“Artificial Intelligence and the Catholic Social Tradition: From Leo XIII to Leo XIV” will be the topic of the 13th annual William K. Collinge Lecture, which will take place on Friday, October 17, 2025, at 7 p.m., at St Francis Xavier School, 465 Table Rock Road, Gettysburg.
The lecture will be given by Dr. Katherine G. Schmidt, Associate Professor of Theology and Religious Studies, Molloy University, New York. Dr. Schmidt will discuss what Catholic social teaching has to offer on our most pressing questions about technology, how the tradition’s view of the human person specifically can help us navigate the new challenges we face, and what the new pope has offered thus far on these questions.
Dr. Schmidt is a graduate of Mount St. Mary’s University, Emmitsburg, and received her doctorate from the University of Dayton. Her work focuses on the relationship between religion and technology, with a particular emphasis on the Catholic tradition’s resources for engaging digital culture. She is the author of Virtual Communion: Theology of the Internet and the Catholic Sacramental Imagination, published by Fortress Academic.
The lecture is sponsored jointly by the Interfaith Center for Peace and Justice and St. Francis Xavier Church. It honors the late William K. Collinge, who was a benefactor to both organizations. Admission is free.