ITEST Webinar
Revisiting “Computers, Artificial Intelligence, and Virtual Reality” in Light of Pope Leo XIV’s Magnifica Humanitas
Saturday, October 10, 2026
8:00 am – 9:00 am (Pacific)
9:00 am – 10:00 am (Mountain)
10:00 am – 11:00 am (Central)
11:00 am – noon (Eastern)
Register at the bottom of this page for this webinar.
Webinar fee: $10
No charge for: ITEST members, clergy, seminarians, women and men religious
Donations are appreciated.
Our Panelists
Ronald P. Loui, Ph.D.
Adjunct Full Professor of Computer and Data Science, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland
Professor Loui has worked on AI (including philosophical and legal aspects) for four decades and has contributed practical programming and design to innovative systems. His degrees are from Harvard and Rochester, with a postdoc at Stanford Cognitive Science. Using biostatistics and medical records interpretations he has recently produced a new timeline for Genesis patriarchs as Balikh-Khabur West Semites (MarTu/Amorites from Gudea to Ur-III, later an immigrant minority under Hyksos Avaris) that is consistent with archaeological data, linguistics, onomastics and theophorics, theological and geopolitical history, climatology, geology, anthropology, biology, and multiple textual sources. This academic work achieves historicity in exchange for mathematical normalization and correlation. He has done consulting work for intelligence agencies, the US Defense Department advanced labs, Cycorp, and the Cleveland Clinic, co-authoring with NSA, State Department, and DARPA researchers. His most recent invention is the Colvin Diagram that audits AI predictions for trustworthiness and illuminates causality issues.
Kevin Vallier, Ph.D.
Professor of Philosophy at the Institute of American Constitutional Thought and Leadership at the University of Toledo
Dr. Kevin Vallier is a political philosopher specializing in trust, polarization, and the foundations of liberal democracy in deeply diverse societies. His research integrates normative political philosophy with empirical social science to understand how open societies sustain cooperation across moral and religious differences. He is a Professor of Philosophy and Director of Research at the Institute for American Constitutional Thought and Leadership (University of Toledo). He completed his PhD at the University of Arizona in 2011 under Gerald Gaus.
Gregory Beabout, Ph.D.
Romano Guardini Chair in Catholic Thought and Culture,
Professor, Department of Philosophy
Greg Beabout is Romano Guardini Chair in Catholic Thought and Culture and Professor in the Department of Philosophy at St. Louis University. He teaches and does research in ethics and social philosophy, the history of philosophy, personalism, Kierkegaard, and Catholic social thought. His work applies personalism and virtue ethics to business and the professions. In 2025–26, he organized SLU’s Pope Leo Series on AI and the Social Teaching of the Church. His books include Virtue Ethics in Business and Management, Ethics: The Art of Character, Freedom and Its Misuses, and The Character of the Manager. His current book project and accompanying documentary film are titled Sacred Signs: The Whooping Cranes of Kaskaskia.
Sr. Carla Mae Streeter, OP, Th.D.
Professor Emerita of Systematic Theology and Spirituality at Aquinas Institute of Theology.
Sister Carla Mae Streeter, O.P., Th.D. completed doctoral studies with the Canadian Jesuits at Regis College at the University of Toronto School of Theology in 1986. She was co-recipient of the first Jean-Marc Laporte Scholarship Award for academic excellence, and the first woman to complete a theological doctorate at Regis College. She is the author of Foundations of Spirituality: The Human and the Holy, Seasons of the Soul: An Intimate God in Liturgical Time, and co-author of Avoiding the Sin of Certitude. She has served on the Board of Interfaith Partnership of Metropolitan St. Louis and on the Board of ITEST, the Institute for Theological Encounter with Science and Technology. Carla Mae is also the former Convener and Executive Director of Compassionate Saint Louis, a global movement that is active in several United States cities, and about 500 cities globally.
Webinar resources
Dr. Gregory Beabout’s resources:
SLU Thought Leaders Discuss AI and Its Impact on Education
SLU Catholic Studies
AI and its Impact on Education
AI and its Impact on Healthcare
AI and Protecting our Common Home
AI and its Impact on How We Relate to God and to One Another
Sister Carla Mae Streeter’s resources:
July 3-16, 2026 issue of the National Catholic Reporter, p. 14 Culture and Opinion section entitled: “Teilhard de Chardin points to what Pope Leo missed,” by Ilia Delio, and a comment by reader Tracey Higgins on p.18.
“How to Survive the AI Shock: A Policy Playbook to Avert Political Crisis,” in Foreign Affairs, July/August 2016, by James A. Davidson and Matthew J. Slaughter.