Wanted: professionals ‘on fire for the faith’

A fellowship program launching this fall seeks to empower Catholic lay professionals to live their faith in their careers. 

The Lumen Gentium Forum is looking for young Catholic professionals to grow as leaders for the Church and society through deep spiritual and intellectual formation in Catholic social teachings. The goal is a society flush with professionals using their God-given talents for the betterment of their respective fields. 

“I believe lay people have a particular vocation in the Church in terms of ordering the temporal world and ordinary society according to the Gospel and bringing those Gospel values into society,” said program coordinator Brendan Steven. “We are really trying to nurture a new generation of Catholic civic leaders who will take on those kinds of leadership roles not only in Church spaces but also to follow the call to go out into the world and influence culture and society as a whole.” 

The program from Canada Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice (CAPP) in collaboration with the Archdiocese of Toronto’s Office of Formation for Discipleship was initially thought up two years ago on the heels of the St. Monica Institute launch. Cecil Chabot of Lumen Gentium Forum's leadership group suggested a fellowship project similar to the Leonine Forum in the United States.

The program is looking for working Catholic professionals, 25-40 years old, who are emerging leaders in their fields. Candidates are ideally committed to practising and growing in their Catholic faith with a deep desire to live out their personal mission. Those selected will take part in monthly meetings with small group discussions and a lecture from theologians, business leaders or even a person seriously thinking about Catholic social teaching and applying it in their professional life.

“We are going to be intently looking at what Catholic social teaching has to say about the big pressing issues facing society and hopefully inspiring fellows to go out and make their mark in their various civic engagements,” Steven said. “We don’t just want fellows to read and become familiar with the tradition, but also asking the questions of what is the relevance of these principles for my professional career in my professional vocation in the industry that I work in.”  While the Lumen Gentium Forum is appreciative and supportive of the work that priests are doing for evangelization, Steven says the real benefit of the program comes from being able to access the places that priests cannot always reach. 

“Priests cannot go into the boardroom of a bank in downtown Toronto, they’re not going to be a defence attorney in a courtroom, so in order to re-evangelize society and bring the Gospel to our neighbours, we need lay people who are on fire for the faith,” he said. 

That sentiment is shared by Stephen Lazarus, program director for Cardus NextGEN, a similar fellowship program. Lazarus said it is never a bad thing to have more faithfully active and informed young professionals. 

“We are hoping (these programs) expose and remind people of the splendour of God’s truth and the fact that it is for the every day. In the 20-40 age group, I think there is a real hunger for this,” said Lazarus.

Applications close June 15. See lumenforum.ca/.