‘Smart Parish’ bulletin unlocks value of artificial intelligence

By CathNews New Zealand

March 4th, 2025

Jernej Furman/Wikimedia Commons

The Anglican Church in Wellington has launched a “smart parish” bulletin to show how artificial intelligence (AI) can help church leaders, administrators and volunteers. Source: Anglican Taonga.

The idea for the bulletin came after Anglican Diocese of Wellington communications manager David Cross discovered how useful AI is in his work.

After reviewing communications for the diocese in the past year, Mr Cross noted that AI was transforming his work, and was saving weeks of time, while producing work of a higher quality.

“I realised the way I was using AI wasn’t just a tool — it felt like a way forward for church communications,” Mr Cross said.

“That’s why I created ‘The Smart Parish’, a weekly email newsletter designed to help church leaders, administrators and volunteers use AI in practical, real-world ways.”

Many people working in the church are battling large workloads, but AI can help reduce the burden in many ways, he says. That includes saving time on administration by automating meeting notes, drafting emails and organising tasks.

Communication can be enhanced by improving newsletters, social media posts and sermon preparation. And creativity can be boosted by creating worship presentations and developing Bible study materials.

The first few “The Smart Parish” bulletins will address topics such as real examples of AI to use in a parish and ethical considerations about the use of AI in ministry. There will also be stories from Anglican leaders already using AI to lighten the load.

The first edition of “The Smart Parish” bulletin was due out by the end of February.

In January, the Vatican issued a note on the relationship between artificial intelligence and human intelligence.

The note, Antiqua et Nova, from the Dicasteries for the Doctrine of the Faith and for Culture and Education, highlighted the potential and the challenges of artificial intelligence in the areas of education, the economy, labour, health, human and international relations, and war.

FULL STORY

Anglican Taonga : New Zealand’s Anglican News Leader (Anglican Taonga)

New Vatican document examines potential and risks of AI – Vatican News (Vatican News)