The year 2021 ends this week. For this final blog of the year, I wanted to do something a little bit different. I wanted to take a minute and reflect on this past year and look to the future. This past year I was pregnant and then in July I gave birth to my beautiful baby boy. He has been a true blessing.
People say that having children changes you and changes your priorities, and it’s true. It really makes you stop and think about what you have and what you want. I’ve been writing this blog for three years now. Right before I began, I had been talking with a few hundred teenagers and a few dozen adults, and I was appalled to learn how poorly the Catholic Church was teaching the beautiful harmony of science and faith. I felt like this was a huge misstep that needed to be righted. I am a very determined and driven woman, and so I decided I needed to take this problem head on. The teens I was working with (and everyone else) deserved better, and I was going to make that happen.
It started with a blog, but then it grew into the YouTube channel, but more importantly it then grew into me speaking in person with youth groups and classes and educators. I was talking to people about how we can change this, about how we can make a difference. It was life-giving. This was what I was meant to do.
Then the pandemic hit, and I was unable to speak in person with people. I also lost motivation to make YouTube videos. I’ll be honest, I have scripts/outlines for 2 more videos that have just been sitting on my computer since Spring 2020. All I had left was the blog. I felt compelled to keep writing it, every single week. Honestly, it was easy. If you’ve ever had a conversation with me, you’ll know that these ideas, these comparisons between science and faith, are normal for me; my brain just works that way. I see these comparisons in every single thing around me. Give me a topic in either science or religion, I can probably find a comparison in the other area in under five minutes. It’s fun. It’s like a game.
So I kept churning out blogs, and about 40-50 people read it each week. Thank you to those of you who do. I truly appreciate that you keep coming back. It means the world to me that someone thinks my thoughts are important, that 40-50 people think this weird way my brain has forever intertwined faith and science is something they want to hear more about.
Unfortunately, it feels like that is where it ends. People say that if you touch just one life, then you’ve accomplished something great, but just one person wasn’t my goal. There is still a need out there for a bridge between faith and science. There are young people walking away from the Church every day because no one ever told them that they could believe science AND the teachings of the Catholic Church. I don’t have demographics for my readers, but from what I can tell, they’re not the youngest people, and most of them don’t have a crisis of faith when it comes to the relationship between faith and science. That means that the target group isn’t getting reached. Why?
Plenty of that is my own fault, especially with having a child, I got comfortable. I didn’t put myself out there. I didn’t aggressively try to get people to listen to me. The other part of the blame is on both of us, the author and the reader. I haven’t encouraged you to share the beauty of the union of faith and science, so you haven’t. Each week I end my blogs trying to get you to think on a teaching of the faith or to pray about something, or the last few weeks I’ve even encouraged you to go out and be the hands and feet. Something I didn’t do was encourage you to talk to people about faith and science, so you didn’t. I’m only one person, and I know that your brain doesn’t see faith and science intermingled everywhere you look. But that’s not everything.
Then if you agree that this is a travesty that so many people think the Catholic Church has the appearance of being anti-science, do something about it. You’re thinking, “Dani, I’m just one person. I don’t have the power to make changes like that.” I bet you know someone who does. Talk to your priest about it. Ask him to speak about it more, and if he needs help, have him contact me. Talk to your youth ministers. Ask them to speak about it more, and if they need help, have them contact me. Talk to your principals, your teachers. If you think this union of faith and science should be taught more thoroughly in schools, tell them that. If they have questions on how they could do this, have them contact me.
The year 2021 is coming to a close. I’ll admit, in this year I was distracted. I was busy creating a life and then for the last 5.5 months I’ve been busy trying to keep that boy alive. I will still continue to do that in 2022, but that shouldn’t stop me from fighting for this cause that I love so dearly. It shouldn’t stop me from fighting to save souls by reassuring them that they can trust science AND believe in the saving power of Jesus Christ. I want to do that more than most anything. I hope that in this coming year you will help me to work towards this goal. Help me to fight the good fight. I am one voice, speaking out on an important topic in hopefully very consumable and understandable ways. I know my voice can do more. Please help me to do so.
I hope you have a happy and holy new year!
