Catholic Conscience is launching a new annual conference, “Building a Culture of Life & Dignity,” with its inaugural 2026 gathering set to tackle one of the deepest problems in contemporary society: the breakdown of our shared social covenant and the erosion of human dignity from conception to natural death.

“Restoring the Covenant: Catholic Social Teaching as Common Social Ground” will take place May 30 at De La Salle Oaklands College in Toronto.

The gathering is rooted in Catholic social doctrine and inspired by Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum, in which he says, “Since the end of society is to make people better, the chief good that society can possess is virtue,” said Matthew Marquardt, executive director of Catholic Conscience.

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Open to Catholics and all people of good will, the aim is to offer Catholic Social Teaching as a roadmap for renewing public life, he said.

In a world marked by radical individualism, moral relativism and what organizers describe as “a culture indifference to the dignity of life,” the conference proposes CST as a unifying framework for rebuilding the bonds that make us a true covenant people.

“Our social covenant is broken and needs to be restored, said Marquardt, who is also president of Canadian Catholic News. “And the responsibility for doing that is on everyone of us. We belong to one another and each have a role to play in society.”

The conference grew out of months of discussions about the fragile state of Catholic apostolates in Canada and the surprising appetite among young Catholics for serious engagement, he said.

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“If you go to church in Toronto since the pandemic, attendance is up a lot,” Marquardt said. “The difference is a lot of young people who are very ardent. They say they want things to do.”

Organizers say the event is intended to:

• Advance civic conversation on restoring a shared social covenant grounded in common principles and values, as an alternative to the social currents pulling people away from God and one another. 
• Bring together Canadian Catholic social and civic initiatives — along with other groups of goodwill — to increase awareness and promote cooperation among them. 
• Promote volunteer, employment and fundraising opportunities for these initiatives, helping them find the skills and support they need to survive and grow. 

The vision goes beyond theory. In recent years, small Catholic organizations such as Catholic Insight, Catholic Conscience and Canadian Catholic News have struggled with increasingly complex regulatory demands, especially those affecting interactions with agencies such as the Canada Revenue Agency, and the practical burden of running lean operations with minimal staff.

The conference is meant to be a place where those needs are named clearly and where young professionals, potential volunteers and benefactors can begin to match their skills and resources to the Church’s most pressing projects.

The day will combine liturgy and prayer with plenary talks and themed breakout sessions, all framed by CST’s vision of human dignity and the common good.

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Speakers include Saskatoon Bishop Mark Hagemoen, Peter Copeland of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, Tucker Sigourney, a John and Daria Barry Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard, Dr. Moira McQueen, a prominent lawyer and consultant in moral theology who until recently served as executive director of the Canadian Catholic Bioethics Institute, and Kathleen Muggeridge of Young Professional Catholics of Toronto and the Office of Social Action of the Archdiocese of Montreal. 

In an education session, former Catholic Register publisher Peter Stockland will host a discussion examining the influence of news and media in shaping social values.