How Catholic High Schools Can Introduce AI on Their Own Terms

Pope Leo XIV says that "educating people about the use of AI...involves teaching them to decide when and for what purpose it ought not to be used.”

Many Catholic school leaders we talk to didn’t ask for AI, and many would have been happy to wait. A tool that can write an essay in seconds raises real questions about what students actually learn. But students already carry AI on their phones and laptops, whether or not their school has a policy for it.

We share those concerns. Technology companies are told to move fast and break things, but classrooms are the wrong place for that. We built Nectir slowly and moved into high schools only after research showed Nectir AI could support students’ academic performance. Catholic high schools are also approaching AI slowly and carefully, because they’d rather guide students’ AI use than ignore it.

What Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical asks of Catholic schools

In May, Pope Leo XIV released his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, on protecting the human person in the age of AI. He warns that instant answers can dull a student’s desire to ask questions and urges adults to protect young people from treating AI as a machine that does their thinking for them.

It also makes two points that matter for schools. First, educating students about AI means teaching them to decide when, and for what, they shouldn’t use it. Second, schools need to keep training teachers so they can help students use new technology “responsibly, critically and creatively.”

“Schools are not called to follow the pace of the digital world, but to offer that which the digital sphere by itself cannot provide, namely a shared time for learning and developing trustworthy relationships.”

That guidance assumes students will use AI. A school that never mentions AI still has students using it, only without any school guidance. We want students to get help when they need it, and to know when to close the laptop and talk to a person.

Banning AI leaves students without guidance

School leaders face a choice: to ban it or use it. A ban keeps AI off school devices and out of the handbook. Students keep using consumer AI tools at home, with no guardrails or adult in the loop.

Bringing AI inside the school intentionally works differently. The school picks the tool, decides what it can and can’t do, and gives teachers visibility into how students use it. Students then learn AI with the same guidance they get in every other subject.

For a Catholic school, that second path fits the mission. Forming the whole student includes forming how they use the technology they’ll carry into college and work.

The terms Catholic schools can set before AI reaches students

Whatever tool a school chooses, we think a values-driven school can use AI responsibly when it sets these terms:

1. The school sets the guardrails. Leadership and faculty decide what each Assistant covers, how it responds, and that it answers from chosen course materials.
2. An adult stays in the loop. High school teachers can review student conversations and step in when a student is stuck. Assistants are built to send students to their teachers when a person is the better answer.
3. Student data stays protected. The tool meets FERPA and SOC 2 Type II standards and never uses student data to train AI models.
4. The school's values shape the tool. Leaders decide where AI belongs in the school day and where it doesn't.

Set up this way, AI becomes something students learn to use with judgment, guided by the adults who already shape the other things they learn.

Catholic schools that set their terms first

St. Joseph by-the-Sea High School and Kennedy Catholic Preparatory School each brought in AI on their own terms. Both chose Nectir, where teachers build Assistants from their own course materials.

At St. Joseph by-the-Sea High School, leadership wanted to set boundaries on what AI says to students. With Nectir, teachers build their own pedagogy and the school's Catholic values into every Assistant, so each response reflects how the school teaches. 98% of students use Nectir every day. Read the St. Joseph by-the-Sea story.

Kennedy Catholic Preparatory School chose Nectir as its first AI platform. Teachers built an Assistant for every class in two weeks, each one set to ask guiding questions and never give the answer. More than 60% of students used it within five days of launch, and almost 80% within 15 weeks. Read the Kennedy Catholic Preparatory School case study.

Hear directly from a Catholic school leader

On Nov. 17 at 1 p.m. ET, St. Joseph by-the-Sea’s Director of Information Technology Stephen Amato will walk through how their teachers built the school’s values into every Assistant, and what they’d tell a school just getting started. Register for the webinar today to reserve your seat and get the recording.

Catholic schools have always asked hard questions about what shapes their students. AI deserves the same questions.

Frequently asked questions about Nectir AI

What is Nectir AI? Nectir AI gives colleges, universities, and high schools the ability to deploy AI Assistants across their campus that are fully controlled by faculty and administrators, built into existing learning management systems, and compliant with FERPA and SOC 2 Type II standards. Nectir is trusted by 150,000+ students across 130+ campuses, including a partnership with California Community Colleges, which serves 2.2 million students across 116+ campuses

How does Nectir keep AI aligned with a school’s values? We help your school leadership and faculty build each Assistant from their own course materials and set how it responds, including asking guiding questions, not giving answers, and not pulling from the open web.

How does Nectir protect student data? Nectir AI is fully FERPA- and SOC 2 Type II-compliant. Student data and uploaded content is never used to train AI models.

How can I learn more about Nectir? Want to see what school-controlled AI looks like when it’s built around your mission and values? Schedule a demo, and we’ll walk you through how it works at schools like yours.