Reprinted with permission from Northwest Indiana Catholic
A career in astrophysics and ministry in the priesthood are not so different.
According to Our Lady of Grace School and Bishop Noll Institute graduate Father John Kartje, president of the University of Saint Mary of the Lake and rector of Mundelein Seminary, the vocational moves he made going from the exploration of the cosmos to leading the formation of seminarians was part of a “seamless” journey of learning and wonder.
“I’d often thought about the possibility of a religious vocation, but for me what really is the connecting tie (between science and faith) is the encounter with mystery,” said the East Chicago native and youngest of seven children. “Every day a scientist is at the boundary of what we know … Mystery is staring them in the face and they are staring it in the face. You try to plumb those depths.
“I looked at galaxies all the time; they never looked back at me and pondered me. As a priest I’m constantly being pondered by the Lord as I ponder the mystery of his beauties,”
“The priest does exactly the same thing, but it’s even richer; that’s why I can walk away from one and wind up where I am now. I looked at galaxies all the time; they never looked back at me and pondered me. As a priest I’m constantly being pondered by the Lord as I ponder the mystery of his beauties,” he said.
Father Kartje reflected on his youth during an interview that followed his teaching of a class on The Book of Psalms to theology students and future priests at the picturesque 600-acre campus in Illinois. The theme of the day’s session was identifying the metaphorical core of the psalms to enhance understanding and prayer.
If the subject seemed intellectually challenging for some of the seminarians, Father Kartje’s simple questions guided the group to understanding the context of the Old Testament passages.
“What a scientist does is look at a very complicated – sometimes intimidating – collection of stars, or atoms and says, ‘How do I make sense of this?’” said Father Kartje, BNI class of 1983. “It all comes down to metaphor, or this seems like that.”
He continued, “When I sit with a psalm, such as ‘The Lord is my shepherd,’ does that mean God walks around with a staff? Probably not, but if I use that image I can try to get some sense of how God acts in respect to me. He protects me, he leads me, he guides me.”
At the University of Chicago, Kartje earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and a bachelor’s degree in physics in 1987 and was conferred a doctorate degree by Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics in 1995. His doctoral dissertation was entitled, “Models of the Optical/Ultraviolet Continuum Polarization in Active Galactic Nuclei: Implications for Unification Schemes.”
Father Kartje said the advanced study was preceded by the building of a strong foundation during his 12 years of Catholic school experience. He also pointed to the “unpretentious” attitude that was emblematic of the working-class neighborhoods he grew up in.
“The word that comes to mind for me is ‘authenticity.’ I feel like the people I was privileged to grow up with, my family, were tell-it-like-it-is and (without) a large sense of pretense,” Father Kartje explained.
Father Kartje’s academic career started at OLG in Highland: “There are a lot of good memories from those days,” he said.
He appreciated the steady leadership of then-pastor of OLG Monsignor Albert Van Nevel. “He was a larger than life figure. He was very present.”
At BNI in Hammond, a young Kartje was a top student athlete, excelling in his classroom work and on the tennis team, while learning to challenge his “nervous energy” refining his public speaking skills on the speech and debate team.
Besides enjoying the camaraderie of his friends and the lighter moments, a teenage Kartje said his prayer life came of age.
“Father Pat Connolly would come to class and literally give us little seminars on prayer,” Father Kartje said of the then-principal and priest. “I now realize he introduced us to Carmelite spirituality…that really did carry with me – as a way to start thinking about what prayer looks like as an adult.”
Two influential teachers from Father Kartje’s BNI days were Dorothy LaMere and Walter Pikul, who taught literature and science, respectively.
“Mr. Pikul definitely instilled in me a love of precision,” Father Kartje said. “He taught chemistry. I never liked chemistry… but he taught us to try to be clear (in everything we do.)”
Father Kartje continued about LaMere’s class, “For me that was, more than the science, frankly, a blossoming. It was an introduction to the giants of English literature and poetry. If you went back to my room you wouldn’t see a lot of science books on the shelves, but you’d see poetry and fiction.”
While working as an astronomer at the University of Chicago’s Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Father Kartje pondered his own big picture questions. Yet, while volunteering at a local hospital, he seemed to find an answer to a career question.
Sensing the presence of God while serving others led him on a journey through Mundelein Seminary, and ordination as a priest for the Archdiocese of Chicago.
Father Kartje served as pastor of St. Benedict church in Chicago, as chaplain of the Catholic Student Center at Northwestern University, and has served since 2009 at Mundelein as acting president of the Pontifical Faculty of Theology, assistant professor in the Department of Biblical Studies, seminarian spiritual director and team member of the formation faculty.
Completing his dissertation, “Wisdom Epistemology in the Psalter: A Study of Psalms 1, 73, 90, and 107,” Father Kartje earned a doctorate in sacred theology from the Catholic University of America in 2010.
In charge of more than 200 seminarians, including two from the Diocese of Gary, Father Kartje said communicating with those discerning a priestly vocation is a rewarding experience.
“One of the biggest joys of being rector at Mundelein is to be at the heart of the present and future of the Church,” he said. “To see the (seminarians) all together, for me, is very much a New Testament sort of experience, of that early Church where people are coming together from a lot of different backgrounds. They are all joined by the fact that they love a relationship with the Lord, and they want to bring the people they’ll be serving, God willing, into a relationship as well.”
“One of the biggest joys of being rector at Mundelein is to be at the heart of the present and future of the Church. To see the (seminarians) all together, for me, is very much a New Testament sort of experience, of that early Church where people are coming together from a lot of different backgrounds. They are all joined by the fact that they love a relationship with the Lord, and they want to bring the people they’ll be serving, God willing, into a relationship as well.”
“One of the biggest joys of being rector at Mundelein is to be at the heart of the present and future of the Church,” he said. “To see the (seminarians) all together, for me, is very much a New Testament sort of experience, of that early Church where people are coming together from a lot of different backgrounds. They are all joined by the fact that they love a relationship with the Lord, and they want to bring the people they’ll be serving, God willing, into a relationship as well.
