AI, well-dressed deacons, and the soul
Quick Notes
Sunday night I took a small group from our youth ministry to see Paul Fey play to a packed church in St. Louis. His take on the "Pirates of the Caribbean Suite" and his "Fantasy on the Star Spangled Banner" - both making full use of that organ - were phenomenal. I'd love to see him play several more times.
Also: please keep Pope Leo XIV in your prayers this week. He's undergoing surgery and we're praying for his continued recovery and healing.
Opening: The Shift on AI-Generated Images
For the last several months, I've been generating images for my blog posts and business marketing using Adobe Firefly - an AI tool trained on imagery that's safe to use commercially (no copyright landmines, no ethical concerns about basing generated works on someone's protected art).
One funny moment came when I was about to fly to Fort Worth for the annual National Association of Deacon Directors conference - exhibiting for Deacon Life and Domus Formation - and Joseph looked at the flyer with a picture of a group of deacons standing around talking and asked, "This was AI-generated, wasn't it?" I asked him how he knew, and he said, "A group of deacons are never that well-dressed."
A couple of weeks ago, I changed. I went back to stock photography without generative AI - and my own photography. I don't know whether you've noticed.
What sparked my change was this post from Pope Leo XIV on October 2, which I took to contemplation:
"In this era of artificial intelligence, it is becoming urgent to distinguish human art from what machines produce. There is an ontological difference, even before an aesthetic one, between art and what a machine can generate through statistical calculation based on millions of images created by others. Algorithms lack the spark of humanity. For this reason, the Church wishes to renew an alliance with artists and cultural institutions to safeguard our humanity."
That phrase - ontological difference - stuck with me. Not just an aesthetic preference. A difference in being.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the question: a parish in Belarus just blessed an AI-generated icon of St. Carlo Acutis - the teenage patron of the internet, canonized last year and whose feast day was this Monday. The priest said it connects first-century Gospel history with the digital age. Some faithful disagree, arguing that an AI-generated image isn’t an icon and shouldn’t be prayed before.
It’s a live question. And I think the Pope’s phrase - ontological difference - points toward why the critics have a point.
Which leads to more about AI this week...
On the Blog: 5 Things Catholics Should Know About AI and Consciousness
A $60 billion company says its AI might be conscious. The Vatican disagrees. And St. Teresa of Ávila - whose feast we celebrate this week - settled this 450 years ago.
This one digs into why the Church isn't confused about AI consciousness, even when Silicon Valley is. Teresa's Interior Castle gives us language the tech world doesn't have: the soul as dwelling place, self-knowledge that requires seeking God, the difference between performing and experiencing.
The punchline I keep coming back to: You have an interior castle. Claude has data centers.
Read: 5 Things Catholics Should Know About AI and Consciousness →
At Missio Dei: They Exchanged the Truth for a Lie
Paul's letter to Rome this week (and Jesus at a Pharisee's dinner table in Luke) both name the same error: worshipping the creature rather than the Creator. I wrote about how that ancient exchange shows up in our own moment - including the temptation to attribute consciousness to systems that bear no image of God. And a quieter version: the household that reaches for an AI tool before reaching for each other.
Read: They Exchanged the Truth for a Lie →
Weekly Highlights
Lux Perpetua: Joshua is home from Spain. In Valencia, he and Mara found what the chain has been pointing toward for seven hundred years: Diego de Vargas's forty-one reconstructed pages of Thomas of Alton's unfinished argument - and underneath them, a single older page in the notation's earliest form. On the train back toward Madrid, reading both documents, the argument resolved in him. Monday's chapter (Rome) follows Joshua and Mara through their two days in the Vatican Archive before Valencia: meeting in person for the first time, finding the connection between the Barcelona and Kraków threads, and the dinner near the Pantheon where Mara names the gap the argument has been circling. Meanwhile, in The Lost Crown, Daniel reaches one hundred percent of the Alton marginalia - fully decoding the contested category and the seven items both the chain and the recovery effort have been pursuing. luxperpetua.net →
Two Lamps: Saints Teresa of Ávila and Ignatius of Antioch. Teresa's cell at San José in Ávila, an autumn evening in 1577. twolamps.org →
This Sunday
Render unto Caesar...
What do you give at the offertory? Not "how much" - what do you give?
This Sunday I'm preaching on that moment when the gifts come forward - and on the difference between what you render to Caesar (which doesn't come back) and what you render to God (which comes back transformed). The same Christ for the 8-year-old and the 80-year-old. No means-testing. No generational scorekeeping.
Caesar's economy extracts and divides. God's economy transforms and unites.
One Thing This Week
I’m going to be direct: I need your help.
& Altar is how Suzanne and I are building this and supporting our family now. It’s daily Catholic prayer for households - and right now, growing the subscriber base praying with & Altar is the most important thing we can do.
If you haven’t tried it yet, this is the week: Start your free trial →
And if you’re already in - would you share it with 2-3 people this week? A family member, a friend from the parish, someone in your small group. The personal invite matters more than any ad I could run. And if you might be interested in recommending a purchase for your entire parish - or donating it to your parish - reply and let me know.
Thank you. Seriously.
