From Resistance to Discernment: The Church and AI

By Teresia Muia

As technology continues to shape how people learn, communicate, and relate, the Loyola Centre for Media and Communications (LCMC) is calling the Church to move beyond total resistance to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and instead embrace it responsibly as a tool for mission and ministry.

This call was demonstrated during a formative session held at St. Mathias Mulumba Seminary, Tindinyo, where LCMC engaged 124 seminarians and deacons, alongside 14 formators, on the place of AI and technology within the Church’s wider pastoral, educational, and spiritual mission.

Dr. Elias Mokua, SJ, Executive Director of LCMC, facilitating the practical AI session alongside his staff to the formators and seminarians at St. Mathias Mulumba Major Seminary.

Led by LCMC Executive Director Dr. Elias Mokua, with facilitators Teresia Muia and Cynthia Khanijiri, the session emphasized that the Church ministers in a world that is already digital; particularly among young people deeply immersed in technology. Participants were challenged to view AI not as a threat to faith, but as a tool that, when guided by ethics and Church teaching, can enhance evangelization, formation, and service.

The engagement explored practical applications of AI across academic work, pastoral outreach, digital evangelization, media production, child safeguarding, and spiritual life, including prayer, scripture study, and liturgical preparation through digital resources.

Rather than promoting unchecked adoption, LCMC underscored discernment and responsibility, affirming that technology should serve the human person and the Gospel. The session reflected a growing willingness within Church institutions to read the signs of the times and engage technology thoughtfully in service of mission.