As a junior at the University of Notre Dame during the 1989-1990 academic year, Terrence Ehrman had settled into his major in biology. With a special interest in ecology, he took a spring course—stream ecology—with a recently hired assistant professor, Gary Lamberti.
That course inspired Ehrman to join Lamberti’s lab for his senior-year research project. During fall break, Ehrman set out to examine how different stream reaches—sections of a stream that have consistent conditions, like depth or area—retain organic matter. The matter is an essential source of energy for stream ecosystems.
The study set both men on a path for a mentor-mentee connection, but grew into a collegial friendship rooted in shared passions for ecology and spirituality. Now a Holy Cross priest, Fr. Ehrman, ’91 holds a master’s degree in ecology, a master’s of divinity, and also a doctorate in systematic theology, while Lamberti is now Nieuwland Professor Emeritus of Aquatic Science and continues to run a lab in Galvin Hall.
“That study became his first publication and also my first at Notre Dame,” Lamberti said about the research, which was conducted in Juday Creek, a 12-mile creek that begins in farm fields in Granger, Indiana. The creek meanders through the Warren Golf Course near Notre Dame, and eventually flows through a wooded area and into the St. Joseph River.
As is common in the Notre Dame College of Science, matters of faith fuse with the substance of science. Even early in its history, the study of the natural sciences was a central subject at Notre Dame. Fr. John Zahm, a Holy Cross priest and science professor, wrote extensively about faith and science in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, while Fr. Julius Nieuwland, a chemistry professor, discovered the key ingredient for synthetic rubber around 1920.
In November, Lamberti served as the lecturer for the 2024 Gold Mass, which celebrates that intersection. During his talk, “The Global Freshwater Crisis: Science, Society and Spirituality,” Lamberti described the world’s freshwater crisis and how society should address it, using references to Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical, Laudato si’. Fr. Ehrman jumped at the chance to be the one to introduce Lamberti, who in 2022 was awarded a lifetime award for excellence from the Society of Freshwater Science.
Fr. Ehrman used seasonal paintings from 1842 by American artist Thomas Cole, called the Voyage of Life—depicting a man’s downstream journey in a small wooden boat—as a way to talk about Lamberti’s life and career . . . and to introduce old photographs of a younger Lamberti (leading the audience to chuckle about photos of Lamberti sporting era-appropriate 1970s shorts).
“There’s a human element that hopefully everyone brings to science, and Gary very much brings that human element,” Fr. Ehrman told the audience. “And even as he’s progressing down the stream of life, there’s always a youthful dimension to Dr. Lamberti.”
During the 1990s, while Lamberti taugh Fr. Ehrman about stream ecology and research, matters of faith didn’t come up very often.
“I knew Gary was Catholic, but I don’t think we ever talked about religion,” said Fr. Ehrman during a meeting in Lamberti’s office in Galvin Hall. “Nobody at that time would have known that I was going to go into the priesthood, because that didn’t come until when I was in grad school.”
Lamberti said, however, that he remembers Fr. Ehrman speaking of getting a master’s degree and then planning to be ordained later. “You were living your life in a manner that would move you in that direction,” he said, jogging Ehrman’s memory and discussing Ehrman’s master’s degree in aquatic ecology from Virginia Tech, and his doctorate about the intersection of faith and science from the Catholic University of America.
“He did a couple of stops on his way to returning back to the promised land,” Lamberti joked, referring to Notre Dame.
Once Fr. Ehrman returned to campus, the two would meet to chat about topics in biology or matters of faith. They both see God in nature, but have different approaches to how they see Him there.
“A Catholic vision, or a Christian vision, is that God is the Creator, and is creating that tree right now,” Fr. Ehrman said and pointed out Lamberti’s office window toward a paper birch tree ablaze in yellow autumn leaves. “And so there's a transparency to the Divine that would be like a double vision . . . that one can encounter God in and through the tree.
“In a Catholic vision of the world, there’s a personal dimension to everything; God is creating that tree because he loves that tree, and He’s creating me because he loves me.”
Lamberti, sitting behind his desk, shared his view with a grin. “I probably have a little more of a simplistic view,” he said. “For me, it’s more about seeing God manifest in nature…I think what it comes down to is that I go out and marvel at what I see, and then I see the imprint of a higher being on this river or that forest.”
Lamberti continues to offer a fall break course where he takes 14 students to the Galapagos Islands. Although he has been there four times, he still marvels at the obvious connection between God and nature. He enjoys the reactions of students who are seeing it for the first time, and makes a point of trekking with the students to find a Sunday Mass.
“When I’m in the Galapagos, for example, I think about how there’s this misguided idea that Catholics don’t accept evolution, which is not true,” he said. “When you go to the Galapagos, you see evolution in action. And you think, what greater God can there be that could create a process so integral, so fascinating, so fundamental, as evolution?
“So that’s kind of my life. That’s kind of how I see the natural world … I also go to Alaska for my research, and I see all of these astoundingly beautiful landscapes, and I think, there is a God.”
Lamberti will continue to operate his lab at Notre Dame until at least 2026, when his current research projects conclude. Fr. Ehrman had taught an aquatic ecology class until last semester, but is taking a break from it to concentrate on teaching his courses in the Department of Theology. Though they will head their separate ways again, they will remain in touch . . . because they have never not kept in touch.
They both met because of a love for ecology, but that’s no longer the basis of their relationship.
“Terry has been an important spiritual resource for me; it’s not like we just have this science relationship, right?” Lamberti said. “We have a wonderful friendship that transcends academics in many ways.”
Story by Deanna Csomo Ferrell | Photos by Matt Cashore