A Christmas letter from your friends at Catholic Conscience
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being with him was life, and the life was the light of all people… And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.
JOHN 1: 1-4, 14
MERRY CHRISTMAS
FROM YOUR FRIENDS
Dear friends of Catholic Conscience, near and far,
Aware of our sins, we often wonder why we have been so graced to serve in this apostolate. In that inadequacy, we take solace in Christ’s words to St. Paul. “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
Grace surprises us. It captivates us through our rawest wounds. It floods us with purpose and life. It awakens our senses to the glory of God’s presence now, here, in this, and every moment. It marks us as his own. It bathes this creation he entered, flesh and blood, as a newborn in Bethlehem, destined to transfigure mankind.
This grace lives on in our Church and in the People of God. For us, this grace lives on in each of you. For the graces of this apostolate are in your gifts and in your friendship. They help us bring Catholic social teaching to a world in desperate need of it.
We felt grace in watching almost twenty Catholic leaders in civic and political life come together in early 2020 to plunge into the depths of Catholic social teaching and recommit their vocations to God and neighbour. We felt grace in listening to brilliant Catholic experts share their insights with others eager to explore their faith’s wisdom for the challenges of modern times, in webinars covering topics as diverse as voting, dialogue, money, throwaway culture, and our ongoing Beauty of Creation series on science and Catholicism.
We felt grace in the 2021 Canadian federal election—watching so many dioceses and parishes share our resources; bringing together Catholic representatives from the three major parties to answer Catholic questions about their visions for Canada; presenting to and dialoguing with Catholics in events from coast to coast about voting, Catholic social teaching; and more. We felt grace in the growing readership of the Catholic Commons, and your generous emails sharing your thoughts, ideas, and prayers with us. We felt grace in exploring Fratelli tutti and its intense relevance for our lives as Christian disciples in public life today, alongside dozens of parishioners and guests with Toronto’s St. Basil’s Parish.
On and on this year, we felt grace through you. Whether you volunteer with Catholic Conscience, are an avid follower or webinar participant, have read one of our election guides. Whatever the case, we felt the grace of your presence.
We also felt grace in the suffering. The pandemic has been hard on us, and hard on you. We have lost loved ones or walked with loved ones suffering. In this pain, there is the grace of Christ’s prayer for us all, “that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” (John 17:23)
In everything that united us in 2021—joys, dreams, losses, pains—the oneness in sharing the Good News with you and in collaboration with you has been a true grace. Thank you.
A great saint once wrote that the children of God should always be sowers of peace and joy. Our mission is to share that peace and joy through Catholic social teaching, in a polarized world of ideologies, idolatries; hungry for a Christian humanism that will grace our public life. But for all Christians, we look to one place for these graces. This Christmas, we wait in anticipation for the source of our peace and our joy—Emmanuelle, God with us—and in turn, drawing from that source, we go out to share that peace and that joy with others, so the whole world might learn who he is and how his love saves us.
In that blessed spirit—and with our prayers for your flourishing in this season and always—we wish you, dear friends, a very merry Christmas. God bless you and all you do in our Lord’s service. May 2022 bring you grace, and truth, and Christ in every moment of your days.
Your friends in Christ,
Matthew Marquardt
President & Founder, Catholic Conscience
Brendan Steven
Executive Director, Catholic Conscience
P.S. To share with you in brief our impact together in 2021, please read below A Year for Civic Evangelization, a short overview of our apostolic activities these past twelve months.
