Announcements

 Introduction

I wanted to take a moment to take stock alongside my community. I’ve been on an unannounced hiatus, but with my return, there are a few policies and projects I’d like to share. For your convenience, this article will be split into separate sections that can be read individually. Each covers one policy or project. If you have any additional questions or concerns, feel free to submit a question through the regular form.

Policies

After much thought, I am formally outlining Catholic Unraveled’s core policies. These policies can be read below after which you can find a section on some upcoming projects.

AI Use Policy

Catholic Unraveled’s policy on AI is simple. AI is the paintbrush, not the painter. All content is human-written and AI-assisted when necessary. To give you context on how AI is used, here is the workflow for the average article. 

Step 1) A question is decided on or submitted

Step 2) The question is researched through official Church documentation. AI may be used lightly as a guide, but none of the information it gives is used. AI only points to a source for human review and interpretation. No information provided directly by AI is used in the article. For example, AI may refer to CCC 982 to help me answer a question. I will physically open the catechism and review that paragraph and decide on my own, apart from the AI’s input if it is useful for the current subject.

Step 3) The article is written. AI may help with filling in specific words or forming transitions but the article itself is 100% human-written. An example is when I get stuck on a sentence because I can’t figure out what word is best to use. Think of this as being akin to using a thesaurus. The sentence is my sentence. I just got some help.

Step 4) AI critiques the article for style and clarity. If AI points out possible theological errors, they will be investigated. AI doesn’t make any changes to the text itself.

Step 5) A human reviews the critique and makes changes themselves as they see fit. If necessary, return to step 4.

Step 6) The article is put through a grammar, spelling, and anti-plagiarism engine. The writer then makes additional changes as necessary.

Step 7) The article undergoes a final review before publication.

It is Catholic Unraveled’s policy that AI cannot replace the person. AI doesn’t think or feel; it simply gives the output of an algorithm. That’s acceptable for helping make an article readable. An AI, however, cannot create the answers needed to fulfill the needs of the faithful, no matter how advanced it becomes. Catholic content, such as that which this organization wishes to produce, will always require an authentically human voice at its core. 

Pastoral Care Policy

Catholic Unraveled is dedicated to explaining the Faith through the teachings of the Church. However, it is crucial to distinguish this from personal pastoral care.

We are not a substitute for the guidance of a priest or counselor. The pastoral care of souls—especially in matters of spiritual direction, marriage and family life, personal sin, and mental health—requires a continuous personal relationship. This is a blessing we sadly cannot provide.

Therefore, we strongly encourage you to bring any personal, sacramental, or deeply sensitive questions to your local parish priest or professional Catholic counselor for these matters. The information provided is not specific canonical, legal, or medical advice, nor is it personal spiritual direction. The information we provide is the general teaching of the Catholic Church, intended for the edification of all the faithful. 

Debate Policy

Catholic Unraveled strives to present official Church teaching in a way that is accessible and understandable to the average layman. While we are open to discussing objections to Catholic teaching or the teachings of different denominations, this is not an argument that we are trying to “win”. All articles and answers should be read as explanations of Church teaching, not as attempts to disprove others. Catholic Unraveled does recognize value in good-faith debate. However, this is outside the scope of our mission as an organization. Our goal is to explain and educate. While we pray it leads to conversion, our primary aim is clear explanation. This policy helps ensure discussions remain charitable and centered on explanation and education rather than confrontation.

Engagement Policy

Catholic Unraveled’s argumentation is grounded solely in Catholic scripture and official Church teaching. We also consider Christian writings and the thoughts of private theologians in light of Church teaching. While we are willing to explore and discuss non-Catholic and non-Christian writings they will not be seen as grounds for argumentation. In other words, we are willing to discuss texts such as the Qur’an or The Book of Mormon but we cannot argue using Catholic scripture against non-Catholic scripture. This approach doesn’t work. If one is divinely inspired the other cannot be. Which one is divinely inspired can only be argued by external factors outside of the text, not by pitting the two texts against each other.

Catholic Unraveled also will not argue what we refer to as “foundational philosophies”. We are willing to explain. However, these cannot be argued for or against as they’re based on philosophical worldviews. For example, outside of a theistic framework, the dignity of man cannot be argued in a way consistent with Catholic philosophy.

These policies are not a refusal to engage with such subjects. They’re recognitions that argumentation is futile if both sides are using different rules. A philosophical Catholic understanding of the world cannot argue against a Mormon or Islamic understanding without arguing against the religions as a whole. We cannot use the Bible against the Qur’an or Book of Mormon. We’d have to argue if the texts are true to begin with.

Upcoming Projects

Series: Tradition in light of Scripture

As the name suggests this is a series of articles explaining the role of Tradition in light of scripture and what it looks like in practice.

Series: The role of Saints

An upcoming series of articles discussing the need and role of the Saints in the life of the faithful. Not only are we arguing for the need for their intercession but also for the role the stories of their lives play for the modern Catholic.

Saint Tracker

The Saint Tracker is an upcoming browser-based interactive map meant to ground the lives of the Saints into our visible reality. Each Saint has a continuous line starting at their place of birth and ending at their place of death with various stops at significant locations in their lives. At each stop you can read a piece of their biography. Think of a timeline based on locations instead of dates.

Conclusion

Personally, I am excited for the future of Catholic Unraveled. With your support,  I am convinced that one day Catholic Unraveled will grow to be an invaluable resource. At this time, if you’d like to support the website we ask for feedback and questions about the Catholic faith in lieu of financial contributions. Thank you for your time and support.