The Diocese of Bridgeport rolled out the new tool to a select number of donors ahead of a larger release.

The Diocese of Bridgeport, Connecticut, will be supplementing its fundraising activities with an AI tool meant in part to solicit donations from local Catholics in what the diocese is billing as the “worldʼs first virtual engagement officer.” 

The diocese announced the rollout of “Maria” this month. It describes the tool as a means of “thoughtfully exploring how new technologies can support more attentive listening, more consistent communication, and more personal engagement with those we serve.”

Bishop Frank Caggiano says on the programʼs website that the digital tool will “help us discern how technology may support deeper connection and accompaniment.”

“Maria will help us learn how digital tools can deepen our listening and foster more personal responses, while always keeping human relationships at the heart of the Church’s mission,” he said. 

Ethical safeguards, ‘huge potential’

On the April 15 edition of his weekly podcast, Let Me Be Frank, Bishop Caggiano jokingly described himself as “technologically a Neanderthal,” but he expressed excitement that the tool could be used “not just to raise money but to evangelize.” 

Speaking on the podcast to diocesan chancellor Deacon Patrick Toole, who spent years as an executive with the technology giant IBM, Bishop Caggiano asked if an AI agent can “ever get to the point where it could resist human control.”

Toole acknowledged that such a scenario was “possible,” though he noted that AI companies institute “huge safeguards” to ensure that AI personalities are trained properly. 

The deacon said that the diocesan chancery has been holding discussions about “how to use artificial intelligence for the good of the mission” and that diocesan fundraising “seemed like a good opportunity to try it in an area where we donʼt have the resources.”

“My primary motivation was that weʼre doing so many really exciting things and itʼs hard to get the message out,” he said. 

Emily Groccia, a vice president at the tech company Givzey, which helped design Maria, said on the podcast that the program was rolled out to 1,000 donors in late March. 

She said part of the toolʼs programming will be to “graduate” donors to actual human workers under some circumstances, such as when someone wants to significantly upgrade a donation, or if they raise intimate personal questions better addressed by a fellow human being. 

“We are very cautious on allowing our [AI] to engage in lines of conversation that are outside of those traditional fundraising conversations,” she said. 

The bishop said that AI fundraising represents “huge potential” for the nearly 200 dioceses in the United States. But he stressed the need for “guidelines” to ensure that AI agents do not take the place of human beings. 

“Just off the top of my head, if someone reveals a death, I would not want the assistant to respond at all,” he said. “I want a human person to respond. … Because again, as a Church, weʼre a unique reality.”

Diocesan spokeswoman Marie Oates shared with EWTN News several examples of Mariaʼs interactions with local Catholics. In one, a parishioner expresses interest in volunteering with immigrants, for which Maria was able to provide information on local Catholic Charities immigration services. 

In another, a mother asks Maria for opportunities to get involved in diocesan programs with “other moms like me.” Maria offers to connect the mother to parish programs with mothers’ groups and family ministries. 

Oates said both interactions “highlight our goal for the program,” which she said focuses on “using AI [not] as a way to replace human relationships but as a tool to help us connect more personally.”

“[We want to use] AI to bridge the gaps in our ability as a Church to communicate directly with everyone, with the goal of fostering more personal and human connection and interaction, so that we as humans can better accompany each other,” she said. 

On the bishopʼs podcast, meanwhile, Toole said that Catholics “have the opportunity to bear great fruit” with AI technology “as long as we align it to the One and make sure we stay true to that with Christ at the center.” 

Bishop Caggiano described AI innovation as representing “an epochal shift in human life” comparable to the development of the printing press. 

“Thereʼs no one on Earth alive — even these great architects of [AI] — who really know where all of this will go,” he said. “We need to answer the question, where should it go?”

NORWAY — The Select Board voted early this month to terminate its contract with the town’s auditor, citing slow response times and a lack of progress on the 2024 audit.

Norway has worked with Runyon Kersteen Ouellette, or RKO, for the past four years.

According to minutes from the April 2 meeting, the town has paid the firm more than $90,000, including a recent $40,000 payment.

“RKO has had extremely slow response times, upward of several weeks for answers to inquiries,” the minutes read.

The firm also had not provided a draft of the 2024 audit to the town.

At the meeting, Courtenay Dodds, the town’s deputy treasurer and finance officer, recommended ending RKO’s engagement for the 2025 and 2026 audits and hiring RHR Smith & Co. of Buxton.

The Office of the State Auditor reports that RHR Smith & Co. audits more than 175 municipalities in Maine.

Asked this week why the town ended its contract with RKO, Select Board Vice Chair Sarah Carter‑Hill wrote in an email, “From my understanding they were taking an incredibly long time to produce the 2024 audit, overcharging for services, and hadn’t started in 2025 so we have switched auditors to be more fiscally responsible and have timelier results.”

Police Chief Jeffery Campbell, who has also served as interim town manager, said the matter has been referred to the town attorney and declined to comment further.

RKO could not be reached for comment before publication.

State auditor records show RKO signed Norway’s 2021 audit Feb. 4, 2022; the 2022 audit March 26, 2023; and the 2023 audit June 4, 2024.

The auditor’s office, which receives completed municipal audits, also reports that RKO audits 24 municipalities in Maine. Of those, Brewer, Brunswick, Cumberland, Freeport and Long Island have filed their 2025 audits.

Twelve municipalities — Auburn, Bangor, Belgrade, Cape Elizabeth, Falmouth, Gorham, Kennebunkport, South Portland, Saco, Winthrop, Yarmouth and York — have not yet filed their 2025 audits.

Norway, Augusta, Biddeford, Durham, Matinicus Isle Plantation and Monmouth have not filed audits for 2024 or 2025.

Orono is missing audits for 2022, 2023 and 2025.

The audits are available here.

Rideshare drivers would face more rigorous background checks and riders would get more ways to verify they’re in the right car under new rules proposed by Massachusetts regulators that they say would lead the nation for passenger and driver protection.

Other requirements under the Department of Public Utility’s proposal include children under 16 needing to be accompanied by an adult in a rideshare, annual driver training for things like safe driving and helping riders with disabilities and regular checks for whether rideshare vehicles have been recalled by their manufacturer, the agency said Friday.

Get more detail on the proposal here.

“Massachusetts has the opportunity to set the standard for safety and oversight of the [Transportation Network Companies] industry with these updated regulations,” said DPU Chair Jeremy McDiarmid in a statement. “The proposed changes reflect our top line goal of promoting passenger safety and ensuring driver fairness and dignity in the background check process.”

Uber and Lyft are among the five rideshare companies, which the DPU calls Transportation Network Companies, currently authorized to work in Massachusetts; more than 104,000 drivers are currently certified in the state, according to the agency.

The DPU already conducts background checks — it says it’s conducted more than 800,000 since 2017 — and issues civil penalties to the companies if they’re not in compliance with state law.

With the publication of the enhanced regulations, the public — including drivers and other stakeholders — have until July 2 to give feedback in writing, and the DPU will hold two hearings as well. Details on how to give feedback are available here.