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The Catherine of Siena Institute (CSI) was founded as an affiliated ministry of the Western Dominican Province dedicated to equipping parishes for the evangelization and formation of lay Catholics for the sake of their mission to the world. It is now an independent apostolate, based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. We work in fidelity with the Church and are in good standing with the Diocese of Colorado Springs. We are listed in the Official Catholic Directory under the Diocese of Colorado Springs.
The Institute provides innovative resources and programming that are faithful to the teaching of the Church and will enable parishes to become lively and dynamic centers of evangelization and formation. Since our founding in 1997, we have worked with over 100,000 lay, religious, and ordained Catholics in hundreds of parishes in over 150 (arch)dioceses on 5 continents.
The Church clearly teaches that all of the baptized are called by Christ to proclaim his Gospel in the world. Although the Church teaches that "Formation is not the privilege of a few, but a right and duty of all." (Christifideles Laici, 63) parishes rarely attempt or are equipped to provide a formation that prepares Catholics for so great a mission. We seek to bridge the gap between the Church’s vision for the laity and the reality of the current evangelization and formation practices and structures in our parishes, which are the only contact that 98% of Catholics have with the Church, and where the typical reality is that there is little awareness of the mission of the Church, lay responsibility for the proclamation of the Gospel, and the necessity of lay formation for effective participation in evangelization.