A Catholic lay association, also referred to as Catholic Congress, is an

association Association may refer to: *Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal *Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry *Voluntary associatio ...

of lay Catholics aiming to discuss certain political or social issues from a Catholic perspective. The

Pontifical Council for the Laity The Pontifical Council for the Laity was a pontifical council of the Roman Catholic Curia from 1967 to 2016. It had the responsibility of assisting the Pope in his dealings with the laity in lay ecclesial movements or individually, and their ...

is the body responsible for approving those Catholic associations that exist at an international level. The structure of some Religious Orders allow for Lay branches to be associated with them. These are often referred to as

Third Orders The term third order signifies, in general, lay members of Christian religious orders, who do not necessarily live in a religious community such as a monastery or a nunnery, and yet can claim to wear the religious habit and participate in the go ...

. Some of the best known Catholic Lay Associations are

Knights of Columbus The Knights of Columbus (K of C) is a global Catholic Church, Catholic Fraternal and service organizations, fraternal service order founded by Michael J. McGivney, Blessed Michael J. McGivney. Membership is limited to practicing Catholic men. ...

Knights of Columba The Knights of St Columba is a fraternal service order affiliated with the Catholic Church in Scotland, in England and Wales, and, through their Province of Liverpool, in the Isle of Man. Founded in Glasgow in 1919, the Knights are named in h ...

Catenians The Catenian Association is a Roman Catholic lay society with around 8,000 members (known as "brothers") in a number of English-speaking countries. Catenian men and their families meet socially to help develop their faith and build lasting friend ...

Knights of Malta The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta, and commonly known as the Order of Malta or the Knights of Malta, is a Catholic Church, Cathol ...

, the

Piusverein The Piusverein (Pius Association) was a Roman Catholic society, founded in 1848 in Germany, and named for Pope Pius IX. Its political direction was conservative and ultramontanist, and its purpose was to form a bridge between Catholics and the polit ...

in Germany and Switzerland,

Azione Cattolica The Azione Cattolica Italiana, or Azione Cattolica (English: Catholic Action) for short, is a widespread Roman Catholic lay association in Italy. Members believe that priests have an ethical and religious duty to support the rights of the oppress ...

in Italy and the UK-based

Catholic Truth Society Catholic Truth Society (CTS) is a body that prints and publishes Catholic literature, including apologetics, prayerbooks, spiritual reading, and lives of saints. It is based in London, United Kingdom. The CTS had been founded in 1868 by Cardi ...

. There are also lay Catholic

guilds A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular territory. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradespeople belonging to a professional association. They so ...

and associations representing a whole range of professions. These include the

Catholic Police Guild The Catholic Police Guild (CPG) of England & Wales was founded in 1914 as the Metropolitan and City Catholic Police Guild. This was an association for Catholic Police men and women, and approved by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Westminste ...

, Holy Name Society (

NYPD The City of New York Police Department, also referred to as New York City Police Department (NYPD), is the primary law enforcement agency within New York City. Established on May 23, 1845, the NYPD is the largest, and one of the oldest, munic ...

), the Association of Catholic Nurses, the Guild of Catholic Doctors, the Catholic Physicians Guild, the

Catholic Association of Performing Arts (UK) The British Catholic Stage Guild, the main organisation for Catholics in British entertainment, was founded in 1911. It was founded by former Anglican priest Mgr Robert Hugh Benson. The aim of the Guild, as laid out in the 1931 Year Book, was "t ...

, and the Catholic Actors Guild of America.

List of Catholic lay organisations

This is a list of organisations covering

Catholic laity Catholic laity are the ordinary members of the Catholic Church who are neither clergy nor recipients of Holy Orders (Catholic Church), Holy Orders or vowed to life in a Catholic religious order, religious order or Religious congregation, congreg ...

. It aims to list ecclesial movements of unspecified standing. For international Catholic movements that have received official approval by the Catholic Church, see

Directory of International Associations of the Faithful The Directory of International Associations of the Faithful, initially published in 2006 by the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, lists the international associations of the faithful in the Catholic Church The Catholic Church ( ...

. *

Apostolate for Family Consecration The Apostolate for Family Consecration is a U.S. Roman Catholic lay movement headquartered in Bloomingdale, Ohio, founded in 1975 by Jerry and Gwen Coniker. History In 1971, Jerry Coniker (1938–2018) sold his business and with his wife Gwen (1 ...

, founded in the US in 1975 by Jerry and Gwen Conker *

Movimento Apostolico ''Movimento'' (English: "Movement") is the sixth studio album by Portuguese group Madredeus. It was released on 9 April 2001 by EMI-Valentim de Carvalho. Recording ''Movimento'' was recorded in January and February 2000 at the Wisseloord Studio ...

, a lay organization founded in

Catanzaro Catanzaro (; or ; ), also known as the "City of the two Seas" (), is an Italian city of 86,183 inhabitants (2020), the capital of the Calabria region and of its province and the second most populated comune of the region, behind Reggio Calabr ...

, Italy, on 3 November 1979 by Maria Marino Marraffa. Archbishop

Antonio Cantisani Antonio Cantisani (2 November 1926 – 1 July 2021) was an Catholic Church in Italy, Italian Catholic prelate who served as Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Catanzaro-Squillace, Archbishop of Catanzaro from 1980 to 2003. He was previously Roman Cat ...

and the Calabrian Bishops Conference have approved it statutes. Now it is suppressed. * Catholic Charismatic Renewal, with around 70 million Roman Catholics worldwide active in the movement, founded in the US in 1967 among college students. *

Catholic Worker Movement The Catholic Worker Movement is a collection of autonomous communities founded by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin in the United States in 1933. Its aim is to "live in accordance with the justice and charity of Jesus Christ". One of its guiding prin ...

: Founded in the US in 1933 by

Dorothy Day Dorothy Day, Oblate#Secular oblates, OblSB (November 8, 1897 – November 29, 1980) was an American journalist, social activist and Anarchism, anarchist who, after a bohemianism, bohemian youth, became a Catholic Church, Catholic without aba ...

and

Peter Maurin Peter Maurin (; May 9, 1877 – May 15, 1949) was a French Catholic social activist, theologian, and De La Salle Brother who founded the Catholic Worker Movement in 1933 with Dorothy Day. Maurin expressed his philosophy through short pieces o ...

, this movement works for peace and the equal distribution of goods. *

Madonna House Apostolate The Madonna House Apostolate is a Catholic Christian community of laypeople and priests, all of whom take lifelong promises of poverty, chastity, and obedience and who are dedicated to loving and serving Jesus Christ in all areas of life. Madonna ...

, founded in Canada in 1947 by

Catherine Doherty Catherine de Hueck Doherty (née Ekaterina Fyodorovna Kolyschkina; August 15, 1896 – December 14, 1985) was a Russian-born Catholic activist who founded the Madonna House Apostolate in 1947. She was a pioneer in the struggle for interracial ju ...

as a community of priests and laypersons has established missionary field houses worldwide. *

National Black Catholic Congress The National Black Catholic Congress (NBCC) is a Black Catholic advocacy group and quinquennial conference in the United States. It is a spiritual successor to Daniel Rudd's Colored Catholic Congress movement of the late 19th and early 20th cen ...

, founded in the United States in 1987 as a successor to the

Colored Catholic Congress The Colored Catholic Congress movement was a series of meetings organized by Daniel Rudd in the late 19th and early 20th centuries for African-American Catholics to discuss issues affecting their communities, churches, and other institutions. Pa ...

founded a century earlier by

Daniel Rudd Daniel Arthur Rudd (August 7, 1854December 3, 1933) was a Black Catholic journalist and early Civil Rights leader. He is known for starting in 1885 what has been called "the first newspaper printed by and for Black Americans", the '' Ohio Tribun ...

. * World Movement of Christian Workers (WMCW), an international association similar to the Catholic Worker Movement, recognized by the Catholic Church.

Union of Prayer

Union of Prayer was a previous term for some

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

lay ecclesial movements.Brown, C.F. Wemyss. "Unions of Prayer." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 30 Dec. 2014
/ref> They tended to be

archconfraternities An archconfraternity () is a Catholic confraternity, empowered to aggregate or affiliate other confraternities of the same nature, and to impart to them its benefits and privileges. History In 1569, Charles Borromeo started archconfraternities i ...

aiming at the conversion of various groups to Catholicism. Some of these included: * ''Association of Prayer and Penitence in honour of the Heart of Jesus'' - offering reparation for outrages against the Catholic Church and the pope *

Archconfraternity An archconfraternity () is a Catholic confraternity, empowered to aggregate or affiliate other confraternities of the same nature, and to impart to them its benefits and privileges. History In 1569, Charles Borromeo started archconfraternities i ...

of Our Lady of Compassion for the Return of England to the Catholic Faith *

Pious Union Pious may refer to: * Farshad Pious (born 1962), Iranian retired footballer * Minerva Pious (1903–1979), American actress * Robert Pious (1908–1983), American painter and illustrator * Pious (novel), ''Pious'' (novel), a 2010 novel by Kenn Biv ...

of Prayer to

Our Lady of Compassion Our or OUR may refer to: * The possessive form of " we" Places * Our (river), in Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany * Our, Belgium, a village in Belgium * Our, Jura, a commune in France Other uses * Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR), a governm ...

for the Conversion of Heretics *

of Prayers and Good Works for the Reunion of the

Eastern Eastern or Easterns may refer to: Transportation Airlines *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 192 ...

Schism A schism ( , , or, less commonly, ) is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization, movement, or religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a split in what had previously been a single religious body, suc ...

atics with the Church under the patronage of

Our Lady of the Assumption The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it on 1 November 1950 in his apostolic constitution as follows: It leaves open the question of whether Mary died or whether she was ra ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roman Catholic lay ecclesial movement Catholic Church-related lists Types of Roman Catholic organization

List of Catholic lay organisations

Union of Prayer

See also

References