Does the Big Bang theory rule out faith in God? Was Jesus a vegan? What’s wrong with birth control? Why should I believe in God?
These are questions young people are asking all over the world and they deserve answers that will help them understand the Catholic faith and respond to God’s invitation to them, says Dutch priest Fr Michael Remery.
A master of seven European languages and former advisor to the Vatican on new media and young people, Fr Remery is convinced that today’s evangelists need to be on social media to “meet people where they are” and to embrace the brave new world of artificial intelligence.
Fr Remery was recently in Australia to encourage teachers, catechists and young adults in their work of evangelisation in Bathurst, Melbourne, Hobart and Sydney.
Fr Remery’s book and app Tweeting with God has been translated into 30 languages and is followed up by several more print and video resources including Online With the Saints and How to Grow in Faith.
“AI is not the future, it is now, and has been here for some years already,” Fr Remery said.
“Now we give it a name and are talking about it as such, but we have known for a long time that we can’t trust all the sources of information we encounter online.
“I get a lot of questions about AI, certainly it has intelligence but not understanding.
“It can produce a homily that looks good for example, but we need human priests and lay people to preach the Gospel and show how beautiful its message is.
“We need to embrace the digital world and we need to make use of artificial intelligence up to the point where we think it is good, but at the same time be aware of the dangers.
“For me, I only want to talk about Jesus and help people to find him, and if my materials can help them, that’s marvellous.”