Metro Detroit Jesuit Astronomer Leads Vatican Observatory

Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno will lead the Vatican Observatory outside of Rome. (Screenshot via Detroit Free Press)

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A Metro Detroit-based astronomer and Jesuit brother has been picked to lead the Catholic Church’s study of the heavens as director of the Vatican Observatory, located outside of Rome in the town of Castel Gandolfo.

Pope Francis tabbed Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno, who grew up in Harper Woods and Birmingham, for the position just before he left for his Cuba/United States trip. Consolmagno and the pope — both scientists — had lunch on Friday at the Vatican.

Consolmagno, 63, is the second American to hold the position.

“It’s a thrill and an honor,” Consolmagno said in an email to the Detroit Free Press. “It was especially moving to hear the words of support from Pope Francis.”

Consolmagno, who graduated from the University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Beverly Hills’ Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Elementary school, last year received the Carl Sagan Medal for distinguished work by the American Astronomical Society’s Division of Planetary Science. He was the first clergyman ever to receive the prestigious award.

Also a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Consolmagno’s area of specialty is meteorites and asteroids. He is scheduled to speak in November at the Cranbrook Institute of Science, where he often attended lectures and summer programs as a youngster. He also has loaned Cranbrook a few of the Vatican’s meteorites .

Consolmagno quit astronomy for a time, questioning the value of studying the stars “when people are starving.” He joined the Peace Corps and was dispatched to Kenya, where in a matter of months he was assigned to the University of Nairobi, where he began teaching astronomy.

“That suddenly made me understand why we do astronomy. We do it because it satisfies a hunger in our soul. We do it because it reminds us that there’s more to life than, you know, ‘What’s for lunch?’ ” Consolmagno said in a video interview with the Free Press.

“There’s another reason we do it — which is to show the world that the church supports science. Literally, the telescopes are supported by the Papal Palace. But the church supports science because science is a way of getting to know God the Creator. God created the universe. God speaks to us through the things He creates.”

Jesuits have been been charting the stars for popes since the 1500s, but the Vatican’s relationship with astronomers hasn’t always been heavenly.

Galileo, for example, was imprisoned in 1633 after he was convicted of heresy in an inquisition ordered by Pope Urban VIII and imprisoned for holding that the Earth revolves around the Sun. Pope John Paul II apologized for the persecution of Galileo in 1992, resolving the centuries-old conflict between reason and dogma and science and faith.

Brother Guy Consolmagno’s Lecture at Cranbrook

What: “Astronomy, God and Search for Elegance” | When: 7 p.m., Wednesday, Nov 18 | Where: Cranbrook Institute of Science, 39221 Woodward Ave., Bloomfield Hills | Cost: $35, available online or by calling (248) 644-4933 | Sponsor: Manresa Jesuit Retreat House, Bloomfield Hills