FORMER Cagayan de Oro City Councilor George Goking Sr. appreciated the superior general of the Society of Jesus’ message of unity and leadership with purpose during the recently held World Union of Jesuit Congress in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
Goking along with other delegates from Xavier University Alumni Association represented the Philippines for the first time during the prestigious summit which is a gathering of alumni of Jesuit tertiary institutions worldwide every five years.
During the meet July 29 to August 2, Society of Jesus superior general Arturo Sosa rallied the alumni from 35 countries to a mission of justice and reconciliation for all human beings and for their relationship with the natural environment “created to sustain the life that God desires.”
“We are called to be at the frontiers of society. Among these frontiers is the development of technology, for instance artificial intelligence,” Sosa said. “It holds potential for human flourishing but also carries risks of isolation, loss of work and new forms of manipulation. The Church must help guide these developments ethically, defending human dignity and promoting the common good.”
Sosa noted that while many alumni are not Catholic practitioners themselves, this does not lessen them to become active citizens in society shaped by their Jesuit formative years.
“In the era of AI, the temptation arises to reduce persons to data and to measure human value by efficiency and output. The Church speaks with unambiguous clarity to reaffirm that the human person is always the end, never the means,” Sosa continued.
He said AI is even more relevant today to combat misinformation and exhorted the hundreds of delegates to become artisans of dialogue as a means of countering false realities that would lead to profound divisions of every kind.
“Looking around this hall, I see a beautiful image of humanity in its diversity: men and women from different nations, languages, cultures and backgrounds gathered by a common formation and a common call,” Sosa said.
