Status: INVALID: or, The Confessions of Father Novak

Father Cyril Novak still writes his sermons by hand in a spiral-bound notebook. He still lives in a small apartment chapel in San Francisco. And as far as anyone can tell, he is the only American in the city who does not have an AI assistant implant.

When a penitent casually mentions using an implant during confession, Father finds himself confronted with a question he never expected to ask: what place does artificial intelligence have in the spiritual life?

As friends, parishioners, and government officials weigh in on the issue, Father begins searching for answers of his own. But the deeper he looks, the less the question seems to be about technology at all.

In a world increasingly optimized for convenience, Father Cyril must decide what it means to remain fully, stubbornly human.

STATUS: INVALID is a near-future Catholic novella about conscience, vocation, technology, and the things that remain unchanged when the world moves on.