From Factory Floors to Artificial Intelligence: Leading with Catholic Social Wisdom of Joseph Cardijn

First, I wrote this with “baby boomers” in mind. I want to honor the extraordinary journey we’ve all witnessed. We’ve seen the world transform from typewriters to tablets, from rotary phones to smartphones, from factory assembly lines to robots that can write poetry. But here’s what hasn’t changed: the fundamental questions about human dignity, work, community, and purpose. (Think Cardijn, think the Encyclicals, think the Documents of Vatican II.)

Let’s explore how the wisdom you’ve accumulated—both from Catholic Social Teaching, Joseph Cardijn, and from your own lives—is not outdated in our age of Artificial Intelligence. It’s not just relevant, it’s urgently needed. Your experience is vital in shaping our response to AI.

The Bridge We’re Building

As a Christian community, we need to walk together across a bridge. On one side is the world of work you knew—factories, offices, farms, homes where you raised families. On the other side is this new world of AI that seems mysterious, even threatening. But the bridge itself? That’s built from timeless principles that you already understand deeply.

The Dignity You Brought to Labor

Let me ask you to remember for a moment: What was your first real job? The full-time one, and you thought Wow, I am being paid big bucks now.

Maybe you worked in a textile mill, a steel plant, a hospital, a classroom, a machine shop, or at home raising children. You learned quickly that work was never just about the paycheck. It was about:

• Contributing something tangible to your family and community
• Mastering a craft or skill that made you proud
• Being part of something larger than yourself
• Supporting those who depended on you

This understanding of work isn’t sentimental nostalgia—it’s the foundation of Catholic Social Teaching (wisdom) on labor.

Catholic Social Teaching: A Quick Refresher

You may remember these principles from papal encyclicals like Rerum Novarum (1891) or Laborem Exercens (1981):

1. Human Dignity: Every person is created in God’s image and has inherent worth
2. The Dignity of Work: Work is a participation in God’s creative activity
3. Rights of Workers: Fair wages, safe conditions, the right to organize
4. Solidarity: We’re all connected; we rise or fall together
5. Preferential Option for the Poor: Special concern for the vulnerable
6. Subsidiarity: Decisions made at the most local level possible
7. Care for Creation: Stewardship of God’s gifts for future generations
8. The Common Good: Society should serve all people, not just the powerful

For most reading this, our Generation’s Struggles

You lived these principles. You fought for:

• Union rights and collective bargaining
• Workplace safety regulations
• Living wages and retirement security
• Equal pay for women
• Civil rights in employment

These weren’t abstract theories. They were about putting food on your table and sending your children to college.

Demystifying AI

Let me make AI simple. You know how you learned to recognize your grandchild’s voice on the phone? You heard it hundreds of times, and your brain learned the pattern. AI does something similar, but with massive amounts of data and mathematical calculations instead of a human brain.

AI in Everyday Life (Things you may already use):

• Voice assistants: Siri, Alexa—they recognize speech patterns
• Recommendations: Netflix suggests shows, Amazon suggests products
• Navigation: Google Maps finding the fastest route
• Photo organization: Your phone identifies faces in pictures
• Medical diagnostics: Analyzing X-rays and MRIs
• Banking security: Detecting fraudulent credit card charges

The New Frontier: Generative AI

The newest development is AI that can create things:

• Writing essays, articles, and stories
• Creating images and artwork
• Composing music
• Writing computer code
• Having conversations (like ChatGPT)

This is where the questions get harder. Because now AI isn’t just helping us work—it’s potentially replacing human workers.

What AI Can and Cannot Do

AI is powerful at:

• Processing enormous amounts of information quickly
• Finding patterns in data
• Performing repetitive tasks consistently
• Making predictions based on past patterns

But AI cannot:

• Truly understand the meaning or context
• Feel empathy or compassion
• Make genuine moral judgments
• Please take responsibility for its decisions
• Love, hope, or have faith

This distinction is crucial for what comes next.

THE CHALLENGES AI PRESENTS

Challenge 1: The Changing Nature of Work

Remember when automation came to factories? Some jobs disappeared, new ones emerged. AI is doing this on a scale we’ve never seen:

• Radiologists worried AI would read X-rays better than they can
• Truck drivers are facing self-driving vehicle technology
• Customer service workers replaced by chatbots
• Writers and artists competing with AI-generated content
• Accountants, lawyers, and even programmers are seeing routine tasks automated

The question isn’t whether jobs will change—they will. The question is: Will we manage this transition with justice and compassion, or will we leave people behind?

Challenge 2: Concentration of Power

In your working years, you fought against monopolies and for workers’ rights. Today, AI is primarily controlled by a handful of massive tech companies:

• They own the data
• They build the systems
• They set the rules
• They reap most of the profits

This raises questions about:

• Economic justice: Who benefits from AI’s productivity gains?
• Democratic participation: Who decides how AI is developed and used?
• Subsidiarity: Are decisions being made by those closest to the impacts?

Challenge 3: Human Dignity in the Algorithm

You know that people aren’t just numbers on a spreadsheet. But AI systems often reduce humans to data points:

• Hiring algorithms that reject qualified candidates based on zip codes
• Healthcare AI that provides worse recommendations for minorities
• Credit scoring that perpetuates historical discrimination
• Surveillance systems that track workers’ every movement

The question: How do we ensure technology serves human dignity rather than reducing it?

Challenge 4: The Erosion of Community

You built communities through:

• Churches and parish groups
• Union halls and worker solidarity
• Neighborhood connections
• Face-to-face relationships

AI and digital technology can isolate us:

• Gig economy workers without colleagues
• Online interactions replacing human contact
• Communities are fragmented into digital echo chambers
• Loneliness epidemic, especially among the elderly

Challenge 5: Truth and Manipulation

You grew up in an era when Walter Cronkite said it, and that settled it. Today:

• AI can create fake videos of people saying things they never said
• Social media algorithms spread misinformation for profit
• Foreign actors use AI to interfere in elections
• It’s increasingly complex to know what’s real

This threatens the common good and democratic society itself.

CATHOLIC SOCIAL WISDOM AS A GUIDE

Principle 1: Human Dignity Must Come First

Pope Francis made it very clear, and Pope Leo agrees: “Human beings are themselves considered consumer goods to be used and then discarded… It is no longer simply about exploitation and oppression, but something new.”

What this means for AI:

• Technology must serve people, not the other way around
• Workers displaced by AI deserve retraining, support, and dignity
• AI systems must respect privacy and human autonomy
• Profit cannot be the only measure of AI’s value

Your voice matters here. You can ask: “Will this technology help my children, grandchildren, great grandchildren flourish, or just make someone rich?”

Principle 2: Work Is Participation in Creation

Laborem Exercens taught us that work isn’t just about earning money—it’s about participating in God’s creative work and developing our talents.

What this means for AI:

• We must preserve meaningful work for people
• Automation should free us for more human tasks, not unemployment
• New forms of work must offer dignity and purpose
• We need to redefine “productivity” beyond pure efficiency

Your wisdom: You know that a good day’s work brings satisfaction beyond the paycheck. How do we preserve that?

Principle 3: Solidarity—We’re All in This Together

The coal miner and the teacher, the farmer and the factory worker—you understood that an injury to one was an injury to all.

What this means for AI:

• The benefits of AI productivity should be shared broadly
• Workers in affected industries need our support
• International cooperation on AI ethics
• Bridging the digital divide so everyone can participate

Practical action: Support policies that:

• Tax AI profits to fund retraining and education
• Strengthen unemployment insurance and healthcare access
• Invest in rural and underserved communities
• Create portable benefits for gig workers

Principle 4: Preferential Option for the Poor

Jesus told us: “Whatever you did for the least of these, you did for me.”

Who are today’s “least of these” in the AI revolution?

• Workers in routine jobs are most vulnerable to automation
• Communities without broadband access
• Elderly citizens excluded from digital services
• Developing nations are exploited for data without benefit

What this demands:

• AI development that prioritizes solving problems of the poor
• Protection for vulnerable workers
• Accessible technology for people with disabilities
• Fair compensation for those whose data trains AI

Your role: You can advocate for your peers who struggle with technology, ensuring AI systems remain human-accessible.

Principle 5: Subsidiarity—Local Knowledge Matters

Decisions should be made at the most local level possible, by those closest to the problem.

What this means for AI:

• Top-down AI solutions often fail because they ignore local context
• Communities should have a say in how AI affects them
• Workers understand their jobs better than algorithms
• Your parish, your town, your union—these voices matter

Real example: When Amazon wanted to use AI to track warehouse workers’ every movement, workers organized and pushed back. Local knowledge and solidarity matter.

Principle 6: The Common Good

Society should be organized so that everyone can flourish, not just the powerful.

Questions we must ask about any AI system:

• Does it benefit the whole community or just shareholders?
• Does it strengthen or weaken our social fabric?
• Does it help or harm the environment?
• Does it make society more or less just?

Our generation understands this: You built libraries, parks, public schools, Social Security, and Medicare—institutions for the common good. What are the equivalent institutions we need for the AI age?

Principle 7: Care for Creation

Laudato Si’ reminds us that technology isn’t neutral—it shapes our relationship with creation and each other.

What this means for AI:

• AI data centers consume enormous amounts of energy, and don’t forget all those satellites that AI is dependent upon for moving data to the centers and your computing devices.
• Electronic waste from constant upgrades harms the environment
• We must ask: Is this technology sustainable for our grandchildren and beyond?
• Efficiency shouldn’t mean exploitation of natural resources.

Your legacy: You fought for clean air and water. Now we must ensure technology doesn’t undo that progress.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

“But I Don’t Understand Technology!”

You don’t need to be a computer scientist to lead with wisdom. You need to ask the right questions:

Questions to Ask Your Elected Representatives:

• How will you protect workers displaced by AI?
• What’s your plan for sharing AI’s economic benefits?
• How will you prevent AI discrimination?
• What safeguards against AI-generated misinformation?

Questions to Ask Your Pastor and Parish:

• How is our church addressing AI’s impact on work and community?
• Can we offer digital literacy programs for parishioners?
• How do we maintain human connection in an automated world?
• What does our faith say about these technologies?

Questions to Ask Your Family:

• How is AI affecting your work?
• Are you being treated with dignity in your workplace?
• How can we maintain family connections despite technology?
• What values do we want to pass to the next generation?

Practical Actions You Can Take Today:

1. Stay Informed: Read about AI in Catholic publications like America Magazine, Commonweal, National Catholic Reporter, or the USCCB website. Take classes geared for “boomers” along with lectures and workshops.
2. Share Your Story: Your experience with workplace change is valuable—tell younger generations about union struggles, civil rights, and solidarity.
3. Support Worker Organizations: Whether unions, worker centers, or advocacy groups fighting for gig worker rights
4. Engage Politically: Vote for leaders who prioritize human dignity over corporate profit.
5. Build Community: Resist isolation—maintain face-to-face connections, volunteer, stay active in your parish.
6. Mentor Young People: Share your values and wisdom about meaningful work and moral living
7. Model Discernment: Show your family how to evaluate technology through a moral lens
8. Demand Accessibility: Insist that AI systems include options for human interaction—not everyone wants to talk to a chatbot

For Those Who Are Able:

• Attend town halls on technology policy
• Write letters to the editor about AI’s impact
• Join parish social justice committees
• Support organizations like Catholic Labor Network
• Participate in discussions about AI ethics in your community

HOPE AND LEGACY

Why Your Voice Matters

You might think, “I’m too old to matter in conversations about AI.” That’s precisely wrong. Here’s why you’re essential:

You’ve Seen This Before

• You witnessed the transformation from an agricultural to an industrial economy
• You navigated automation in factories and offices
• You fought for worker rights in the face of corporate power
• You built social safety nets like Social Security and Medicare
• You integrated schools and workplaces despite fierce resistance

The challenges varied, but the principles remained the same. And you won real victories.

You Have Moral Clarity

Younger generations are drowning in technological hype and corporate propaganda. They’re told:

• “Move fast and break things”
• “Disruption is always good.”
• “Efficiency is everything.”
• “There’s no alternative to the market.”

You know better. You remember:

• Speed without wisdom causes harm
• Some things shouldn’t be broken
• Efficiency without justice is cruelty
• We can choose our future

You Carry the Tradition

Catholic Social Teaching (wisdom) didn’t appear from nowhere. It emerged from:

• Workers organizing for dignity
• Communities caring for their vulnerable
• People of faith applying Gospel values to economic life
• Ordinary Catholics insist that faith matters in the workplace

You are living witnesses to this tradition. Your stories, your struggles, your victories—these are the proof that another way is possible.

A Vision of Hope

Imagine if we got this right. Imagine if AI:

• Freed people from drudgery to pursue meaningful work
• Shared its benefits broadly across society
• Solved problems like disease and climate change
• Enhanced rather than replaced human capabilities
• Strengthened communities instead of isolating us

This isn’t naive optimism. It’s what happens when we apply timeless wisdom to new challenges.

Pope Francis’s Challenge

In Laudato Si’, Pope Francis wrote: “Nobody is suggesting a return to the Stone Age, but we do need to slow down and look at reality in a different way.”

That’s your gift to offer. You can help society slow down and ask:

• What kind of world do we want?
• What does it mean to be human?
• How do we live in solidarity?
• What do we owe future generations?

Your Legacy

You built the world your children and grandchildren inherited. You created:

• Social Security protects the elderly
• Medicare, which provides healthcare
• Civil rights laws that banned discrimination
• Environmental protections that cleaned our air and water
• Labor laws that protect workers

Now you have one more gift to give: ensuring that AI serves humanity rather than the other way around.

THE BRIDGE WE CROSS TOGETHER

We Return to the Bridge

Remember the bridge we talked about at the start? On one side, the world of work you knew. On the other hand, this is the new world of AI.

You’re not being asked to cross alone. And you’re not being asked to become technology experts. You’re being asked to do what you’ve always done:

• Insist on human dignity
• Demand justice for workers
• Build solidarity with the vulnerable
• Protect the common good
• Pass on wisdom to the next generation

The Pattern Holds

Every generation faces new challenges that seem overwhelming. Our parents faced the Depression. You faced the upheaval of the 1960s and 70s. Your children faced 9/11 and the Great Recession.

Each time, people of faith applied timeless principles to new circumstances. Each time, ordinary people insisted that human dignity matters more than profits. Each time, communities pulled together to protect the vulnerable.

This is your moment to do it again.

A Blessing and a Challenge

You are not too old to matter. You are not irrelevant to the AI revolution. In fact, you may be precisely what we need: people who remember that technology is supposed to serve us, not rule us; people who know that solidarity works; people who understand that the moral arc of the universe bends toward justice—but only when we bend it.

So today:

• Talk to your children and grandchildren about meaningful work
• Ask questions of your elected officials
• Share your stories with your community
• Pray for wisdom for our society
• Trust that the same principles that guided you still apply

Final Thought

Jesus gave us a simple test for any society, any economy, any technology: “Whatever you did for the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

AI will either serve the least of these—or it won’t. The choice is ours. And your voice, your wisdom, your witness—these matter more than you know.

Think about your lives of faithful work and your willingness to lead. The factory floors, the office hallways you walked on, and the values you lived by are the foundation we need for the AI age ahead.

And may God give you—and all of us—the wisdom and courage to build a just future.