Not Even AI Can Save Us Now

Fr McTeigue points out that even AI can't find something that isn't there.“Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom” (Matthew 21:44 NRSVCE) 

From Crisis

By Fr Robert Robert McTeigue, SJ

Inevitably, in the face of dire statistics about the Church, someone will try to rally us, explaining that if we just start synodaling more earnestly, then all will be well.

When I was a senior in college, one of my professors told me, “If you want to find a good translation of the Bible in English, you can find it in one that contains the word ‘verily.’”  Of course, that was back in 1982, when it would have taken a fair bit of legwork on my part to even identify the various biblical translations that contain the word “verily.” It would have taken even more effort to ascertain whether, individually or collectively, those translations were superior to others.

Jump ahead a few decades, and, thanks to the miracle of search engines, it would be a trifle to pull together a list of Bible translations containing the word “verily.” Nonetheless, I would still have to put in the effort to ascertain the merits of such translations, assuming that I was capable of making such judgments. Nowadays, however, thanks to the emergence of artificial intelligence, I can make a request for both the list and the evaluation of translations with and without “verily” and have all the work done for me in almost no time at all. What progress!

I mention these things to make a point—namely, that not even artificial intelligence can find what is not there. Let me offer an illustration. Our Lord concludes the parable of the wicked tenants with these words: “Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom” (Matthew 21:44 NRSVCE)  

What happens to those who do not produce fruit in due season? Nothing good. Not even artificial intelligence, scouring all of Sacred Scripture in all translations in all languages, can find a psalm or canticle that praises the fruitless. Nowhere in Scripture, not even with the aid of artificial intelligence, will we find anything like this:

All ye barren branches, praise and exalt Him forever.
All ye orchards without fruit, praise and exalt Him forever.
All ye vines lacking grapes, praise and exalt Him forever.
All ye fig trees bearing no figs, praise and exalt Him forever.
All ye wheat fields producing no harvest, praise and exalt Him forever.
All ye nets with no fish, praise and exalt Him forever.
All ye bridesmaids with lamps but no oil, praise and exalt Him forever.
All ye salt without savor, praise and exalt Him forever.
All ye lights placed beneath a bushel basket, praise and exalt Him forever.
All ye talents buried in the earth, praise and exalt Him forever. 
All ye fruitless, feckless, and witless, to them be highest glory and praise forever.

Instead, such a scriptural search will show that the fruitless are gathered up to be burned (John 15:6). And there are related references to darkness, as well as wailing and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 8:12). What is not fruitful according to the divine mandate does not end well (Matthew 21:18-19).

Such images are on my mind because of recently released data illustrating the demographic collapse of the Catholic Church in the United States. From 1999-2022, the yearly number of adult Catholics coming into the Church in the United States has declined 58 percent. A recent Pew study indicates that for every 100 adults coming into the Church in the United States, 800 people leave.  

Now, before we ask, “What can be done about this?” we may have to ask, “Can we even talk about this at all?” After all, denial is deeply rooted in bureaucracies. And let’s not forget McTeigue’s Axiom: “Most institutions would rather die than admit to having made a mistake.” After “the New Springtime” to “the Second Pentecost” to “Renew!” to “the New Evangelization” to “Eucharistic Revival,” and now, most recently, to “Synodality” and the newly mandated “Synodality Forever!” this is where we are. Somewhere out there, at least two Catholic members of the People Who Should Really Know Better Club are looking at these numbers and saying to each other, “I don’t know why this is happening. We had all those meetings!”

Inevitably, someone will try to rally us, explaining that if we just start synodaling more earnestly, then all will be well. If only we have a big meeting, and break up into small groups, and then report our findings to the larger group, and if we listen without judging or fixing, and finally produce a report and sponsor a program, then all will be enduringly well. This new program will be even bigger and better and more exciting than “parish clusters” or “parish families” or “missionary hubs”—all euphemisms for the closing of parishes.

I must insist that we can’t fake our way out of this one. My mother told me that when she was a young girl, there was a radio commercial for a line of cosmetics. The jingle ran, “A little powder and a little paint, can make you look like what you ain’t!” There is no effective lipstick for this demographic pig. 

A mere fraction of baptized Catholics goes to Sunday Mass in America. Of those who attend Mass, not all believe in the truly Catholic doctrine of the Eucharist. Weddings and baptisms are down; funerals are on the rise. Many religious communities have moved from “the grace of diminishment” to “the grace of completion,” presumably one step away from “the grace of oblivion.”

The facts cannot be denied—and we dare not ignore them. Recall Our Lord’s warning: “the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom.” I don’t want any of us to suffer the fate of the unfruitful. So…what to do?

If I were writing clickbait titles for social media, I could write something like, “How the Catholic Church in America Can Avoid Demographic Collapse with this One Weird Trick!” If I wanted to draw attention to myself, I could write something like, “Fr. McTeigue’s 10-Step Program for Saving the Catholic Church in America (Number 7 will surprise you!).” But that wouldn’t help—and deep down, we know that.

Well, we are in the season of Lent, during which the Church has always urged us to insist more upon prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. That would be a good place to start. A fearless and humble examination of conscience, followed by a sacramental confession, is never out of place. Let’s relearn (or learn for the first time) to pray as loved sinners who know that they are in grave danger and cannot save themselves. Then let’s cry out in prayer, “See, I come to do your will” (Hebrews 10:9 NRSVCE ).