Vol I pgs. 91-95; Vol. IV pgs. 32-33 and 42-44
I have always found Fr. Laux's series helpful, concise and surprisingly applicable almost a century after it was written. (A.V.H.) Here is some of what Fr. Laux has to say about evolution:
"Extreme evolutionists tell us that man was a new species sprung from some lower animal stock. They assume as their starting point one living cell. Out of this cell, they claim, all the myriad forms of plants, animals and men have gradually evolved (developed). This conjecture - for it is no more - does not do away with the Creator. The Creator is necessary to make possible the existence of the first living cell and of the germs required for such manifold developments. An examination of the very word 'evolution,' or development, makes this clear. Evolution means the act of unfolding or developing. Now, there was either something in the first cell that could be 'unfolded' and grow, or there was nothing there, and in this case evolution is impossible; for it remains eternally true that ex nihilo nihil fit, 'from nothing comes nothing.' You cannot develop a film, if there is nothing on the film to be developed or brought out.
Thus we see that the evolutionary theory does not exclude the Creator. Hence, if we assume that the evolution of created living cells took place under the directing hand of God, there is no objection against such an assumption. The Church has left the question open. Up to the present [text was written in 1928 - A.V.H.], however, no proofs have been forthcoming for such wholesale evolution. Scientists have made it seem more or less probable that evolution has taken place within the lower forms of animal life, such as mollusks and insects. It seems that new species of insects have been developed out of earlier ones. But not a shred of evidence has been produced to prove that higher orders of living beings havee been evolved from lower ones. The evolution of all the forms of life which we see in the world today, and therefore also of the human body, from one original cell, may be possible in theory, but it is actually highly improbable.
'Some theologians hold that the Bible does not preclude the theory of the descent of man from the beast. Yet this theory cannot be accepted save with certain reservations. It must be maintained that, in the final analysis, God really did form the body of man from the dust of the earth. He might have caused a species of animal gradually to develop into a more perfect species, until it was fitted to receive a rational, immortal soul. And then, into this body, formed by long evolution from the dust of the earth, He may have breathed a human soul; and when He did so, He created man or Adam.'" (The Chief Truths of the Faith, Fr. John Laux, 1928, reprinted by TAN Books)
