Plain-language notes on AI tools parish staff are using. We have no ratings and no paid placement. Vendor terms change, so check the current terms and your diocesan policy before using any tool.
What it is: General-purpose assistant.
Privacy notes: Free and personal plans may use your chats to improve models unless you turn that off in settings. Business and Enterprise plans say they do not train on your data by default. Check your diocese's policy; some require a work email account.
What it is: Assistant built into Microsoft 365.
Privacy notes: If your parish signs in with a work Microsoft 365 account, enterprise data protection terms apply. The Archdiocese of Seattle's 2026 policy names Copilot (under its Microsoft license) as an approved, secure platform.
What it is: Google's assistant, also inside Google Workspace.
Privacy notes: Consumer Gemini may have humans review conversations, depending on your activity settings. Gemini for Google Workspace accounts follows Workspace data terms. Use your parish's Workspace account if you have one.
What it is: General-purpose assistant, strong at writing.
Privacy notes: Consumer privacy settings let you choose whether your chats are used for model training. Team and Enterprise plans are covered by commercial terms. Do not enter personal data in personal accounts.
What it is: Catholic answer engine trained on Church documents. Also offers parish and diocesan dashboards.
Privacy notes: For research on Church teaching, not admin data. Seattle's policy approves it for catechetical and theological research, with human review, and says it is not a substitute for pastoral judgment. Religion News Service has criticized the accuracy of some of its answers (RNS, Nov 2025).
What it is: A per-parish Q&A assistant trained on that parish's published information (Mass times, contacts, sacraments).
Privacy notes: It uses public information only, so the privacy risk is lower. Answers are only as current as your published information.
What it is: Parish management platform with an AI assistant, communications, and register digitization by phone photo.
Privacy notes: It handles registers and parishioner data, so it needs your diocese's vendor and privacy review before use. Ask about data location, retention, and training use.
What it is: A natural-language query tool inside eCatholic's church management system (e.g., 'parishioners baptized in the last 12 months').
Privacy notes: It runs inside your existing parish database rather than a public chatbot. eCatholic says it is available to users with the Church Admin role.
Know a tool we should add, or a correction? It will be listed here soon.