Another tribute I wrote for the Astrologers’ Memorial was for Laurence L. Cassidy, Ph.D., S.J. A practicing astrologer, he was a Jesuit for 57 years and a Catholic priest for 45. He had a classical background and was knowledgeable of Church history, yet he never felt a conflict between his religious and astrological beliefs. I knew him as a long-time friend, student and colleague of Al H. Morrison, and remember a modest and soft-spoken man with a strong intellect. As one of the notable astrologers I met when Uranus conjoined my Sun, his work influenced my thinking.
A Gemini with a Cancer Moon and Aries rising, Cassidy was probably born in 1929, but I haven’t confirmed his birth date. He died on June 29, 2006 at the age of 77. Fr. Cassidy taught philosophy at St. Peter’s College in New Jersey beginning in 1969 and served as chairman of the department for a time. The New York Times covered his metaphysical class in 1972 as “Occult Interests Jersey City Priest.” His dissertation was on Nicholas Cusa, a 15th century cardinal, who was also interested in astrology, alchemy and the occult. For Cassidy, he was simply “a learned medieval man.” His class, “Magic, Mysticism and Metaphysics,” open to 90 students, was often over-booked. He said, “I like to return to the time when the truth was pursued in all aspects of human experience. This has been abandoned over the last few centuries with adoption of Aristotle’s view that only that is true that can be proven through our senses.”
The Jersey City Journal also reported on his Rotary Club lunchtime address on Russian psychic experiments to a somewhat skeptical group in February of 1972. Fr. Cassidy shared that occult and metaphysical topics are part of “the tradition of wisdom” and did not conflict with his other beliefs: “Whatever happens to man is a reflection of the universe, which is created by God.”
He wrote two books on the transcendental philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas and was the author of The Thinking Self (1992), a text of Socratic dialogues that he used in the classroom. (He’d probably be dismayed to see second-hand copies currently selling for $50 and up.) 
Cassidy was a contributor to CEO TIMES, Kosmos and other astrological publications. His popular article, “The Believing Christian as a Dedicated Astrologer” (1978) was reprinted many times. In it, he maintains that astrology and Christianity are compatible as long as we believe in free will, and says, “I have taught some astrology here at St. Peter’s College and no one has ventured to suggest that I am putting any soul in peril for so doing. Of course, most think my mind has become enfeebled, but that that is another story… We really are a free community of scholars.” His article, “Old Astrology and the New Catechism” was originally published in Realtà, the Irish Astrological Association journal, in 1994. Fr. Cassidy’s writing is lucid, rigorous and uplifting and we’re fortunate to be able to find copies of it online.
Cassidy spoke for the Irish Astrological Association and addressed various conferences and groups in the U.S. Colleagues and students at St. Peter’s fondly recalled his sermons at their chapel on Sundays, his dedication to “the good and the true,” his love of teaching and his keen interest in his students and their families.
His letter to the editors of National Jesuit News is reprinted in Crisis online and takes an impassioned stance against pacifism in the face of nuclear war. Below is some artwork from St. Aedan’s Church, now managed by St. Peters’, which resembles a horoscope wheel. 