My knowledge of asteroids comes mostly from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s beautiful tale of The Little Prince, who lived on a house-sized asteroid known as “B 612”, and gave the world the wisdom that “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly: what is essential is invisible to the eye”.
Then, in February 2023, I came across a news item (with accompanying graphic) about Asteroids Named for Jesuits. One asteroid, “551878 Stoeger”, was named for Fr. William Stoeger, SJ (1943-2014), who was a “cosmologist at the Vatican Observatory and a notable theologian in the area of theology and science.”1 Asteroids (I learned) are pieces of planets, rocky remnants of material leftover from the formation of the cosmos about 4.6 billion years ago. I was elated that I knew a man after whom an asteroid was named!
I first met Fr. William (Bill) Stoeger, when I was an RNDM Tertian in Rome in 1983. Tertianship for us was a time of spiritual renewal when we were about 40 years of age. That was a time of life when humans could succumb to what ancient Christian monastics called “acedia.” Acedia is “a gloomy combination of weariness, sadness, and a lack of purposefulness” which robs a person of her/his capacity for joy and leaves her/him feeling empty, or void of meaning.2 Also known as a mid-life crisis. Or the Noonday devil.
When I went to Tertianship, I was 37 years old and had been sharply bounced out of a time of “Acedia” (which in my case also involved active addiction), the previous year when I had accepted the fact that I was an alcoholic. I had been sober for just over a year when I started Tertianship, and was in the process of recovering my “one wild and precious life”.3 I was navigating a critical crossroads.
Bill Stoeger worked as an astronomer at the Vatican Observatory, nearby our Tertianship house in Castel Gandolfo.4 He came over for Eucharist from time to time, and subsequently served as a director for our Tertianship retreat. It was my good fortune that Bill was assigned me as one of his “directees”. What I remember about that retreat, is that my concerns were “soul size”, and Bill was able to meet me there.5
In subsequent years, Bill was assigned to another Vatican Observatory site in Tucson AZ, and when I was studying in Toronto, ON (1998-2003) Bill visited on two occasions when he was giving academic presentations at the University of Toronto and the University of Hamilton. What I remember from that time was that Bill was researching “black holes”. A beautiful curiosity and sense of wonder still lived in him.
Bill died on March 24, 2014, from an aggressive cancer. On this 9th anniversary of his death, I imagine him now, dancing among the galaxies, stars and planets which held such fascination for him. That image gives me great joy. And bragging rights. I have a friend who has an asteroid named after him! And when I say that, I can hear Bill laughing.
1 Br. Robert Macke. “Latest Batch of Named Asteroids Includes Three Jesuit Astronomers and a Pope. 11 Feb 2023. See: https://tinyurl.com/2nb9bwp6
2 See description of The Noonday Devil: Acedia, the Unnamed Evil of Our Times at: https://www.chaucersbooks.com/book/9781586179397
3 Mary Oliver. “The Summer Day”. See: http://www.phys.unm.edu/~tw/fas/yits/archive/oliver_thesummerday.html
4The Vatican Observatory was established by the Vatican in 1582 at the time of the reforms of Pope Gregory, “for astronomical research and public outreach to advance the scientific understanding of our universe.” It is one of the oldest active astronomical observatories in the world. The Observatory stands at the forefront of scientific research covering a broad range of topics, from an examination of the tiniest specks of interplanetary dust to the origin and structure of the universe.” For more, see: https://www.vaticanobservatory.org/
5 Christopher Fry. “A Sleep of Prisoners”. See: https://grateful.org/resource/a-sleep-of-prisoners/
Infographic reproduced with permission of the Vatican Observatory, https://www.vaticanobservatory.org/
Veronica Dunne is a Sister of our Lady of the Missions (RNDM), who has primarily worked as an educator and counsellor in institutional and community based settings in Canada. She has also served with the RNDMs outside of Canada in Senegal, Peru, and Aotearoa New Zealand.
A 2002 Doctor of Ministry graduate from the University of St. Michael’s College, Toronto School of Theology at the University of Toronto, she subsequently served as director of the Doctor of Ministry program at St. Stephen’s College at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. Her current research interests are in eco-theology and cosmology, and their intersections with indigenous cosmologies and spiritualties.
She presently serves on the RNDM leadership team in Canada.
I have thoroughly appreciated this beautiful tribute re. a remarkable man. And what a grace that you were one of his “directees” on the retreat. And all those asteroids named for Jesuits, I am not likely to look at a clear and dancing night sky in the same way again.