Re: Modern Physics and Transubstantiation

Joseph,

Thanks for the message. Good to hear from you. I would like to send a more in-depth response. However, I've been fairly busy in the past few weeks, so I may not get a chance in the near future to do so. Nonetheless, I wanted to send at least a brief response with my initials thoughts, as I have asked similar questions before regarding transubstantiation. 

Stephen Barr, who is a Catholic, a particle physicist, a professor at the University of Delaware, and author of the book 'Modern Physics and Ancient Faith,' wrote a short post at the 'First Things' website entitled 'Does Quantum Physics Render Transubstantiation Meaningless?' that is relevant. Barr responds to some of the comments given in the combox of his article, and the discussion is worth consideration.

Personally, I don't believe that a disproof of medieval physics is sufficient to nullify the merit of transubstantiation as a model for developing a deeper understanding of the True Presence. There are some realities that can be proven by methods outside of the realm of physics. A paradigm for understanding the physical world based on substances and accidents, although lacking as a way of thinking about subatomic phenomena or something of that nature, may still be a worthwhile for gaining insights into metaphysical truths.

A basic example I used in one of the very old DCMission videos was the change that occurs between two people after they get married (Note that the quality of DCMission videos improved quite a bit since those early videos!) Most of the content of the DCMission video above is not directly relevant to the question on Transubstantiation. To save you the trouble of having to watch the material that isn't directly relevant, here is a transcript of the talk in the video. The part on Transubstantiation begins in the seventh paragraph.

Anyhow, I realize that these are far from comprehensive answers to your questions, but maybe they will get you started.

On a different note that might be of interest to you, I will also send a link to a talk by Stephen Barr titled "Physics, the Nature of Time and Theology." He gave the talk in 2011 at Steubenville's Science and Faith Conference. HD Video recordings of all of the talks from the conference are available online.

Another resource that I have found helpful for questions like these is Oxford's Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion. Fr. Andrew Pinsent B.A., M.A., Ph.D., Ph.B., S.T.B., Ph.L, Ph.D. (he has PhDs in both physics and philosophy) is the director of the Ian Ramsey Centre. They post video recordings of many in-depth lectures on various topics within the area of science and religion. There are a few of Fr. Pinsent's talks posted.

 Thanks again for the note.

God Bless,
Patrick