COURSE RATIONALE

• Artificial Intelligence and digital productivity tools can assist Religious Priests in preparing sermons, managing parish activities, organising community outreach, and sharing spiritual messages effectively.
• The AI & Digital Tools for Religious Priests introduces participants to the fundamentals of Artificial Intelligence and demonstrates how AI-powered tools and Google Workspace can support sermon preparation, community communication, pastoral administration, and digital evangelisation.
• The program aims to help Religious Priests become confident digital leaders who can responsibly use technology to enhance their pastoral mission while preserving spiritual values and human connection.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

The course aims to:

• Introduce basic concepts of Artificial Intelligence and its role in work and creativity.
• Develop skills in Writing Prompts Like a Professional for consistent, high-quality spiritual content.
• Empower ministry through Gemini integration across Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drive.
• Train participants in AI-Powered Data Analytics for managing parish records and community trends.
• Promote the ethical, responsible, and expert use of AI tools like NotebookLM in religious ministry.

COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of the bootcamp, participants will be able to:

Knowledge Outcomes

Participants will be able to:

Explain the foundations of AI and its application in everyday life and ministry.
Understand the mechanics of professional prompting for various AI models.
Identify how AI-powered analytics can improve parish decision-making.


Skill Outcomes

Participants will be able to:

Use Gemini to streamline emails, reports, and routine administrative tasks.
Generate structured documents, summaries, and presentations with AI assistance.
Organize and visualize parish data using AI-powered spreadsheets.
Utilize NotebookLM for domain-specific theological research and expert insights.

Attitude Outcomes

Participants will develop:

Responsible and ethical use of Artificial Intelligence.
Awareness of authenticity and integrity in religious communication.
Digital communication and collaboration skills.


COURSE STRUCTURE

The program is delivered through 10 structured sessions combining demonstrations, discussions, and hands-on activities.

DAY 1 - AI FOUNDATIONS & SMART WORKFLOWS

Session 1: Foundations of AI

Topics Covered: What is AI; AI vs. Human Wisdom; AI in religious communication.
Tools: General AI Concepts.
Learning Outcome: Understand AI basics and identify its role in work and creativity.


Session 2: Writing Prompts Like a Professional

Topics Covered: Prompt engineering basics; Crafting context for spiritual reflections; Refining AI outputs.
Tools: ChatGPT, Gemini.
Learning Outcome: Craft effective prompts for consistent, high-quality AI outputs.


Session 3: Everyday Work Prompts & Communication

Topics Covered: AI for streamlining emails; Draft announcements; Routine task automation.
Tools: Gmail, Gemini in Docs.
Learning Outcome: Use AI to streamline emails, reports, and routine tasks.


Session 4: AI for Smart Research

Topics Covered: Accelerating theological research; Summarizing texts; Language translation.
Tools: Gemini, ChatGPT, Google Translate.
Learning Outcome: Accelerate research and content preparation using AI tools.


DAY 2 - DOCUMENTATION, DATA & DESIGN

Session 5: AI for Documentation & Reports

Topics Covered: Generating structured sermon notes; Parish reports; AI-assisted summarization.
Tools: Google Docs, Gemini.
Learning Outcome: Generate structured documents, summaries, and reports with AI assistance.


Session 6: AI-Powered Data Analytics

Topics Covered: Organizing parishioner information; Tracking events; Visualizing donation or attendance data.
Tools: Google Sheets, Gemini, Google Analytics.
Learning Outcome: Organize and visualize data efficiently using AI-powered spreadsheets.


Session 7: AI-Powered Presentations

Topics Covered: Designing slides with AI; Adding generated visuals; Digital storytelling for retreats.
Tools: Google Slides, AI Image Generators.
Learning Outcome: Design engaging presentations with text, visuals, and storytelling.


Session 8: AI as a Creative Partner

Topics Covered: Brainstorming community outreach; Creative writing for newsletters; Visual design.
Tools: ChatGPT, Canva, Gemini.
Learning Outcome: Collaborate with AI to brainstorm, write, and design creatively.


DAY 3 - EXPERT TOOLS, ETHICS & INTEGRATION

Session 9: AI as an Expert Partner

Topics Covered: Domain-specific tasks; Using source-grounded AI for theology; Expert-like insights.
Tools: NotebookLM, Gemini.
Learning Outcome: Use AI for domain-specific tasks and expert-like insights.


Session 10: Responsible & Ethical AI Use

Topics Covered: Ethical frameworks; Avoiding misinformation; Maintaining authenticity in ministry.
Tools: Ethical Frameworks.
Learning Outcome: Apply AI responsibly while maintaining authenticity and trust.


Capstone Project: Integrated AI Application

Participant Project: Create a mini-ministry project integrating a report (Docs), a data tracker (Sheets), and a presentation (Slides).
Tools: Full Google AI Suite.
Learning Outcome: Demonstrate AI integration across writing, analysis, and presentation tasks.


Learning Outcome

Participants will demonstrate the ability to integrate AI tools and digital platforms to support their ministry and community engagement.