Maura Baker

Staff Writer

Faithful from across the Diocese of Covington came to fill the pews of the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, Covington, on March 31 in celebration of the annual Chrism Mass. The great diocesan assembly par excellence, priests and deacons joined Bishop John Iffert, celebrant and homilist, as he blessed the holy oils and consecrated sacred Chrism for use diocesan wide. Representatives from every parish and ministering Catholic organization attend the Chrism Mass to receive the three blessed oils for their institutions. These oils include the Oil of the Sick, Oil of the Catechumens, and the sacred Chrism. Each of these oils, blessed by the bishop, will be used in administering the sacraments in the coming year.

A sign of unity and service, the Chrism Mass sees clergy, religious and laity together, while priests renew their promises made during ordination. Bishop Iffert began his homily commenting on this great unity, saying, “It does my heart so much good to be here celebrating with so many of our holy priests, our faithful deacons, our consecrated religious and baptized representatives of the whole Church — and that is the point! The Church gathers to recommit ourselves to the mission of Jesus the anointed one … He is anointed with the Holy Spirit, and by his grace, has invited each of us into this holy and anointed life.”

Referencing the Mass’s reading from the book of Isaiah, Bishop Iffert commented that it’s not the voice of Isaiah that we hear, but “an oracle placed into the mouth of an anticipated messenger of the end times by Isaiah.”

“This expected messenger will be anointed like the king, anointed like the prophets — but this messenger will be more than a king, more than a prophet,” Bishop Iffert said. “He is a proclaimer, and he is a comforter … He announces redemption for slaves, release for prisoners. He proclaims a new order of things were there will be no more need for repression, and where peace and well-being will prevail. He proclaims a year of the Lord’s favor.”

Bishop Iffert said that “we can think of this year as a jubilee year — but this is a special jubilee, the ultimate jubilee. The year of the Lord’s favor means the point in time at which God shows himself to be most gracious and bestows the gift of salvation in the final and definitive way.”

Looking back to Gospel readings leading up to Holy Week, Bishop Iffert referenced a passage in the synagogue of Nazareth during the life of Christ.

“When he stands to read this passage,” referring to the previous reading from the Book of Isaiah, “he points out that today, this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing … and he reveals to all who hear him that he is the great prophet of whom Isaiah speaks.”

Referencing the third century Christian scholar Origen, Bishop Iffert said that Christ “teaches through his instruments.”

“What are his instruments? What are his methods?” Bishop Iffert asked the congregation, answering, “You. You are God’s instruments, you who have been anointed with oil and with the Holy Spirit … You are baptized to be his instru – ments to continue the saving comfort and proclamation of Jesus Christ.”

Bishop Iffert then drew attention to the priests who had gathered for the Chrism Mass, saying, “In a few moments, I will invite these men who are called to the ordained priesthood for service to the people of God, to draw them toward holi – ness and sanctification — and I will invite them to renew the promises they made at their ordination … I will commit them into your hands,” he said to the congre – gation, “asking you to help them to be sustained by carrying them, and me, constantly in prayer through Jesus Christ, by his Holy Spirit, to the mercies of God, the Father. Because that’s the way God has designed this Church of ours. He has given us to one another for our mutual care.”

Concluding, Bishop Iffert asked those gathered to “Please pray that we (clergy) will never fail you in the search for holiness and please never, never fail to pray for us that we might be true servants of Jesus — servants of those who are instruments of God’s sanctifying love for the world … Pray that we might serve you, fully and completely in a self-emptying way after the pattern of Jesus Christ the Lord, pray for us.”

Bella Bailey

Multimedia Correspondent

In an increasingly online world and with the proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI), it is not merely enough to know the technology, but to know how to use it safely, said Mandy Sanchez, director of programming, Culture Reframed. Dr. Sanchez spoke to Curia staff, Catholic schools’ staff, parish staff, law enforcement, social workers and parents, March 25, about the dangers of AI and social media, and how to keep kids safe from unsavory and dangerous content.

Dr. Sanchez works for renowned international organization Culture Reframed, which strives to change the culture of a “pornified” world, said Dr. Sanchez. With resources for parents and educators on how to protect young children and teens, Dr. Sanchez said, “we talk about the dangers and harms of excessive use of social media and the harms of pornography to young people.”

In her presentation, Dr. Sanchez highlighted that one in three children, approximately 25 million children in the United States, have “seen hardcore porn by age 12,” she said. “Those numbers are getting younger and younger and younger … much of this content is misleading, objectifying and degrading.”

The dangers of errant, unsupervised and unrestricted social media and technology use are on the rise, with 95 to 98 percent of 13–17-year-olds being on social media platforms, and 53 percent of children owning a smartphone by age 11, she said.

“Social media can be good for teens as a way to help expand their identity, to socialize … however, we have had numerous reports where we’re looking at depression, anxiety, sleep, stress, isolation,” said Dr. Sanchez.

“At Culture Reframed, we like to look at social media, not in terms of good and bad, but in terms of safety. What is safe and unsafe, healthy and unhealthy,” she said.

Many children, said Dr. Sanchez, do not seek out or go looking for pornographic content; rather, the content finds them on their social media accounts and games because “porn is everywhere,” she said. “What happens when we live in a pornified space is that if you can make porn of it, people will.”

The effects of pornography on developing brains are evident: “The overstimulation rewires the brain. It disrupts all of the processes that are happening in the frontal lobe. We know that the frontal lobe is responsible for things like decision making, empathy, emotional regulation.”

“Other risks include some mental health risks. Because of that frontal lobe rewiring, we see an undermining of self-awareness and regulation of impulse control, of course, poor body image. This is all research-based, lower self-esteem, depression and anxiety; we see higher engagement in risky and casual sex,” she said.

While social media is a breeding ground for explicit content, the rise of artificial intelligence is giving life to new vices and x-rated content. Today, children and teens have the ability to create “deep fakes,” which are “images and videos that are fake but appear to be real,” said Dr. Sanchez. Where, children and teens are able to create videos of anyone doing anything, including sexually explicit material.

Additionally, character AI allows children and teens to create their own AI characters, with personas and characteristics, that can then interact with other AI characters from other users. “These characters are programmed with natural language algorithms. They can generate human-like text responses. These platforms are not safe for kids, they do not have parental controls,” said Dr. Sanchez.

Research shows that children and teens are turning to character AI and other “chat bots” for friendship, in lieu of personal connection with peers.

“When kids are being bullied at school, we’re finding that their friendships are being severed online. So, we’re finding they’re pulling from their social media and in real life groups and moving into the world of AI chat bots for support,” she said.

“Kids see AI bots as human and that is because kids trust anything that resembles anything that has human features. So, it’s really important to get this digital literacy to children early, to let them know that AI isn’t human,” she said.

This, said Dr. Sanchez, is the key to keeping kids safe. Being present, watching out for warning signs, having age-appropriate conversations about online safety, “being able to point those things out, talking about AI, how they use it, encourage that critical thinking and reflection in your spaces, having them write about things. We invite everyone to the table because it is everyone’s responsibility,” she said.

“We want to reframe the conversation. If our kiddos are spending a good portion of their day online, then a lot of conversations are happening and there’s a lot being advertised to them. So, if we don’t have these conversations with kids, then I can tell you who will. We don’t want them to have those conversations with a multibillion-dollar industry; that is getting really dangerous, really unhealthy messages,” she said. “Everyone has to come to the table because this is an issue we all need help with.”