Most of us move through an education system we didn’t design—and rarely have the opportunity to question.

Fr. Ambrose Criste, O.Praem., does. Speaking at an AI conference in Rome, he traces the roots of modern schooling to systems built for efficiency and output—and asks whether Catholic education is still operating within a model not originally designed for human formation.

Catholic education, he argues, has a deeper purpose: the formation of the human person, ultimately ordered toward the salvation of souls. Everything else—grades, college, career—follows from that.

His response to the AI moment is not a better system of production, but a renewed vision of what a human being is—and what education is for.

• Why your classroom was designed by the military
• The factory model and what it costs us
• Salvation of souls: the true purpose of Catholic education
• Why AI can never replace a teacher
• The radical hope of screen-free schools