A mom stopped me after Mass. Her sixth-grader had used ChatGPT to write a saint biography for confirmation prep. Three of the facts were invented. The teacher never noticed.
"I do not know if this is cheating, or research, or something else. Do I ban it, or learn it with him?"
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C3CON 2026 · Rooted and Responsive
Media & AI
Mindfulness
A Catholic method for forming faith, and forming students, in a digital age.
Tom Ciszek · Day 1, Session 1 · 9:30 AM
Conciencia de los Medios y de la IA
Opening Reading · Would someone like to lead us in prayer?
“
Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God... In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son... God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him.
1 John 4:7–16 God speaks first. Everything in this workshop is an answer.
Dios es amor, y quien permanece en el amor permanece en Dios y Dios en él.
“
Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely: think about these things.
Philippians 4:8 The catechist's filter, long before the algorithm.
The next 75 minutes
Where We Are Going
- OpenPray, and name what forms usWhy this, and why now
- FrameThe five-move methodPray, observe, analyze, reflect, act
- DemoThree live demonstrationsAn AI tool, a piece of content, a privacy audit
- SendA take-home you can use MondayBilingual, printable, free
Media & AI Mindfulness
By 10:45 you will own
What You Will Leave With
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One frameworkFive moves you own, for any tool or feed.
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Three demonstrationsAn AI tool, AI content, a privacy audit.
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A daily practiceThe information-security triad.
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A take-home siteEvery exercise, bilingual and free.
Media & AI Mindfulness
Scan to follow along · Escanea para participar
Every exercise we do today lives here, on your phone:
mediamindfulness.com
Fill it out, save it, use it Monday morning.
Bilingual EN / ESPrintableFree
Media & AI Mindfulness
That is the question this workshop answers. Not "is AI good or bad." How does a Catholic educator think about it?
Media & AI Mindfulness
“
All of us, but especially the young, are immersed in a culture of zapping... Without the wisdom of discernment, we can easily become prey to every passing trend.
Pope Francis, Gaudete et Exsultate 167 The five moves are a discipline of discernment. The Church saw this coming.
The Method · El Método
Five Moves You Will Own by 10:45
1
Pray
OrarOpen the moment before you touch the tool.
2
Observe
ObservarDescribe what is happening, before you judge.
3
Analyze
AnalizarWhat is it doing? What does it optimize for?
4
Reflect
ReflexionarWhat does Christ ask of me here?
5
Act
ActuarClose in prayer, then choose your response.
Prayer opens and prayer closes. The three middle moves are discernment.
Discernment without prayer is panic. Action without prayer is performance.
Media & AI Mindfulness
“
Live Christ, and communicate Christ, in and through the media.
Blessed James Alberione, Patron of Media
He sanctified the printing press in 1914. Our press is the algorithm.
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Demonstration One · Exercise 2
The Saint Lucy Audit
Using ChatGPT to plan a lesson, the right way.
Media & AI Mindfulness
Observe · Before we judge
One Prompt, Twelve Seconds
The prompt, typed live
"Write a 30-minute lesson plan for sixth-grade confirmation candidates on the life of Saint Lucy of Syracuse. Include three discussion questions and one activity."
12 sec
to generate
~1,200
words returned
0
citations
Media & AI Mindfulness
Analyze · Verify before you teach
Three Claims From One AI Lesson Plan
| The claim | What a verified source says | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| St. Lucy was born in 283 AD. | Butler's Lives: birth year unknown, likely late third century. | ✗ Wrong |
| "Lucy" means light in Latin. | Confirmed. From the Latin lux. | ✓ True |
| Martyred in the Diocletian persecution. | Confirmed by Butler's Lives of the Saints. | ✓ True |
Two of three correct. The tool was equally confident about all three. That confidence is the danger.
Media & AI Mindfulness
Verify Three
before you teach.
before you teach.
Three claims. Three sources. Every time, before it reaches a student.
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Demonstration Two · Exercise 5
AI "Saint" Content
What your students are already seeing on Instagram.
Media & AI Mindfulness
Reflect · What is this teaching a child?
Refuse, Then Replace
The AI "saint" post
- No citation, no source
- Invented iconography, generic AI face
- Confident, fabricated biography
- An account monetized by affiliate links
Verified Catholic sources
- Daughters of St. Paul saint books
- Word on Fire saint pages
- Butler's Lives of the Saints
- Catholic.com saint database
Media & AI Mindfulness
Not catechesis.
Content.
Content.
If you would not let your seven-year-old see it unedited, do not share it as catechesis.
The Golden Ladder
Where the Tool Sits
The algorithm is beneath you, not above you. Take it home: mediamindfulness.com/ladder
Where have you
seen this?
seen this?
Name one media experience from this week: an app, a post, a show, a movie, a song, a news story, an AI answer. Which of the five moves would you run on it?
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Part Three
The Hidden Formation
Not what our students consume. What is consumed from them.
Information Security · The hidden formation
Three Layers of a Student's Data
Layer 1
What students sharePosts, comments, photos.
Visible
Layer 2
What systems collectLocation, contacts, patterns, microphone.
Invisible
Layer 3
What is inferredMental health, politics, faith, future purchases.
Packaged & sold
Nobody typed layer 3. It is guessed, and the guess does not have to be true to be sold.
Media & AI Mindfulness
Act · A daily practice
The Information Security Triad
🔒
Permission Review
Once a month
Sit with the student. Walk every app installed in the last 30 days. Make it a ritual.
🕰
Data Fast
Once a quarter
A full day, notifications off. Give it to prayer, family, and the sacraments.
👁
Sharing Examen
Before every post
Another person's face, name, or words? Ask: did I get their consent?
Media & AI Mindfulness
Take it home · Llévalo a casa
mediamindfulness.com
The framework, all five exercises, the info-security triad. Share it with your parish, share it with your DRE.
It is freeIt is yours
Media & AI Mindfulness
“
This rootedness in Christ is what led those who went before us, men and women like us, with gifts and limitations like ours, to do things they perhaps never thought they could achieve.
Pope Leo XIV The theme that named this conference: Rooted and Responsive.
Before we close
Two Books Go Home Today
📖
Media Mindfulness
Hailer & Pacatte
Educating Teens About Faith and Media. The Catholic method this whole workshop stands on: critical inquiry joined to Gospel values.
🧠
Media Mindfulness
William Indick
Building a Balanced Diet for the Brain. The psychology of the media diet: what repeated exposure does to attention, mood, and mind.
Two names drawn at the closing prayer. Same title, two different books: one for the soul of the method, one for the science of the diet.
Media & AI Mindfulness
Before you go
Three Things to Carry Out the Door
📱
Mark it complete
For your certificate
Scan the conference QR to record this session on your C3 LEAD account.
🌐
Take the site home
mediamindfulness.com
Share it with your parish and your DRE. Bilingual, printable, free.
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You are not alone
Your colleagues
Sr. Nancy Usselmann (Pauline Center, 30 minutes away) and Blessed Alberione.
Media & AI Mindfulness
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Mary, Queen of Apostles, pray for us.
Blessed James Alberione, pray for us.
Saint Lucy, patron of vision, pray for us.
Blessed James Alberione, pray for us.
Saint Lucy, patron of vision, pray for us.
Tom Ciszek · mediamindfulness.com