Rescheduled from May 21st to June 15th, in response to a small delay announced by the Vatican.
In his very first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas ("Magnificent Humanity"), Pope Leo XIV addresses the moral and ethical challenges of artificial intelligence and its impact, for better or worse, on labor and the workplace, social relationships, and human dignity. Leo's timely message is ecumenical, intended to speak to the whole Church, not just the Roman Catholic community.
Join us online for a conversation with Dr. Cesar “CJ” Baldelomar, a member of our teaching team, as he considers the importance of Pope Leo XIV's message for our present and near future. He is joined by an intimate panel of thought leaders to engage the encyclical's implications for the life and witness of the Church.
César “CJ” Baldelomar, Ph.D., LL.M., J.D., is a member of the teaching team at New College Berkeley. A scholar-teacher, he has held academic appointments at Boston College, Mount Holyoke College, and Saint Mary’s College of California. His several publications explore wide-ranging topics from ecotheology to questions of identities to the prospects of education and writing as society collapses. Dr. Baldelomar was a Commonweal Magazine Fellow and has appeared in several media-news outlets to discuss Leo’s election as pope and his unfolding papacy.
Nicole Dickens, with over 20 years of experience in Silicon Valley, bridges the gap between data-driven strategy and human values. As founder of Zoetica, Inc. and a certified Google Generative AI Leader, she empowers organizations to leverage LLMs responsibly, blending Fortune 100 expertise with startup agility to drive innovation and impact.
Rev. Dr. Neal Presa serves as the Executive Presbyter of the San Jose presbytery, a regional body of the Presbyterian Church (PC-USA. He holds affiliate faculty appointments with Fuller Theological Seminary and Union Theological Seminary (Philippines) and is a Senior Fellow with the Center for Pastor Theologians. Presa has served two pastorates in New Jersey and Southern California. He also currently serves on behalf of the PC-USA on the World Council of Churches.
Joe Holland, Ph.D., is an eco-social philosopher and Catholic-Christian theologian exploring the ecological, social, and spiritual breakdown of Western-rooted but now globalized Modern Industrial-Colonial Civilization, and the philosophical, scientific, and spiritual search for a Postmodern Global Electronic-Ecological Civilization. He is the author of more than 20 books and many articles as well as a professor (retired) of philosophy and religion.