June 11 conference at Sacred Heart Major Seminary, 'Ministry in an AI Era,' to tackle issues addressed in Leo XIV’s encyclical
DETROIT — On the heels of Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas — regarding protecting human dignity in the era of artificial intelligence — the Archdiocese of Detroit is hosting a special conference, “Ministry in an AI Era,” on June 11 at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit.
In collaboration with Magisterium AI, a project of the Catholic technology company Longbeard, the archdiocese's Department of Evangelization and Missionary Discipleship had been organizing the conference before Pope Leo's encyclical was announced, but has been taking cues from prior comments the pope has made about artificial intelligence, said Michael Chamberland, director of the department.
Chamberland teamed up with John Brahier, director of partnerships at Longbeard, to create a conference to help Catholic pastoral ministers understand how AI is changing the face of ministry, and, in light of the pope's encyclical, “with a specific focus on ministry and how to harness and utilize AI in our ministries,” Chamberland said.
“John approached me in the late fall or early winter and asked about hosting a conference on AI,” Chamberland told Detroit Catholic. “This conference will help ministers not only understand AI in a deeper way, but show some of the implications that it’s going to have on our ministry as we reach out to people.”
Longbeard is a Catholic AI company that serves as an information hub on the Catholic Church and its teachings. It's flagship model, Magisterium AI, was among the first AI tools specifically trained on authentic Catholic teaching.
Chamberland said the two men wanted to create a conference for those involved in parish ministry to explore how artificial intelligence can foster authentic human-to-human contact in ministry.
“The primary audience is those who are working in parish ministry — priests, youth ministers, DREs,” Chamberland said. “It's meant to be a practical look at how prevalent AI already is in our society, and how we can harness the power of AI in practical ways to make our ministry a little more efficient, with the goal of being more personal with our people.”
Breakout sessions will feature various topics, including safety, privacy and data concerns in using AI tools, best practices for parishes and schools, and a segment on Pope Leo's teachings on the topic of artificial intelligence.
“We have a session called ‘Demystifying AI: What is AI and Where Do I Start?,’ which is going to be led by Brendan Newell, principal technical architect at Microsoft,” Chamberland said. “He’ll be speaking about the bare bones of what AI is. How does it function? How can we use it?”
Paul Spankie, director of technology for the Archdiocese of Detroit, will speak about safety, privacy and security in using AI, especially how parishes, staff and parishioners can maintain healthy boundaries around AI use, Chamberland added.
Jeffrey Quesnelle, co-founder and chief technology officer of Nous Research, an open-source AI company with a focus on model training, education and AI infrastructure, will offer a presentation titled, “The Next Year of AI – Where We’re Going,” focusing on the challenges Catholic ministries will face in adapting to the rapidly evolving technology.
Quesnelle, a parishioner at the National Shrine of the Little Flower Basilica in Royal Oak, told Detroit Catholic his presentation will focus on the future of artificial intelligence, particularly how parishes can prepare for those changes.
“This will be a definitive couple of years in this space, as a lot of this technology is reaching parity with humans at certain tasks,” Quesnelle said. “The message (my presentation) will send is, 'Expect the unexpected in these next few years.'”
Quesnelle said he'd just finished reading Pope Leo's 42,300-word encyclical, and is still processing the deep insights contained in the pope's first major teaching document.
As an expert on artificial intelligence and its potential, Quesnelle said he is encouraged to see the pope challenge leaders in the AI field to apply the principles of Catholic social teaching to the development of artificial intelligence.
“The first 20 pages are a review of all the Catholic social teaching encyclicals, starting with Leo XIII and all the way through Francis,” Quesnelle said. “After framing Catholic social teaching, the Holy Father turns his attention to the modern day, showing how these principles apply to artificial intelligence, recognizing the human dignity of each person and the common destination of all goods.”
Magnifica Humanitas warns about the dangers of artificial intelligence if misused as a weapon of war, Quesnelle said, and contains a few other specific warnings.
“But rather than getting into the minutiae of special policies for artificial intelligence, the encyclical is a framework on how Catholic social teaching and artificial intelligence are connected going forward,” Quesnelle said.
Those interested in attending the June 11 conference at Sacred Heart will have two weeks to read, digest and analyze Magnifica Humanitas before diving into the practical applications of AI in a Catholic context, Chamberland said.
“I think the conference will be great for someone who doesn’t necessarily feel that they have the time to read the full encyclical, or maybe they have read it, but they want to digest it or chew on it with other people,” Chamberland said. “This is a great opportunity. Because of this, we can equip our evangelists for this new era.”
'Ministry in an AI Era'
"Ministry in an AI Era," a collaborative conference sponsored by the Archdiocese of Detroit in conjunction with Magisterium AI, an artificial intelligence project of the Catholic AI company Longbeard, will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Thursday, June 11, at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit. Tickets are $35 apiece. Register here.
