Today the future of Catholic identity in the US and UK depends more than ever on leadership and example from an active and committed laity. This is not simply a result of declining numbers of those in religious life, or scandals. It is because the most dynamic agents of social progress today emanate from civilian leadership in philanthropy, business, politics, law and justice, technology, media, government, entertainment and sport.
By identifying the 250 most influential Catholic lay figures across America today, we hope to stimulate a reinvigorated spiritual dimension in an increasingly secular society. To assist in this process of renewal, the Herald is launching the Catholic Herald Institute, a dynamic new Mid-Atlantic think-tank, based in NYC and London, initiative devoted to defending and promoting Catholic values and identity in public life – especially the family. We have set an annual budget of $300,000 and are seeking anchor donors to support our Herald Institute fellowship programme of writers around the world. The Herald has 134 years of intellectual history behind it and few non-profits have our influence in the public piazza.
The division in the Church is now increasingly a battle for the very soul and future of the Catholic faith. The Church is facing its largest crisis since the Second Vatican Council. This, however, has created the Catholic media’s greatest opportunity for digital engagement. Our vision is to use the Institute to complement our magazine so that we become thought leaders in the trenches of today’s cultural, political and religious debate. Having such an influential magazine – read from the Vatican to Capitol Hill – as a multimedia platform for our views makes us unique.
We aim to reverse the negative statistics (13 per cent of Americans now say they are “ex-Catholic”), messaging and indifference through positive thought-leadership that promotes our spiritual and intellectual mission based on the three pillars of the faith: family, human dignity and human life. The family is the most important bulwark against the state. We also uphold the Western tradition of culture and faith and support the idea of a morally rooted culture and society that believes in freedom of responsibility and democratic government.
This secular crisis of belief lies in the culture of the Church itself – a culture of lost belief. Priests across America worry as little as 50 per cent of their congregations have returned to parish worship after the pandemic. This is partly because Catholic institutions and many priests are not interested in having this public debate or fighting intellectually to preserve Catholic values.
Hence why we are taking the challenge on. I have the honour of being asked to lead its American branch as US senior director and trustee. Over a decade ago I conceived and founded the Portsmouth Institute (portsmouthinstitute.org) at Portsmouth Abbey School in Rhode Island, which has flourished on a regional level, and I remain its emeritus director.
I founded the Portsmouth Institute to strengthen the Catholic identity of Portsmouth Abbey School at a time when our monastery was aging and diminishing, and the lay faculty was becoming more secular. We held conferences celebrating the beatification of Cardinal Newman, and debated the intriguing question of Shakespeare’s Catholic religious identity, the complementary nature of science and religion, and Catholicism as an integral component of the American Experience.
Along the way we staged plays in churches, hosted concerts and sponsored research studies abroad. At the Herald Institute, we will programme similar events on a larger scale, including patrons’ pilgrimages – such as the Herald’s memorable Santiago de Compostela walking pilgrimage – and produce podcasts, documentaries and host lectures and speaker dinners. We have already hosted several events in New York, including a debate on the crisis of the Church today between Rusty Reno, editor of First Things, and Herald contributor Father Gerald Murray, and a VIP dinner following the world premiere of the documentary Francis in Iraq at New York’s Sheen Center for Thought & Culture.
We will be inviting business leaders and philanthropists to support us as we speak out on the most consequential issues of our time and safeguard Catholic values for generations to come, just as we have since 1888. Our vision is to use the Herald’s record of outstanding Catholic thinking – with writers including GK Chesterton, JRR Tolkien, Evelyn Waugh and Graham Greene – as the foundation for society-changing intellectual leadership. We will take advantage of all of today’s global digital engagement and multimedia opportunities to lead the Catholic conversation. We hope our readers and America’s Catholic leaders will support us in our battle and journey ahead.
Jamie MacGuire is the Senior Director of the Catholic Herald Institute
To support the Herald Institute, or for more information on joining our Herald Institute fellowship programme, please contact [email protected] (UK) and [email protected] (US)
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