WHAT IS CATHOLIC CONSCIENCE?

We believe that we are globally unique as a Catholic, non-partisan civic and political leadership and engagement organization. Our mission is civic evangelization through Catholic social teaching: forming citizens in the full breadth of our faith’s social vision, and thereby forming our Catholic community into a diverse, influential, and gently persuasive family of voices within Canadian civil society and politics.

Much of our work is focused on politics and public service, in which we take no sides. We simply promote reflection on the Christian duties of love, charity, and good stewardship, and the principles, values, and virtues of Catholic social teaching, and send our members out to participate in public life—in whatever way best matches their abilities and vocations.

This is one powerful way we can bring the love of Christ to those who have not yet encountered it. The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church states that “The Church’s social doctrine is an integral part of her evangelizing ministry.” Your generosity and financial support will help us take this evangelizing mission to greater horizons, and support fresh possibilities, by empowering our current programs and our constant adaptiveness in innovating and launching new, creative initiatives.

WHAT DO WE DO?

We are confident that exploring the incomparable wisdom of Catholic social teaching, applying this wisdom concretely to contemporary social challenges, and discovering how God wants Catholics and all people of good will to serve others will change lives for the better—and change the communities and country we love!

Practically, we offer a variety of programs aimed at promoting civic evangelization through inspired, well-formed Catholic civic and political engagement. These programs include:

• Voter education campaigns for elections, with the two-fold purpose of A) providing non-partisan resources to enable Catholics to discern their votes through the full range of Catholic social teaching while learning about the practical application of CST to current issues, and B) encouraging Catholics to exercise their duty to cast their vote through the lens of their faith. 

• Vocational formation for Catholic witness in civic life, including our Catholic Leaders Mission, which aims at forming Catholics in political vocations. 

• Catholic social teaching education, through learning opportunities for Catholics interested in learning more about Catholic social teaching’s application to the public life of our country and our contemporary challenges, all aimed at inspiring greater, well-formed Catholic engagement. For instance, our Catholic Civics Workshop series of events features leading Catholic experts, practitioners, and other leaders for presentations and conversations on these crucial topics. We also use our website and other digital tools to provide content about the application of Catholic social teaching to contemporary social challenges. For instance, our monthly newsletter—the Catholic Commons—is delivered to nearly 1000 subscribers every month, and features articles and links that empower readers to learn more about CST and to consider issues in Canadian public life through the lens of Catholic teaching.

We are constantly working with, for, and alongside the Church and wider Catholic community to create new initiatives responding to the greatest opportunities for Catholic civic engagement.