Mr. Robert Lorenz S.J. is a Jesuit scholastic — someone who is the midst of their studies towards ordination — who has been missioned to the Vatican Observatory in Tucson.
Born in Kentucky, he got a degree in biology from Xavier University in Cincinnati back in 2000. After a couple of years with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps in northern California, he spent seventeen years as a Park Ranger with the US National Park Service. Although he gave ranger talks on a wide variety of topics, his favorites were always the astronomy talks. In fact, he spent a significant amount of time not only giving these talks but training other rangers as well.
He joined the Jesuits in 2019 and has completed his novitiate and “first studies” courses in philosophy and theology. Now he begins his period of Jesuit formation called “regency,” a time to work in a Jesuit community, before continuing on after a few years with the theology studies that, with luck, will lead to ordination.
His Jesuit province has sent him to us to work in a number of areas involving education and outreach. These include coordinating public presentations among our Tucson staff on the topics of faith and science; helping out in the Astronomy for Catholics in Ministry and Education (ACME) program in 2026; working with our staff to prepare press releases and social media posts about our work; and learning the ropes when it comes to how Jesuit organizations go about fundraising.
