June 2026

Dear Brothers,

With Pope Leo’s first encyclical Magnifica Humanitas being released at the end of May, many opinion articles about Artificial Intelligence and its perceived benefits and dangers have been published. It is a lengthy document and it applies the principles of Catholic social teaching (Chapter two) to the challenges presented by artificial intelligence for information, politics, truth, work, freedom and warfare.

There can be no substitute for reading the document itself and to assist in this you can now listen to the Audio Book of the Encyclical prepared by Vatican Media.  You can listen to these chapters when you are in the car or while exercising. There are aspects of Artificial Intelligence which can be quite helpful in saving time by finding the information we need quickly, but it does not replace the need to assess with pastoral judgement the results presented to us. AI can be no substitute for Human Intelligence, particularly our Emotional Intelligence and self awareness.

Have you tried Magisterium AI? It is a large language model consisting of 31,365 church documents for the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Code of Canon Law to the most overlooked reply from a Vatican Dicastery. Try asking it for anything: from “what is the role of the parish finance council?” to “how do I determine the precedence of feasts and ferias?”.

As with any AI tools, your care with the prompt you present will guide the quality of the output. In preparing a Sunday homily you can ask for sermon ideas based on the readings of the day, after the style of St Bernard, St Dominic or even Bishop Barron, with illustrative examples from recent news stories. There is still the need to fact-check for accuracy but you can also ask AI to summarise the message into 3 main points for the parish bulletin or to simplify it for Grade 4 children!

What AI cannot do is pray over the readings and allow the Word to move you. It cannot replace your judgement about what the scriptures might be saying to your congregation this week. And it cannot deliver the homily. Your sincerity and humanity are not downloadable. All the more reason for us to make sure that we are self-aware, disciplined and empathetic communicators who do not confuse our personal views with Church teaching.

Yours in Christ Jesus,
Very Rev Tony Kerin JCL VG
Vicar General

To formally note that the Decree merging the Parishes of: Sacred Heart, Diamond Creek; Immaculate Conception (known as St Mary’s), Greensborough; and St Thomas the Apostle, Greensborough North - and at the same time establishing the Parish of Our Lady of the Valley, Diamond Valley, formally came into effect on 24 May 2026.

We are deeply grateful to everyone who participated in the process to bring these Parishes together, and send our blessings to the communities involved.

31 May 2026
Rev Ananda P Maddineni MSFS
Airport West

31 May 2026
Rev Anil Mascarenhas
Keilor East

31 May 2026
Very Rev Tony Kerin JCL VG
Parkville
(this is in addition to his appointment as the Vicar General)

3 June 2026
Rev Aloysius Nato SVD
Preston West
(this is in addition to his appointment as Parish Priest of Preston)

29 April 2026

Rev Antony Shabin Kaniampuram Raphael IVDei
Jesus Youth Melbourne
(this is in addition to his appointment as Parish Priest of Alphington-Thornbury East and Thornbury & Northcote Parishes)

Please find here the latest update for the Melbourne Synod 2026.

Seeking accommodation – Rev Arockiaraj Viagulam HGN
Fr Viagulam has previously ministered in the Archdiocese of Melbourne and is seeking accommodation from 16 July – 31 August 2026.  He is here on holiday and is willing to offer full supply during his time here. If you are able to assist Fr Viagulam, please contact the Vicar General’s Office via email: vicar.general@cam.org.au

Seeking chaplains to lead Francis of Assisi 800th anniversary pilgrimage.
Olive Tree travel are seeking Priests and Chaplains keen to lead a pilgrimage in 2026/2027 to commemorate the 800th Anniversary of St Francis of Assisi. If you are interested please contact Steven Green at Olive Tree Travel via email steven@olivetreetravel.com.au  or phone 03 8488 9696.