A Catholic lay association, also referred to as Catholic Congress, is an
association 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.
Some of the best known Catholic Lay Associations are
Knights of Columbus,
Knights of Columba,
Catenians,
Knights of Malta, 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 in Italy and the UK-based
Catholic Truth Society.
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, Holy Name Society (
NYPD), the
Association of Catholic Nurses, the Guild of Catholic Doctors, the Catholic Physicians Guild, the
Catholic Association of Performing Arts (UK), 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.
*
Apostolate for Family Consecration, founded in the US in 1975 by Jerry and Gwen Conker
*
Movimento Apostolico, a lay organization founded in
Catanzaro, Italy, on 3 November 1979 by
Maria Marino Marraffa. Archbishop
Antonio Cantisani 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: Founded in the US in 1933 by
Dorothy Day and
Peter Maurin, this movement works for peace and the equal distribution of goods.
*
Madonna House Apostolate, founded in Canada in 1947 by
Catherine Doherty as a community of priests and laypersons has established missionary field houses worldwide.
*
National Black Catholic Congress, founded in the United States in 1987 as a successor to the
Colored Catholic Congress founded a century earlier by
Daniel Rudd.
*
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 aiming at the conversion of various groups to Catholicism.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 for the Conversion of Heretics
* Archconfraternity of Prayers and Good Works for the Reunion of the Eastern 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
See also
* 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 ...
* Catholic charities
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roman Catholic lay ecclesial movement
Catholic Church-related lists
Types of Roman Catholic organization