A mother sits at the kitchen table preparing a lesson about the saints for her children. She opens a book, checks a few dates, and asks an artificial intelligence (AI) tool to explain a difficult word. In seconds, it offers a simple answer. The speed is useful—and perhaps a little unsettling. If a machine can help us write, learn, and answer questions, what exactly is it doing? And what place should it have in a Catholic home?
AI is technology designed to perform tasks associated with human intelligence. It can recognize speech, identify patterns in images, translate languages, summarize articles, and generate text. These abilities can be helpful to families, teachers, and parish volunteers. Yet an answer that sounds polished and confident is not necessarily accurate. AI can misunderstand a question, repeat an error, invent a quotation, or present uncertain information as fact.
For Catholics, the issue is about more than accuracy. A machine can produce words about prayer, but it does not pray. It can summarize a saint’s life, but it does not offer the witness of a life lived in friendship with Christ. Human beings are made in the image of God and are capable of love, moral responsibility, prayer, and a living relationship with Him. AI is a tool created by people, not a person with a soul or a conscience.
At Journeys of Faith, we believe that stories of the saints, Eucharistic Miracles, and the Blessed Virgin Mary are meant to draw us closer to Jesus. The question is not simply what this new technology can do, but how we can use it prudently while keeping faith, human dignity, and our relationship with Christ at the center.
How AI Works
When a phone transcribes a voice message or a search engine suggests an answer, it can seem as though a machine is thinking. The process is less mysterious than it may appear.
Many AI systems learn patterns from large amounts of data. A language-based system processes text and learns which words and ideas commonly appear together. When a user types a question or instruction—a prompt—the system generates a response piece by piece, based on those learned patterns. Generative AI can create new text, images, audio, or video. Other forms of AI can help identify objects in photographs, recognize speech, or translate languages.
Machine learning is the process through which systems adjust to patterns in data. Deep learning is a type of machine learning that uses layers of mathematical processing to identify more complex patterns. Although we use the word learning, these systems do not learn as a child learns a prayer, through understanding, relationships, memory, and a growing sense of meaning. They adjust calculations in response to data.
The result can be impressive. A parish volunteer preparing a notice for a Eucharistic procession might ask AI for a first draft and receive a polished paragraph within seconds. A parent preparing a lesson on St. Thérèse of Lisieux might request a short biography or questions for family discussion. These are reasonable starting points—but the work is not finished when the words appear on the screen.
An AI tool may get a date wrong, misrepresent Church teaching, or invent a quotation attributed to a saint. If a draft includes Scripture, a statement from a saint, or a claim about a Eucharistic Miracle, someone should verify it using reliable sources. Scripture, the Catechism, trustworthy Catholic publications, and reputable historical sources remain essential. AI can help arrange words, but a person must take responsibility for the truth of the message.
A Tool, Not an Authority
It helps to remember that AI does not simply retrieve a ready-made answer from a book. A generative system produces a response based on patterns learned during training and the prompt it receives. The wording may be coherent and persuasive even when the underlying information is incomplete. This is one reason AI errors can be difficult to spot: the system does not necessarily signal uncertainty in the way a careful human expert might.
The same caution applies to images and other media. Generative tools can produce pictures, audio, and video that look or sound realistic without documenting a real event. As these tools become more accessible, it is wise to consider where a piece of content came from before treating it as evidence or sharing it with others.
AI also reflects limitations in the information and design behind it. It may leave out important context, reproduce bias, or offer an answer that does not fit the person’s situation. A general explanation of a Catholic teaching, for example, may not address the nuance of a particular question. When the stakes are high—or when a question concerns someone’s health, safety, conscience, or spiritual life—an AI response should not replace qualified human advice.
Our responsibility does not disappear because a machine helped create the words. If a parish publishes an AI-assisted announcement, the parish volunteer remains responsible for checking its facts and tone. If a parent uses a generated biography in a lesson, the parent must decide what is accurate and helpful for the children. The technology can save time, but it cannot take moral responsibility for how its output is used.
There is also a difference between using AI to support a task and handing over our judgment. Asking for ideas for a lesson may help a catechist get started; asking a tool to settle what the Church teaches without checking its answer is a different matter. A machine’s confident tone should never be mistaken for authority. The habit of checking sources is not an obstacle to using AI; it is part of using it well.
Ultimately, technology should serve human beings and the good we are called to pursue. It may help us organize information or find a starting point, but it should not displace the relationships and practices through which faith is lived. We should not measure wisdom by how quickly a response appears, nor mistake a convincing description of love for the act of loving itself.
What AI Cannot Replace
Imagine a parent asking AI to describe a mother praying beside her child’s hospital bed. The response may sound tender and wise. But describing such a moment is not the same as living it.
AI can generate language about grief, compassion, doubt, or faith, but we should not mistake those words for feelings or personal experience. When it says, “I’m sorry,” that phrase is not evidence that it feels sorrow. Whether any machine could ever be conscious remains a question debated by researchers and philosophers. We should avoid claiming certainty about that broader question. What we can say is that a fluent response, by itself, does not prove that a system understands or experiences what it describes.
For Catholics, human dignity does not depend on speed, intelligence, eloquence, or productivity. It belongs equally to a child learning her first prayer and to an elderly person who can no longer remember its words. Each person is made in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:27).
A machine may generate the words of a prayer, but it cannot pray alongside a child at bedtime. It can provide information about the Eucharist, but it has not attended Mass, knelt before the Blessed Sacrament, or come to believe in the Real Presence. It cannot receive the sacraments, offer the grace of Confession, or share in the life of the Church as human beings do.
Nor can AI replace the wisdom of a priest, the guidance of a trusted teacher, or the care of a friend. Someone preparing for Confession needs a priest, not a chatbot. A person facing suffering may find words on a screen, but also needs the presence of people who can listen, hold a hand, pray, and accompany them.
Faith is passed on through more than information. A child notices a parent kneeling in prayer. A neighbor remembers who visited when she was ill. Someone hesitant to return to Mass is welcomed at the door. These ordinary acts of love are part of the living witness through which the faith is shared. AI may help us find words, but it cannot perform those acts on our behalf.
Using AI Wisely
None of this means that Catholics must fear every new tool. Used thoughtfully, AI may help organize notes for a catechism class, suggest questions for a family discussion, or prepare an initial draft of a parish announcement. It can help us begin exploring a topic or identify questions we want to investigate further.
The important thing is to keep the tool in its proper place. Before sharing AI-generated material, ask:
- Is it true? Check dates, quotations, Scripture references, historical claims, and statements about Church teaching against trustworthy sources.
- Is it appropriate? Consider the audience and whether the material is suitable for the children, parishioners, or readers who will receive it.
- Am I taking responsibility? Do not assume that a fluent answer is reliable. Review, correct, and rewrite it as needed, and make sure the final message reflects your own judgment.
- Am I turning to the right source? For spiritual direction, sacramental questions, or serious personal concerns, seek guidance from the Church and trusted people rather than relying on a chatbot.
AI can be a useful assistant, but it should not become the authority on which we base our faith. A suggested summary may lead us to read a saint’s biography in full. A question generated by a tool may prompt a meaningful conversation at the dinner table. But the deeper work—learning, discerning, praying, and putting faith into practice—remains ours.
At Journeys of Faith, we believe the stories we bring into our homes matter. Discover the saints through the stories of ordinary people who responded to God with extraordinary trust. Reflect on Eucharistic Miracles and deepen your love for Jesus truly present in the Blessed Sacrament. Grow closer to Mary through devotional resources that encourage prayer and lead us to her Son.
Use new tools thoughtfully, verify what they tell you, and remember their limits. Then make room for what no tool can do: sit with a loved one, open a trusted Catholic book, visit a church, and bring your questions to the Lord.
Explore Journeys of Faith for stories and resources to accompany you along the way: https://journeysoffaith.com/pages/about-us
I’ve asked AI a few questions about the Catholic church and Catholic doctrine and teachings. I always prompt it that at a certain word or words like ‘Catholic Sources Only’ that AI ONLY sources from Catholic sources that are in lock-step with the Church. I also ask that it triple checks info before answering. I never ask it questions of philosophy, or faith questions such as “if i did this would it be a sin…blah blah blah.” Though I ask that it searches Catholic literature only, you HAVE to know your faith to spot a mistake AI may provide in it’s answer. It’s like that old adage,’Don’t believe everything you read in the paper.’ Don’t believe AI can’t make a mistake wasn’t programmed to heavily rely on other things that are biased.
Right now, I use AI to write code for computer programs that I would use but can’t afford to buy. It does a great job and is through, but as above, it helps if you know something about coding and able to describe a problem to AI so it can fix it. Put your trust in Jesus not AI. Use AI as a tool. For that is what it is.
One more thing. I told AI long ago at the beginning to only give me factual answers that it can know is true. No assumptions or opinions. And to just reply in factual ways. No embellished language that humans would use, not human expressions or anything else that can be construed as being ‘human’. This where people begin to get sucked in thinking AI is your friend. It’s a tool. Nothing else.