. Honrata’s blog here.
