Thank You for your interest in being part of our annual conference.

In preparation for the conference, the Saint Monica Institute invites you to share brief proposals for practical ways in which to strengthen the voice of the Church as a gentle and persuasive moral leader in society.  We are looking for a wide range of proposals, with the ultimate goal of engaging as many Catholics as possible in joyful, influential witness in all the ways that are natural and appropriate to them.

For example, proposals can relate to direct action, to the offering of formational courses and workshops to equip and encourage others for direct action, and/or to ways to improve coordination between and support for Catholic activists and thinkers.  They can be directed to those immersed in any or all walks of life, voters, guilds, schools and other civil social groupings.  In particular, respondents are invited to consider ways in which initiatives might be implemented:

• By individuals – at home, at work, or in public
• By or within families
• By or within parishes and dioceses
• By or within parochial, public, and private education systems
• By voters, professionals, and others active in the public square

Submissions may be as short as one to three pages.  Longer proposals are of course welcome, but we do not require extensive theoretical analyses, footnoted annotations, etc.:  this is meant primarily as a practical end, though with solid doctrinal, theological, and rational foundations.

Several examples of issues to be addressed are offered below.

Timelines and guidelines:  In order to be considered for presentation and discussion during the conference, proposals must be received no later than September 15, 2023.   Individuals may submit as many proposals as they wish.  All submissions will be reviewed by the Saint Monica Institute. At the sole discretion of the Institute, submissions may be selected for presentation at our annual conference and/or for electronic or print publication by the Institute at any time in the future.

Submissions can be as long as necessary in order to clearly communicate any perceived problem and a proposed solution.  However, papers in the range of 1 to 3 pages are preferred.

Instructions for submitting proposals are provided at bottom.

Examples:
How can the church meet its moral obligations in fostering a culture of life and dignity?
The following are examples – and examples only – of topics that might be addressed.  The goal of this list is to spur create thought, not to limit the scope of submissions.

• Good governance and the solution of complex social issues
  Too often our political leaders offer us not equitable and durable solutions to the deeper issues we face, but easy and superficially-attractive sound bites designed to carry them victoriously through the next election.  Examples include the economy and wages sufficient to support dignified lives for families; trends toward consumerism and radical individualism; alarming environmental woes; public health, and many others.

  How can we, as a Church, help society address complex and long-term issues?

• Sanctity of life
  We Catholics believe that we are all lost children of God, intended in this life by our Creator to find our way home to him.  It is by seeking this way, by responding with all our strength and all the time that is allotted to us to the call of God and growing closer to God, that we build upon the dignity imbued in us by God – our worth in the eyes of our Creator.  The doing of any thing that interferes with an individual’s life, with his or her ability to apply themselves to this task at any point between conception and natural death, is contrary to the stated word of God:  thou shall not kill.

• How can we encourage an end to abortion, or at least the imposition of limitations while we continue pray for a comprehensive solustion? A hospital in Quebec, for example, is reported to have recently euthanized and then aborted a child at 38 weeks.
• What sorts of alternatives can be offered for troubled mothers and/or unwanted children?
• What can we do, as individuals, families, parishes, dioceses, and other organizations, to restrict or preferably abolish the practice of Socially-Assisted Death (SAD)? What alternatives can we offer?  For example, how can we promote loving palliative care? For exalated issue is conscience rights for medical practitioners.

• Health Care
  It is widely reported that anxiety levels are rapidly increasing among adults, teens, and even school children.

• What are the causes of this anxiety?
• How can we, as individuals and as a chrch, help to reduce anxiety, and control the causes of it?

• Dignity of work
  The Church has long been clear on the importance of work not only for self-sustenance, but as a proper channeling of the creativity imparted to us by our Creator.  Yet through automation and slavish attention to strict business/economic efficiency and profit, society has severely reduced the availability of and rewards associated with meaningful, dignified work.

• How can we address this, so that everyone is able to find work that enables them to make full use of the gifts entrusted to them?
• As our society has rightfully afforded equality of opportunity to the marginalized – including particularly women – and increased market competition, have we created new threats to families and the growth and education of children? Have we, for example, created a risk of requiring both parents to work in order to provide a dignified home for families?  If so, how can that be addressed?

• Families & Education
  Since at least the start of the industrial revolution society has tended to undermine the rights and importance of families:  from working parents to mandatory education curricula and attendance, to geographic effects of working patterns, our families are being wedged further apart.

• Several political parties are currently proposing nationally-subsidized daycare. Among those are some whose sole stated justification is the need for both parents to work, so that National GDP can be maximized.  Is growth in GDP so important that families should be driven ever further apart, and ever further into the arms of the government?  Should we be considering other alternatives?

• Environment and sustainability
  Most if not all political parties have acknowledged the importance of meeting climate change obligations under various international accords (Kyoto, UN 2030 plan, etc.)  Yet no jurisdiction in North America is currently meeting any of the obligations they have accepted.  What can or should individuals, families, parishes, dioceses, and other organizations be doing to encourage our society to meet critical goals?

  – Several political parties are currently proposing nationally-subsidized daycare.  Among those are some whose sole stated justification is the need for both parents to work, so that National GDP can be maximized.  Is growth in GDP so important that families should be driven ever further apart, and ever further into the arms of the government?  Should we be considering other alternatives?