On November 30 2022, OpenAI launched the AI chatbot ChatGTP, making the latest generation of AI technologies widely available. In the few months since then, we have seen Italy ban ChatGTP over privacy concerns, leading technology luminaries calling for a pause on AI systems development, and even prominent researchers saying we should be prepared to Read more
Anyone paying attention to religion in America has heard about the trend, especially among young Americans, toward disaffiliation with institutions, including the Catholic Church. So I arrived at a recent talk on “Seeking Common Ground Across Generations” prepared for dire and depressing statistics. But I walked away with hope, thanks to speaker Ellen Koneck, executive Read more
It’s been nearly 14 centuries since the monastery founded by St Hild of Whitby, a prominent abbess in 7th century Anglo-Saxon England, hosted the Northumbrian kingdom’s assembly. There they would discuss the date on which its Christian church would celebrate Easter. That assembly, or synod, would bring the kingdom’s church in line with the Catholic Read more
Until a recent moment in human history, writes Martin Amis, “there was, simply, the Man.” The Man’s chief characteristic “was that he got away with everything.” But today, men seem to have lost their groove around the industrialised world. By almost any statistical measure, the average man is worse off than he was forty years Read more
To properly understand McElroy’s radical inclusion proposals, it is necessary to situate them in the context of the pastoral ecclesiology and synodal process advocated by Pope Francis. The pastoral ecclesiology of Pope Francis is the background for McElroy’s essay. Francis envisions a consciously expansive church characterized as a mother that excludes no one. A priority Read more
In six months, a year, or two, from now, the first wave of AI-made layoffs will hit the economy. A whole lot of execs, having figured out that a whole lot of people are beginning to use AI to do their jobs, are going to dispense with the middleman. They won’t care very much if Read more
Forty-five years ago, I wrote a parody of a then-popular Catholic hymn. The same parody works today: Be not ordained Priesthood is for men only Don’t follow me, for they will give you grief. We laughed then, but decades later, it is not very funny. In fact, it is rather tragic. What is tragic is Read more
One of the most ancient axioms to define the See of Peter’s role in the Church reads: “prima sedes a nemine iudicatur” — no one can judge the first see. Centuries before papal primacy was defined at Vatican Council I in 1870, the Bishop of Rome already enjoyed a type of immunity in both the Read more
Have you noticed how the Sacred Presence brings gifts of understanding when you need them most? It’s the sentence that lifts off the page. It’s a few spoken words that go directly to the heart. We all have these experiences. One gift that has stayed with me, came from an old Jewish rabbi. He wrote: Read more
In recent months, a number of Catholic bishops in the US have spoken out against transgender and non-binary people’s decision to alter their pronouns, names and bodies. Some have even insisted that Catholic schools must continue to use the birth pronoun and names of transgender and non-binary students in their schools, despite the pain that Read more