About Catholics in Communion
Building a Civilization of Love—Together
Catholics in Communion brings together Catholics across the United States to deepen relationships, form faithful leaders, and respond collectively to the pastoral and moral challenges facing our communities.
Who We Are
Catholics in Communion is a growing collaboration of Catholic organizations, religious communities, pastoral leaders, scholars, and local teams committed to strengthening the Church’s social mission.
Grounded in prayer, Scripture, and Catholic Social Teaching, we accompany and equip Catholics to discern the signs of the times, build relationships across difference, and take faithful action together.
Our work is nonpartisan and rooted in a simple conviction: communion with Christ calls us into deeper communion with one another—especially with those whose dignity, families, or participation in public life are threatened.
Together, we seek to cultivate courageous leaders, strengthen local communities, and help build what our Catholic tradition calls a civilization of love.
Our Story
Catholics in Communion emerged from a growing conviction among Catholic leaders: in a time of fear, division, and family separation, the Church was being called to respond with greater communion, courage, and hope.
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June 2025
Faithful witness begins in Los Angeles
As intensified immigration enforcement and the deployment of the National Guard brought fear and unrest to Los Angeles, people of faith began organizing in solidarity with immigrant families. On June 10, Catholic and interfaith leaders gathered for a public vigil of prayer and peace. As immigration enforcement expanded to cities including Chicago and Minneapolis, Catholic communities across the country began responding with their own expressions of accompaniment, prayer, and public witness.
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November 2025
The U.S. bishops speak together
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a rare “Special Message” on immigration, expressing concern about the climate of fear surrounding immigration enforcement and opposing the indiscriminate mass deportation of people. It was the first time in twelve years that the bishops had used this particularly urgent form of collective teaching—affirming the gravity of the moment and the Church’s responsibility to accompany immigrant families.
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December 2025
Catholic leaders discern together
National, regional, and local Catholic social ministry organizations gathered at Trinity Washington University for a Catholic Leadership Convening focused on animating the Church’s prophetic response to a new pastoral emergency of hope. Inspired by Pope Leo XIV’s call to “unleash a torrent of moral energy” and create the conditions for ordinary people to become “poets of solidarity,” participants wrestled with two essential questions:
What is ours to do? What can we do together?From that discernment emerged the vision for a shared Season of Faithful Witness—from Ash Wednesday through Corpus Christi.
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January 2026
An unforeseen tragedy confirms the urgency
As Catholics in Communion began inviting people into the Season of Faithful Witness, immigration enforcement escalated dramatically in Minneapolis. The deaths of Renée Good and Alex Pretti brought renewed grief and urgency to communities already living with fear and uncertainty. These events were not anticipated as part of the Season. But they affirmed the reality of the pastoral emergency Catholic leaders had discerned and intensified the desire of Catholics across the country to gather, pray, and respond together. Catholics from across the country joined national virtual gatherings seeking spiritual grounding, community, and a faithful way to act.
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Ash Wednesday 2026
The Season of Faithful Witness begins
On Ash Wednesday, Catholics in Communion launched the Season of Faithful Witness: a national invitation to prayer, formation, accompaniment, and peaceful public witness rooted in the Gospel and Catholic Social Teaching. From Lent through Corpus Christi, Catholics organized local witnesses, formed teams, accompanied families, participated in national gatherings, and brought the Church’s social teaching into public life. Across these efforts, a deeper possibility began to emerge: Catholics did not simply want to respond to one moment of crisis. They wanted to build the relationships, leadership, and shared capacity needed to continue acting together.
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June 23, 2026
The Season culminates—and the work continues.
Following Corpus Christi, Catholics from across the country gathered on June 23 to mark the culmination of the Season of Faithful Witness, reflect on what had emerged, and discern what the moment continued to require. The Season had strengthened relationships, formed new leaders and local teams, and demonstrated what becomes possible when Catholics respond in communion. It also made clear that the pastoral emergencies facing our communities would not end with a single campaign or liturgical season. The Season of Faithful Witness became a foundation for the continuing work of Catholics in Communion: forming faithful leaders, strengthening local communities, and coordinating collective action rooted in Catholic Social Teaching.
The Season culminated. The work continues.
Explore the Season of Faithful Witness
From Ash Wednesday through Corpus Christi 2026, Catholics across the country came together for prayer, formation, accompaniment, and peaceful public witness rooted in Catholic Social Teaching.
Explore the gatherings, resources, stories, and local witnesses that brought the Season to life—and continue to shape the work of Catholics in Communion today.
Statement of Commitments
Catholics in Communion is a collaboration of Catholic social ministry organizations, religious orders, academic leaders, parish and diocesan partners and other Catholic organizations that promote Catholic social teaching and uphold the sacred dignity of all God’s children. We share the purpose of strengthening the Church’s public witness by accompanying pastoral leaders and communities as they discern how to live out the Gospel in public life.
As a coalition of Catholic organizations, the Steering Committee of Catholics in Communion affirms the following commitments.
The work of Catholics in Communion is always consistent with the teaching of the Catholic Church.
Our work is grounded in Scripture and focuses on Catholic social teaching, promoting the values and principles of Catholic social teaching and addressing policy issues that represent violations of Catholic social teaching, as we seek to advance the cause of human dignity and care for our common home, and enter into deeper communion with Jesus and our neighbor.
Catholics in Communion is nonpartisan. We do not support or promote candidates or political parties. We do address public policy issues that violate Catholic social teaching.
On occasion, when working on a particular issue or topic, we may collaborate with another organization that does not adhere to all of the teaching of the Catholic Church but that agrees with the Church on the issue or topic on which we collaborate. This could include groups from other faith traditions, community or labor organizations, and others. The activities of Catholics in Communion will always be consistent with the teaching of the Catholic Church.
Catholics in Communion seeks to cultivate works of mercy, deepen spiritual and leadership formation, and foster prayerful expressions of witness that uphold the dignity of every human person.
Rooted in Catholic Social Teaching
Catholic Social Teaching begins with a simple and uncompromising truth:
every human life is sacred.
From conception to natural death - from womb to tomb - each person is created in the image and likeness of God. The Church’s defense of life is neither selective nor partisan. It reflects a consistent ethic of life that rejects violence, abandonment, and any expression of a throwaway culture.
This conviction flows from the Eucharist, which is the source and summit of the Catholic faith (CCC 1324).
In the Eucharist, we receive the Body of Christ and are sent forth to recognize that same Body in the vulnerable, the unborn, the poor, the stranger, the elderly, and the imprisoned. Communion with Christ commits us to communion with one another. We cannot worship the Lord at the altar and ignore Him in those who suffer.
“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.” (Psalm 34:18)
“Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:40)
Catholic Social Teaching is the Church’s effort to live these truths not only in personal charity, but in the social and economic realities that shape human life.
It is not a political ideology.
It is the Gospel applied to public life.
Participating Organizations
