1. Establishment, Nature, and Mission of
Militia Caritatis,
an International Lay Public Association of the Faithful
Dedicated to the Reformation of Organized International
Catholic Charity
Responding to the call in Pope Benedict XVI’s inaugural encyclical, Deus
Caritas Est, for the restoration and purification of organized Catholic
charity;
And heeding the instruction of Pope St. Pius X in his encyclical Notre
Charge Apostolique that the laity engage in social action that is
authentically, distinctively, and traditionally Catholic:
An initiative is being taken to establish an international lay public
association of the faithful whose mission is to foster authentically and
integrally Catholic actions of organized charity around the world.
As the encyclicals which inspire it exhort, the association will be fully “united with
the Church and the bishops” in its dedication to supporting evangelistically
charitable projects which are fearlessly and militantly faithful to the perennial
Magisterium of the Church (“militantly,” as in the association’s name, Militia
Caritatis)∗, in particular to Church teachings on what the Holy Father has called
the “decisive issue” of life and family.
Following are the fundamental, defining and distinguishing characteristics of this
lay association:
• voluntary, using only private, freely-given donations;
• absolutely non-governmental, rejecting on Catholic principle any and all
financial or material contributions from any State;
• subject to and encouraging of the legitimate supervisory and disciplinary
authority of the bishop in whose territory it operates, but linked to no group
or conference of bishops;
• meaningfully evangelistic;
• peopled by orthodox Catholics;
• run by lay faithful;
• scrupulously honest, non-exploitative, and anti-sentimentalistic in its
fundraising and advertising.
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2. The association plans to pursue its reforming mission by the following means:
• Financial support to the local charitable efforts of Church institutions (e.g.,
religious congregations, parishes, dioceses, Catholic lay associations).
Assistance will be focused on resource-poor areas of the world. Fully and
authentically Catholic schools (of all types) and orphan-support projects
will likely receive priority.
• Personal, “human-resource” support provided to local-Church schools and
other charitable efforts: The association will offer charitable-service
opportunities overseas to orthodox/traditional Catholics, identifying and
partially funding appropriate teaching, administrative, or technical-support
positions with local Catholic schools and charities, and providing
placement and in-service support.
• Traditional liturgy support: As part of its evangelistic and charitable
mission and in support of the implementation of Pope Benedict XVI’s motu
proprio Summorum Pontificum, the association will work where
appropriate to make more widely available the classical form of the
Roman Rite in areas of the world where the lack of financial resources and
trained priests and laymen make that implementation a practical difficulty
for the local Church.
• Efforts of education and persuasion within the Church aimed at the
general reformation and purification of organized Catholic charity.
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3. 
“‘Knights’ or ‘Soldiers’ of Charity” would be one possible English translation of this Latin name;
“‘Combat/Struggle’ of Charity” would be another, as in the phrase: “Vita cristiana militia est.” The name is a
recognition (a) that especially in the contemporary world where the Church’s stands on the “decisive issues” of
life (marriage and family, the generation of human life, abortion) are mocked, hated, or ignored, even by
nominally Catholic organizations and individuals supposedly within the Church, any integrally and
evangelistically Catholic charitable organization will be a “sign of contradiction” to that world and can expect to
encounter “militant” hostility, both internal and external, and (b) that the organization’s members, its “militia,” are
duty bound to engage in the inevitably resulting “combat/‘militia’” with and in Christian charity (“caritatis”).