Drawing the Line with Catholic AI
Where should Catholics draw the line with AI?
If you’ve made it this far, you’re probably in one of two camps.
Camp one:
“Interesting—an AI companion for prayer and discernment. I’m curious.”
Camp two:
“Risky—spiritual guidance is serious. Should an AI be anywhere near this?”
I’ve spent a lot of time in Camp Two myself.
When I started building precat.io, I kept asking: where’s the line? When does a tool become a replacement? When does convenience become a shortcut around something sacred?
Here’s where I landed.
Iggy will never:
Hear your confession or offer absolution
Tell you what decision to make
Replace the sacraments
Pretend to be a priest or spiritual director
Let you bypass the hard, slow work of real discernment
Iggy will:
Ask you questions (lots of them)
Help you notice patterns in your prayer life
Walk you through the Daily Examen
Sit with you in uncertainty without rushing to fix it
Point you toward a human director when you need one
That last part matters most.
precat.io has built-in safeguards. If your conversations suggest you’re in crisis, grieving, facing major trauma, or wrestling with something beyond what an AI should touch—Iggy will tell you. Directly. And point you toward real help.
This isn’t a loophole or a shortcut. It’s a tool. Like a journal. Like a devotional. Like the Liturgy of the Hours app on your phone.
You wouldn’t stop going to Mass because you have a Bible app. You wouldn’t skip confession because you journal about your sins.
precat.io works the same way.
It’s for the 11pm moments. The Tuesday afternoon fog. The “I don’t even know what I’m feeling” stretches that happen between Sunday Masses and monthly spiritual direction sessions.
It’s not the destination. It’s a companion for the road.
If that distinction matters to you—if you appreciate a tool that knows its limits—I think you’ll appreciate what we’ve built.
Next email, I’ll invite you to try it yourself. And I’d genuinely love your feedback.
Until then—
Chad
P.S. — If you’re a spiritual director, priest, or someone who works in Catholic ministry, I’d especially love to hear from you. Reply to this email. I want to know if this lands right, or if I’ve missed something.
Brilliant framing on the safeguards built into Iggy. The distinction between "companion for the road" vs destination is crucial because it recongizes that spiritual technology should scaffold discernment, not replace the wrestling. I've seen too many tools try to automate introspection when the mess itself is kinda the point.