Faith in Action—Fr. Schon, July , 2026

Tune into Faith in Action at 9 a.m., Monday, July 13, on Channel 88.1 FM, Siouxland Catholic Radio. Host Joanne Fox talks with Fr. Randy Schon, Holy Cross Parish.

This program replays at 7 p.m. Saturday, July 18.

Faith in Action is brought to you by Mary's Choice, a Sioux City Pregnancy Resource Center. Previous Faith in Action programs can be found at siouxlandcatholicradio.com, on YouTube, and on several other podcasting platforms. Programming is subject to change.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Hello, listeners of Siouxland Catholic Radio, Channel 88.1 FM KFHC Ponka Sioux City and KOIA Storm Lake. Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to listen to Faith in Action. I'm your host, Joanne Fox, and again, it is it is my pleasure and my privilege to get together with you listeners and share what I think might be something of interest to you or might help you grow in your faith or maybe just enhance your faith. So I am so tickled today to have uh a returning guest. He has been on the show several times with insights about um various things that I think are interesting. And uh today we are going to focus on uh Pope Leo's recent encyclical Magnifica Humanitas on safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence. That's a a lot of words, and we are gonna kind of break it down today. It was just released on May 25th, and what I thought was so interesting, it marked the 135th anniversary of Pope Leo the Thirteenth, because this is Pope Leo the 14th, Ray Rum Navarum, which we did a whole show on that with my guest. And so I want to welcome to the studio Father Randy Schoen. He is a priest of the Diocese of Sioux City. He happens to also be my pastor at Holy Cross Parish, and maybe that's why he is uh willing to have me strong arm him into coming on and talking about things that I think are interesting. So, Father Schoen, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to come on down to the studio and share some insights on this encyclical.

SPEAKER_00 1:43

Well, thank you. Fine to be here. You didn't have to strong arm me. I'm I'm willing to come.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

Oh, that's great to hear. Because there will be other times I'm gonna bring you in in the future as well. So I'm sure there are listeners who probably don't know much about you, so why don't you tell them a little bit about your background, where you grew up, and maybe your vocation.

SPEAKER_00 2:01

Sure. Yeah, so people from certain parts of the diocese will know me. I've been around, I've been ordained since 1988. I'm from a farm between Glidden and Willie down in Carroll County. So I went to school in Glidden, we live six miles from there. Went to church in are we four miles from Glidden, so that's where we went to school. Live six miles from Willie, and that is where we went to church.

SPEAKER_01 2:25

And everybody knows Willie, because that is like the Bethlehem of the Diocese of Sioux City. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 2:36

So anyway, I I attended Briar Cliff here in Sioux City, and then uh St. John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota, and then I was ordained in 1988. The next four summers yet I went to summer school in Dayton, Ohio for my uh third master's degree, that one being in education. So my first 23 years as a priest, I was a full-time teacher at schools in our diocese, and doing uh guidance work as well. So those were three years as an associate in Fort Dodge, and then I was a pastor at St. Bandict up by Algona for two years, and then St. Catharines of Owens, near Remsen for nine years, and then back to the Algona area, little towns of St. Joseph, Wesley, St. Band, Livermore, for six more years, and that concluded my 23 years of full-time teaching. Also did guidance, as I said, and also coached a lot. And then after that, I went down to Boone, Sacred Heart, for six years, did some, uh just taught part-time there for the with the eighth-grade religion. And then after that, uh three years in Denison, Manning, Manila Vale, and then three years Movile, Kingsley, Anthem, and now I'm just finishing my second year here in Sioux City, Blessed Sacrament and St. Michael churches, which make up Holy Cross Parish.

SPEAKER_01 3:52

Yes, and of course, that's how I kind of got to know you a little bit better. But uh Father Schoen and I have many, many relationships because he used to send me when I was at the Catholic Globe, former newspaper of the Diocese of Sioux City, the results of the CYO tournaments.

SPEAKER_00 4:10

And I still do that. And as a matter of fact, we had the CYO baseball softball this past Saturday. I'm still still a little warm from that. So that is part of my responsibility. He's been doing that for about 30 years now. So we still had that for the six schools from our diocese competed in that on Saturday in Remsen and in Lamar's.

SPEAKER_01 4:31

Yeah, and so again, listeners, uh, you know I I love to bring my friends on the show to talk about things I think are interesting. And um I was so tickled when the Holy Father released this encyclical that kind of addresses AI and addresses some other stuff too. And because I had two years of Latin in high school, and I saw that the title Magnifica Humanitas, it I I got I got goosebumps right now because it said to me, kind of roughly translated from high school, which was 50 plus years ago, the magnificence of humanity. Yes. That's what I it inter again translated loosely to to me. So am I on base there?

SPEAKER_00 5:13

Yes, that's correct. Okay. I think he wanted to emphasize the importance of humanity over technology. Not that they're incompatible, but technology must always take into effect into account whatever effect it may have on the human person.

SPEAKER_01 5:31

So as you kind of went over it, I think uh I read someplace it was like 46,000 words. Um what what jumped out at you that you said, oh, this is interesting, this is important, this is re a revelation to me in some way. Maybe you can share with the listeners some of your insights as to the highlights of the encyclical.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

Yeah, it is 42,300 words, 82 pages.

SPEAKER_01 5:58

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_00 5:59

So I didn't read the entire thing. I wanted to get some synopsis. I read many different things about it, and I got many good quotes from it so as to be able to understand it. It is uh, whenever a pope writes an encyclical, it's basically addressed to everyone, obviously, especially to all Catholics, but it is a letter to all people of goodwill. And in writing it, Leo did consult with scientists, engineers, and some political leaders so that he had input from a lot of different sectors in order to put together this document that he wanted to have commemorating the 135th anniversary of Rerum Navarum. I believe that the last time I was here, you and I accurately predicted that his first encyclical would be about artificial intelligence, because on the second day of his papacy, he already talked about artificial intelligence, and a week later he gave a homily about it, and not long after that, a third time. So three times right away he mentioned it, which indicated, yeah, that's definitely something that's probably needs to be addressed because it's relatively new and so quickly developing. I guess the the one uh quote that I wrote down that summarizes a lot of what he said is that technology is not antagonistic to humanity, but the pursuit of profits cannot justify choices that sacrifice jobs.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

Wow, that's powerful.

SPEAKER_00 7:29

Yes, so we have technology, there's no stopping it, and technology in itself is not bad. Technology does a lot of really good things, but we have to consider the effects of technology, and especially the effects on the human being, human person, which is why he gave the document the title that he did.

SPEAKER_01 7:47

So other things, I mean, I I really was moved when he addressed profits, because again, that kind of goes back to Ray Rum Navarum, where Pope Leo the Thirteenth was struggling with, you know, the the Industrial Revolution that was driving profiting. We were coming out of an agrarian um kind of uh oh, what would you call it, environment into um a mechanical environment. And now this is kind of the it's the parallels. We're coming out of what I would call a business-driven environment into the artificial intelligence. So the profiteering. And that uh isn't money the root of all evil? Oh, that's just too simple, maybe. It can be. It can be.

SPEAKER_00 8:32

It can be, but it could be used well for good purposes. But yeah, you can talk about the revolutions in human history. 10,000 years ago we had the agricultural revolution, and then back in 1700s and in the eighteen hundreds, and after the industrial revolution, and now you could definitely say we're in the technology revolution, and it certainly has tremendous effects on people everywhere.

SPEAKER_01 8:55

And what kinds of things did he talk about that uh the effects on us as um faith-filled Catholics, or even the effects on us as human beings?

SPEAKER_00 9:06

So I'll I'll I wrote down five main points I think that he talked about. I I I really want to emphasize he didn't say that technology is bad or artificial intelligence is bad. I know that on uh you know a lot of the news channels on the bottom of the screen they they roll across brief highlights of what some something says. Anyway, one of them said uh Pope Leo, uh technology, artificial intelligence must be disarmed. Oh, he never said that. So I went through the document and looked for the word disarmed. It was in there one time, just once, and it was definitely not in the context that they put it on that little summary. So so first of all, he did not say that, but I gave you that statement before. As far as what does he think we need to do, I think I'll I'll address that. There's five things that he said we really need to do regarding artificial intelligence. And he did have with him when he spoke about this, and and uh the man who was the founder of anthropic, one of the artificial yeah. So and he did that as a gesture of dialogue, meaning that yeah, we definitely need to have ongoing dialogue between the people in artificial intelligence and probably people from moral community or people that know the social effects of artificial intelligence. So the Pope did say, first of all, that government regulation of private companies that drive the development of artificial intelligence needs to happen. So it's not that it's going to be unfettered use of artificial intelligence, that governments need to have some sort of regulatory control over the artificial intelligence community. And then a very deep concern about workers losing their jobs. So I know that at two commencement ceremonies at major universities in the United States last month, uh graduation speakers not expecting any particular reaction, but mentioned artificial intelligence and got booed. Oh dear. And they basically wasn't expecting that, but you as college graduates need to know that this is part of your future. You need to be ready for this. So uh Pope Leo said we need protection of workers, which might include retraining for workers whose jobs are threatened. So there will be some jobs that will more so than other jobs. There'll be some specific jobs that will definitely be threatened by the use of artificial intelligence. So we need to protect those workers and especially provide retraining for them so that they can get other means of employment. He was concerned about possible effects of artificial intelligence on children. So he said that we need to take action to protect children from violent, sexualized, or fake information that might come from artificial intelligence. And you can probably think of all kinds of examples of that. And also regarding children, but this would go for me too for everybody. We need education to help students and everyone to think critically about artificial intelligence. And then finally, uh, we need safeguards that will ensure that humans, not artificial intelligence, remain responsible for all decisions regarding the use of weapons. So when it comes to the military, that uh if if some if the computer senses something, it doesn't make the decision to respond with a military strike, for example, that it has to be a human being that makes that decision. I remember back already when I was in college, we were to the point of having a launch on warning for our nuclear weapons, that you know the computers could pick it up, a potential launch, and then respond in kind, and the de uh threat danger of that. So uh definitely here he he brought that out again. That yeah, when it comes to the military, it needs to be a human being making a decision to act, not artificial intelligence. So there's all kinds of use of artificial intelligence. I saw an interesting one uh on television a couple of weeks ago. So this is very minor compared to some of the things I just talked about, but a woman over in Europe was elected to public office. And anyway, after she won, some people saw her on television, so that's not who I voted for. Anyway, she's 59 years old. Anyway, her campaign picture showed a picture of someone who was about 30. And very wasn't really her. And she said, Well, I I looked kind of like that when I was 30. So anyway, they used an image that would help uh people vote for. Wow. So there's all kinds of things like that that that are possible concerns as well.

SPEAKER_01 14:21

Yeah, and it's so interesting because I've had this discussion with um individuals who are in the media, and of course, part of the reason that I went into journalism, you know, was I wanted to make sure that readers and listeners had some sense of facts. And now with artificial intelligence, you can kind of skew the facts a little bit, in which, you know, when you and this is a concern when journalists are writing things and they they maybe want to enhance what they've written, and so they put it in, and here comes whatever, chat GPT or whatever, and maybe changes a word or two, and suddenly you have a whole different interpretation of what it is. And this is what I think is um a little bit scary, is the ability of AI to change what is factual into and and maybe enhancing it a little bit. And so that that's why I think it's interesting that the Holy Father kind of pointed to that, that there needs regulation on it.

SPEAKER_00 15:36

Just a couple of minor examples and nothing major, but I saw an article on the computer the other day that a lot of employers are not bothering to read resumes anymore. And they're saying the reason is, well, we don't know if they wrote that or not. And yeah, it it doesn't mean much. It does a good resume, it doesn't mean as much as it used to because we don't know if it was how it was put together. And this one just for me, you know, I do every now and then someone will come in and ask for my help to do an annulment.

SPEAKER_01 16:06

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 16:06

Anyway, there's a questionnaire that they fill out, and when they bring it back to me, you know, I usually do the grammatical and punctuation corrections before I send it in to the chancery. Anyway, I got one a couple weeks ago that it looked like if someone beyond a PhD wrote it. I mean anyway. So I was thinking this was probably someone who put in the general information, but then the techno computer, whatever, the whatever the the chat thing that you talked about probably put together the narrative. And it's all right, I guess there's nothing incorrect in it, but it's not I would bet a lot of money that it wasn't written entirely by the person who's describing his experience.

SPEAKER_01 16:56

Yeah, and what that then happens is the morality, you know, when does it become something that is unethical and immoral, you know, to use chat GPT or AI or whatever to enhance what it is that is being created. And uh listeners know, you know, that I taught out at uh Western Iowa Tech for 15 years, and already we were seeing how students were using technology to enhance what it was they were writing. And boy, you could pick it up pretty quickly like you on the annulment thing, because you knew that they did not have the capability to write that well. And so then it was on us to kind of investigate. And we weren't looking so much some for plagiarism, but more of the this this isn't your voice. Right. And so that does roll into um morals and ethics and things that we as Catholics need to think about.

SPEAKER_00 17:53

Plagiarism was always a concern we had teaching. I did teach some college classes as well over my years. And and it's easy to to detect plagiarism now because all you have to do is type a few words into a computer and see what article it's from, and the person gets caught right away. So that part's been taken care of. But so now it's not stealing the exact words of somebody else, it is having it enhanced and improved by a different source.

SPEAKER_01 18:19

Yeah, and that's dangerous too, because I even notice, and people know I'm kind of a Facebook stalker. I'm I love to put stuff on Facebook and I love to respond. But one of the things I noticed on Facebook now is an option at the bottom as I get ready to comment. It says, Do you need help with your insight? And I went, or not insight, they used another word, but it do you need help? And I thought, uh no, I don't need help. But w what an incentive for somebody who maybe doesn't feel confident in what it is they're gonna write. So now they get AI or Chat GPT or whoever to help them, and it really isn't their words, their voice. It's it's a computer voice. It's a little like a brave new world practically.

SPEAKER_00 19:08

And it would be difficult maybe for that person to carry on an in-person interview where they have to use their own words immediately, yes. And not be able to have them enhanced by another source.

SPEAKER_01 19:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:21

So a lot of employers are looking for that with the personal interview to see what the person sounds like and and what their own words are and what their own beliefs are.

SPEAKER_01 19:31

Yeah. So what what did you take away from all of these the 42,300 and some words? What did you take away from it?

SPEAKER_00 19:41

Uh I'll I'll mention a few other things. I mentioned the one quote at the beginning, I mentioned the five different things that that needed some action. Uh he says society risks exposing many people to forced inactivity if only a small portion of the population is guaranteed employment. So I think probably the number one concern that Pope Leo has with artificial intelligence is the possibility of a lot of people losing their jobs. And that's why he says the governments need to make sure that we're retraining people who might lose their job. But also employment is something that is uh human right. It's supposed to be for everyone, not just for a select group of people. So uh maybe his main concern is the possibility of lack of employment for people due to artificial intelligence. He did say that there's a his quote was a paradox of material progress and anthropological regression that undermines social progress. So we've got big material progress, meaning that huge advances in human society, but it might have negative effects on human society. So hopefully, most of the time when we have new inventions and developments, that's good. And there are a lot of good things that can happen because of artificial intelligence, but we have to be aware of the possible negative things and be able to uh act on them.

SPEAKER_01 21:12

And this is almost um what I would say uh a re-examination of Ray Rum Novarm, in which Pope Leo XIII basically said much of the same thing as we entered from an agricultural economy to the industrial revolution. So, listeners, if you're just tuning in right now, I want to remind you uh this is Sioux Land Catholic Radio. The show is Faith in Action. I'm your host, Joanne Fox. My guest in the studio is Father Randy Chown. He's a priest of the Diocese of Sioux City and also pastor right now at uh Holy Cross Parish, St. Michael Church, and Blessed Sacrament Church. And we are talking about uh Pope uh Leo XIV's encyclical just released in May, Magnifica Humanitas on safeguarding the human. Person in the time of artificial intelligence. And again, I mentioned at the start of the show, he released this on the 135th anniversary of Pope Leo the Thirteenth's encyclical Ray Rum Novarum. I don't know if there is, you know, you know, you always have uh celebrations for a 25th and a 50th and a 100th. I don't know if there's a particular celebration for the 135th. That seems to be pretty particular.

SPEAKER_00 22:29

It's just that well, as we said, he he talked about Pope Leo talked about this immediately in his papacy. So I think that if it's a year ending with a zero or five anniversary, you can do that. But I maybe I'd be a good time to talk about how how important the church saw Rerum Navarum because how many times can you think of a document where its title is, well, on the fortieth year of something, on the eightieth year of something, on the one hundredth year of something. So this is the 135th year of the uh publishing of Rerum Nivarum. That was May 15th of 1891. And I had mentioned that the last time the workers' rights was a big thing in there, that workers had a right to safe working conditions and a decent wage and having collective bargaining and even labor unions. So those were were new things really, and that's what Rerum Navarum means basically, is new things. New things, right. So those were new things that were developing as far as the rights of workers. And I do have one quote from that that would uh maybe make people think Leo XIII in that document said governments need to save working people from the cruelty of greedy people who see humans as instruments of making money. So again, humans are valuable in themselves, they aren't just a means for somebody else to make money. But the main point, though, was those things that I just mentioned about the living wage, collective bargaining, decent working conditions, labor unions, and so on. So 40 years after that, May 15th, 1931, 40 years after, Pope Pius XI put out his encyclical Quadra Jesimo ano, meaning on the 40th year. And then he moved beyond just the idea of labor to also the ethical implications of the social and economic order. By the time we rolled around to 1931, there were different ideas about what types of government should we have. So uh Pope Pius said that there was a danger in all of them. There's a danger of unrestrained capitalism, the quote that Leo had there described that. And our church has always been uh concerned about socialism and communism, communism largely because it comes into existence through violence. So, anyway, they focused though on the economic parts of it and said that socialism and communism also are lacking. Uh the one part of capitalism that our church has always uh promoted is the right to private property and to have a private business. And two of the words which Pius XI used were solidarity and subsidiarity. So he used solidarity even before the trade unions and Pope Paul I John Paul II came around. And then subsidiarity basically means if you can do something at the local level, that's even better. So those were some things there. So he expanded it to the social and economic order beyond just the idea of uh laborers and employees. And then on the 80th anniversary in 1971, Pope Paul VI extended it to nations. So he said, just like there's a difference between we have some rich and poor people in the country, we also have rich and poor nations. So uh the phrase social justice largely comes from a lot of the documents that Paul VI wrote. But it he talked about a responsibility for uh those who have to help those who have not, even individually and as nations, that personal responsibility and action were needed. And uh Paul VI also then also talked about the need for caring for the environment for future generations, which Leo XIV also mentioned in this encyclical, and talked about resources, the resources of the world are for everybody, they are for common use, they aren't just for a select few. And then on the 100th anniversary of Rerum Navarum in 1991, Pope John Paul II wrote that. That was just as communism was ending in Eastern Europe, and he was instrumental in that ending of communism, but in it he opposed communism and the Marxist interpretation of it again, did favor private property, private business, labor unions. Uh but he he uh said we need to have justice for the poor and the rights for everyone. And one teaching that's pretty steady in church teaching is whatever you're talking about, no matter what issue it is, what's the effect on the poor? And we have to keep that as a high priority. Uh John Paul II did mention that socialism or communism and consumerism, unrestrained consumerism, are really atheistic. That if your only thought is uh success and and money, that it's that's really another form of atheism. So those were there's other documents too, but those were the three of the main ones that were written on the 40th, 80th, and 100th anniversaries of Rerum Navarum, and now Leo coming out with this one on the 135th.

SPEAKER_01 27:40

And it's so interesting to hear all of these, uh they're so interconnected. Um, you know, um I I jotted down a few things as you were chatting, the um the social and economic order. And a lot of times I think uh we as uh faith-filled people in the pews are thinking a lot about our relationship with God and how we want to be faith-filled people, and we all want to go to heaven, but we live in society, and so there is this social and economic order in society, and it's so important to us to realize that as society changes, we have to be aware of the changes and how they impact us. And again, I love that I I jotted it down. Forced inactivity, because now we're stepping away because we have something else, artificial intelligence that can help us, not only personally, but professionally, like in the workplace, and this changes the dynamic quite a bit, kind of like in the Industrial Revolution, you know, where we went from being so physical to now machines were helping us lighten our load. And I think, you know, for those of us in the pews, we have to remember that.

SPEAKER_00 29:06

Every time there's an invention, there's new jobs because of it, but there's a loss of old jobs because of it. And usually they offset. But but they're definitely worth considering. And anytime people, especially large numbers of people, lose their job, that's got social ramifications and and moral ones as well. And that's why in these documents the popes often talk about that, including that quote that you just gave there from Leo XIV.

SPEAKER_01 29:36

Yeah, it's powerful um insights, you know, and things uh that we can we can think about. And again, it goes back to the the preferential option for the poor, which I can't remember that is that comes from some encyclical, but in my old age I can't remember which one. But that is a concern as well as we go from um you know, an agrarian to a technology or to an industrial revolution to a technology revolution, is the who who suffers the most? It's those that are most needy, because they might be losing their jobs or they might need help with um maintaining a quality of life. And again, sometimes we forget about that, you know, because we we are a little bit self-absorbed about trying to just maintain our own status quo.

SPEAKER_00 30:25

Yes, that's true. And the church has always said that work is good. A lot of human beings don't think so. They think upon it as as drudgery or whatever, but work is good, it's part of the human condition. So uh actually, and uh Pope Francis said something about that, and by the way, Pope Francis also added on to what Paul VI said about the environment, and Leo did mention that too in this encyclical. But the uh the quote is that work is part of the human condition, the normal path toward maturity and personal fulfillment. So our work helps to fulfill us, and therefore is a necessary part of the human life.

SPEAKER_01 31:06

Yeah, and the only danger I would add is that we don't want it to define us. You know, we are defined in other ways, um, but it is so important because listeners know um whether you're in the workplace or whether you're listening to the show at your convenience, um we we need to work. I mean, that's the essence of how we uh support ourselves. And so no, work isn't bad, work can be good. Um, but I that's why again, I just love that forced inactivity, meaning that we almost become um complacent in some somebody else can do this, some artificial intelligence can do this.

SPEAKER_00 31:49

That's a definite concern.

SPEAKER_01 31:51

Yes, it is very much so.

SPEAKER_00 31:54

Pope Leo said that we need the protection of employment opportunities and to keep in mind the irreplaceable role of the individual. So machines or whatever technology and artificial intelligence are not supposed to replace human beings. They're supposed to assist humans, improve the lot of human beings, but that means all human beings, and and that individuals need to be kept in mind, especially those most in danger of losing their work.

SPEAKER_01 32:23

Yes, those in danger of of that is very, very um unsettling. So we're kind of coming to the end of the show, Father Schoen. Um anything you'd like to share with the listeners that you and I kind of haven't touched on uh maybe a couple things.

SPEAKER_00 32:39

The uh the the founder of the artificial intelligence uh program that was there with the Pope is not Catholic, but he's he obviously was involved in the discussions, but he did it at the end. He said, Yes, we need moral voices. I love it whenever there's something that's so potentially influential to what's going to happen to the future of the human race, that we need moral voices to accompany that as well. Uh and in this encyclical, the Pope did talk about a couple of other things. So he talked about, I mentioned briefly before, not having autonomous weapon systems because they could increase the risk of war. And we need the most rigorous ethical constraints on weapons that use artificial intelligence. And I think no argument on that. The only problem is there's a few countries in the world that we know would use artificial intelligence in what we would consider to be reprehensible ways. Armed force is always the last resort in Catholic Church teaching in cases of legitimate self-defense. So we have that criteria, we'll talk about that at another time. Yes. But he did mention that briefly, and he also uh said that we we should have condemned slavery earlier and uh but that we still have a concern with that today, especially with uh what we call the uh human trafficking. Human trafficking with the forced labor and so on. So that's still in existence today. And and definitely a concern about children, uh unex unsupervised exposure to digital devices and social media can have negative effects on things like sleep, attention span, and uh control of our emotions and relationships. So he called for a value-centered discussion between governments and artificial intelligence executives, that they need to continue that dialogue. So this is not a definitive statement telling everybody what's to what to do. He really emphasizes ongoing dialogue that it needs to involve governments and business leaders and the moral-social component as well.

SPEAKER_01 34:51

I really like that value-centered, because that's kind of it sounds like that's it in a nutshell, is it the the morality, the ethical aspect, and the value-centered aspect as we go forth in this, you know, new age of technology. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 35:10

So maybe uh I'll just conclude with a few final brief statements. He said technology cannot replace human love. Okay, technology cannot take that into consideration. Progress should be measured by the dignity of each person and the good of all people. So progress doesn't mean progress for some. Progress needs to be progress for all. Uh human dignity, we're valuable because we're creations of God, we're not valuable because of our wealth or positions or abilities. Technology is a property that's intended for everyone, especially its benefits, and all progress must be accompanied by moral and social progress. So uh there's the fear of a loss of some human connections if we overdo it on human intelligence. So maybe I'll conclude this was one of my favorite quotes from the document. So Pope Leo says the creative intelligence of humanity is a gift that can alleviate suffering and open up new possibilities, but it must be ordered toward the common good, to justice, to care of the vulnerable, and to care of creation.

SPEAKER_01 36:20

Powerful. Well, we couldn't get Pope Leo on the phone to to do an interview. So um we pulled uh Father Randy Schoen off the bench. Thank you so much, Father Schoen. This has been really enlightening. Now I do not have to read the 42,300-word document itself. Um, but uh I I appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to come on down to the studio and share with the listeners uh insights about um this wonderful encyclical that Pope Leo has um has put forth for us. Great food for thought. So again, thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 36:59

Yes, it is. I had a one of my teachers in seminary, that was Varum Navarroum, was his favorite document, so we went into it a lot. And it's of all the church documents, it is probably the easiest one to relate to our to us and to our common times because we're we all have jobs, we're all workers, and we're all going to be affected one way or another about how we use artificial intelligence in the future.

SPEAKER_01 37:21

Yep, very much so. So, listeners, again, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedules to um to join us on Faith in Action. Um maybe you tuned us in at 9 a.m. on a Monday, maybe you listened at 7 p.m. on a Saturday, or maybe you went right to our website, SiouxlandCatholicRadio.com, clicked on Faith in Action, and listened at your convenience. We are also on a number of other podcasting platforms. That's all due to the generosity of Mary's Choice, a Sioux City Pregnancy Resource Center, which is the exclusive underwriter for this show. And we have so many other wonderful programs on Siouxland Catholic Radio, uh, national, international. You can listen along with the Divine Mercy Chaplet daily at 3 p.m. Mass is celebrated and broadcast on our station every Sunday at 9 a.m. from Modern Day Parish. We have Life Plan that airs Sundays at 8 p.m., that's for our younger listeners, and Catholic ministry professionals with John and Ty, that is Tuesday at 4 p.m. Draw Near with Fred and Kara is Wednesday at 4 p.m. And then Father Knows Best with Father Mark Stole, Wednesday at 9 p.m. So many opportunities for you to grow in your faith. So again, on behalf of myself, I'm the host of the show, Joanne Fox, and my executive producer, Ann Reed. I want to remind you that a faithful reaction is good, but faith in action, it's so much better. Thanks for listening and God bless.