From 23-27 June eleven members of the Observatory and three younger Jesuits who are candidates to join the Observatory met at Calascio (Italy) to discuss the direction and future priorities of the Observatory.

On 30 June staff members of the Observatory with Louis Caruana, S.J., professor of Philosophy at Heythrop College, and Pawel Kapusta, S.J. professor of Theology, at the Pontifical Gregorian University, met to discuss important issues and concerns related to science, philosophy, and theology.

The following seminars were held at Castel Gandolfo: “Density of Very Faint Meteoroids” by JEAN-BAPTISTE KIKWAYA, S.J.; “Asteroids and the Stratigraphic Sequence of the Solar Nebula” by GUY CONSOLMAGNO, S.J.; “Laws of Nature and Purpose in the Universe” by GEORGE COYNE, S.J.

A seminar on “Religion and Science in Today’s America,” sponsored by the Vatican Observatory and the Lumen Christi Institute for Catholic Studies at the University of Chicago, was held 11 October at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago. (The Beacon (Newsletter of The Lumen Christi Institute for Catholic Thought) - Spring 2009)