A news headline on November 3, 2024 reported that “AI Chatbots are the new priests, An acronym for Churchy Answers That Help You, Cathy is a new AI chatbot that answers faith-based questions from the perspective of a friendly, knowledgeable Episcopalian. Despite its feminine name, the “priestbot,” as Cathy sometimes calls itself, is genderless. There are no ornate flowing robes or croziers, either. But like a wise cleric, Cathy jumped right in with an answer… Developed and funded by the ecumenical group TryTank Research Institute, Cathy uses large language models from OpenAI’s ChatGPT and has ingested the Book of Common Prayer and the entire Episcopal Church website… Cathy is designed to “translate” the Bible into relatable language geared toward younger audiences. It can also serve as a tool for priests by helping them build sermon outlines… Cathy is far from the only faith-based bot — many denominations are experimenting with generative AI. There’s Text With Jesus, Buddhabot, Chatbot Eli, Gita GPT, and QuranGPT, to name a few.”