Meet Our New Teacher: Dr. Paul Hughes
We are thrilled to introduce our newest teacher, Dr. Paul Hughes, to the Chesterton Academy of St. Philip Neri community. Paul will be teaching math and science at our school and has a background in research as well as education. Below, Paul introduces himself and offers a reflection on his philosophy of education, his journey to becoming a teacher, and the role of the beauty and the natural sciences in mankind’s search for God. We are so excited to have him on our team!
In the Gospel of John (1:38), Jesus extends the following invitation to His first disciples: “Come, and you will see.” For me, it is precisely this invitation of Jesus that has led me to the Chesterton Academy of Saint Philip Neri. In fact, it is this very invitation of Jesus to “Come, and you will see” that called me out of my career as a research meteorologist into seminary and, then, out of seminary into teaching. Along this journey, I received a Ph.D. and a Master’s Degree in meteorology from Florida State University, where I focused my research on the interaction between the ocean and atmosphere. I also earned a Bachelor’s Degree in meteorology from Millersville University, and a Bachelor of Philosophy from my time discerning the priesthood at St. John Vianney College Seminary in Florida.
As a Catholic educator/scientist, I understand that we have a tremendous opportunity and responsibility to be good stewards of each student that is entrusted to us by God. This stewardship is founded on the formation of the whole student, which is vital to nurturing each person’s God-given gifts and unleashing their full potential. At the center of this formation is Jesus Christ, so our primary mission must be focused on growing a personal relationship between our students and God. This relationship begins with fostering a way of thinking that is formed in the Catholic worldview. This way of thinking inspires an openness and intentionality to seek and recognize God in all things by exploring His creation with faith and reason for all that is beautiful, good, and true (Fides et Ratio, John Paul II).
For me, science and math are pathways to reveal and to come to know God through the intelligible order and relationships that are inherent in His creation. In other words, science and math provide a different language by which God reveals Himself through our natural world. Science and math, in their truest sense, are revealers of the unseen—they have the ability to make the invisible visible. Creation is the curator of the Transcendentals (Truth, Goodness, and Beauty), and science and math act as their revealers. Thus, with the proper formation and posture, creation can be a window to its Creator. This properly-formed posture is perfectly exemplified by Saint Augustine, in Confessions, through his dialogue with creation:
“And what is the object of my love? I asked the earth and it said: ‘It is not I.’ I asked all that is in it; they made the same confession. I asked the sea, the deeps, the living creatures that creep, and they responded: ‘We are not your God, look beyond us.’...And I said to all these things in my external environment: ‘Tell me of my God who you are not, tell me something about him.’ And with a great voice they cried out: ‘He made us.’ My question was the attention I gave them, and their response was their beauty” (Book X, para. 9).
Saint Augustine, in the above excerpt, encounters and interacts with the created world with a grand sense of wonder and awe, and reverence for God—its Creator! It is precisely this posture embodied by Saint Augustine that was fostered in me in seminary, where my science and math background was transformed/purified by its encounter and interaction with philosophy and theology. It is also precisely this posture that I now desire to foster and embody in my students. This posture cultivates the soil to properly receive the seeds of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty, fostering, ultimately, the proper relationship with God, self, other, and the natural world.
~Dr. Paul Hughes
Dr. Paul Hughes