{"id":428753,"date":"2026-08-10T12:34:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T12:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/428753\/"},"modified":"2026-08-10T12:34:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T12:34:11","slug":"c3-tech-conference-gets-an-assist-from-magnifica-humanitas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/428753\/","title":{"rendered":"C3 Tech Conference gets an assist from \u2018Magnifica Humanitas\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Participants at the 17th annual Catholic Communication Collaboration (C3) Conference were still riding a wave of momentum two months after the release of \u201cMagnifica Humanitas<\/a>\u201d (\u201cMagnificent Humanity\u201d), Pope Leo XIV\u2019s encyclical on safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Vatican has just told 2 billion Catholics not to bury technology,\u201d said conference keynote speaker Eric Cross, referencing the parable of the talents in the Gospel of Matthew.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe woke up this morning in the middle of one of the biggest technology upheavals and came to this conference asking what we are rooted in. The successor to Peter just answered that question in two words: magnificent humanity. The treasure isn\u2019t about the technology. The treasure is about you.\u201d<\/p>\n

The landmark document shaped discussions at much of the conference, which drew more than 1,000 educators, students, parish administrators, catechists, and clergy from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles to the campus of Cantwell-Sacred Heart of Mary High School in Montebello Aug. 3-4.<\/p>\n

\"\"The conference\u2019s keynote speaker was Eric Cross, a seventh-grade teacher at Albert Einstein Academies in San Diego and adjunct professor at the University of San Diego. (Adrianne Lerma-Corcoran)<\/p>\n

The conference\u2019s theme this year was \u201cRooted,\u201d<\/a> which speakers invoked to argue that while technology remains a work in progress, it is also rooted in a very human emotion of uneasiness.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not a tech evangelist or a tech doomsayer,\u201d said Cross, a professor at the University of San Diego and a STEM instructor at a public charter school. \u201cI\u2019m more curious instead of being scared. But I want to tell you it\u2019s OK to have anxiety about all this. That\u2019s not a character flaw. It\u2019s evidence you care deeply about your vocation. People who don\u2019t care don\u2019t get anxious.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cross explained how Leo\u2019s encyclical was a continuation of previous pivotal moments in the history of communications, all of which met some resistance. The invention of movable type with the Gutenberg Press in 1454 and the emergence of the Industrial Revolution in 1891 sparked a response from the Catholic Church to provide guide rails for engagement, rather than simply condemn it.<\/p>\n

Coming from a nondenominational Christian background, Cross later told Angelus he was impressed that Leo had given a message that \u201cspeaks to an ache society has right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t come from a place with a lot of formal doctrine, but the Catholic Church does,\u201d Cross said. \u201cI come here and see people happy and wanting to learn and help each other. Showing kindness. That gives people a shot at finding welcoming communities and seeking guidance on things like AI.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Participants attend one of the 100-plus sessions at the C3 Conference, this year held at Cantwell-Sacred Heart of Mary High School in Montebello. (Adrianne Lerma-Corcoran)<\/p>\n

Digital natives and digital immigrants alike found interaction and idea sharing a critical element during the 120 presentations at the conference.<\/p>\n

A discussion might start: Is Claude really better than Gemini or Google or ChatGPT or Grok? Another could follow: What does any of that mean, and do I need to know? Organizers said that was the point: to inspire the attendees to interact and educate among themselves, creating a network of support and information sharing.<\/p>\n

That goal was reflected in the choice of honorees recognized for using technology in a more humanized manner.<\/p>\n

Fabian Rodriguez, a sixth-grade STEM academy student at St. Louis of France Catholic School in La Puente, has been part of the C3 Thinker Tank Inventors program since first grade. He was honored for designing an app that baseball players could use to construct custom-made batting gloves.<\/p>\n

Rodriguez\u2019s app earned him a first-place finish last June in the Sports, Games and Toys category at the RTX Invention Convention U.S. Nationals in Michigan. His school was included with Maria Regina School in Gardena and Immaculate Conception School of Los Angeles as those recognized with the IGNITE Spirit of Excellence Awards.<\/p>\n

\"\"Sister Minh Hang Le, third from right, poses with other members of her Lovers of Holy Cross of Los Angeles community after earning this year\u2019s Visionary Leadership Award at the C3 Conference. (Adrianne Lerma-Corcoran)<\/p>\n

Before 30 catechists and eight principals were commissioned and blessed during a Mass by Archbishop Jos\u00e9 H. Gomez on Wednesday, Sister Minh Hang Le, the faith formation director for the Lovers of Holy Cross of Los Angeles<\/a>, was presented with the Visionary Leadership Award by Dave Moore, the longtime technology expert for the archdiocese who received the inaugural honor last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been able to connect our community with the outside world even with our old computers and laptops as we learn about the internet and all technologies,\u201d said Hang, who also brought members of her community from the Diocese of Orange, numbering more than a dozen. \u201cWe have gone to C3 classes together to give us all more confidence \u2014 but today I\u2019m going to the classes I want to attend so I can learn more and pass that on.\u201d<\/p>\n

During her welcoming remarks, Marge Graf pointed out that two previous C3 keynote speakers were key contributors to \u201cMagnifica Humanitas\u201d: Father Brendan McGuire, SJ, a Silicon Valley pastor and former tech executive; and Bishop Paul Tighe of the Vatican\u2019s Dicastery for Culture and Education.<\/p>\n

Graf is the general counsel for the archdiocese and known informally as the \u201cGodmother of C3\u201d for having harnessed the resources to launch C3 years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you see,\u201d said Graf proudly, \u201cif you\u2019ve been to C3, we have been ahead of the curve.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"The audience listens to Archbishop Jos\u00e9 H. Gomez\u2019s homily during the Welcome Back Mass at the C3 Conference. (Poncho Romero)<\/p>\n

In addition to \u201cMagnifica Humanitas,\u201d other pieces of magisterium found their way into workshops, too.<\/p>\n

Wayne Bridges, in his presentation titled \u201cA Practitioners\u2019 Framework,\u201d cited passages from Antiqua et Nova<\/a> (\u201cAncient and New\u201d), a note on the relationship between artificial intelligence and human intelligence the Vatican issued in January of 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cAI should not be seen as an artificial form of human intelligence but as a product of it,\u201d read a passage recited by Bridges and projected on the overhead screen during his session.<\/p>\n

Another: \u201cThe physical presence of a teacher creates a relational dynamic that AI cannot replicate, one that deepens engagement and nurtures the student\u2019s integral development.\u201d<\/p>\n

C3 participant Matthew Reyes, an incoming middle-school teacher at Christ the King Church near Hollywood, summarized his takeaway from Bridges\u2019 presentation and the keynote:<\/p>\n

\u201cI think AI is like a welding torch to use \u2014 a tool that\u2019s only as good as the people behind it. We can\u2019t forget the human aspect of this \u2014 the roots are the humans who control AI. And AI is still something that needs a lot of practice and work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"author<\/p>\n

\t\t\tTom Hoffarth is an award-winning journalist based in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Participants at the 17th annual Catholic Communication Collaboration (C3) Conference were still riding a wave of momentum two…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":428754,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[48,52,51,47,50,49],"class_list":["post-428753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428753\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}