Business Leaders Consecrated to Sacred Heart in New Diocese of Bridgeport Guild on All Saints Day
Business owners and executives stepped forward at St. Augustine Cathedral to consecrate their companies and themselves to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, marking the official launch of a new diocesan guild. Led by Bishop Frank J. Caggiano, the All Saints Day liturgy brought together some 30 business leaders to establish the Sts. Louis & Zelie Martin Guild for Business Owners & Leaders, an initiative designed to help professionals integrate Catholic values into secular workplaces.
During his homily, Bishop Caggiano drew a parallel between the ordinary lives of saints and the daily realities faced by modern professionals. He recalled his own encounter with St. John Paul II, describing an overwhelming sense of peace while standing before someone who looked through him rather than merely at him. This process of holiness, the bishop told the congregation, happens in the rough and tumble of daily life across offices, factories, farms, and classrooms.
The Mission Behind the Sts. Louis & Zelie Martin Guild
Luigi Manente, Director of Diocesan Guilds, pointed to the modern pressure placed on Catholic professionals to compartmentalize their faith away from their professional responsibilities. The newly formed guild aims to counteract that divide. The initiative operates in partnership with His Way At Work, an international apostolate that helps companies place spiritual principles at the core of their operations.
Today was a beautiful day for the diocese as we launched the new Sts. Louis & Zelie Martin Guild for Business Owners & Leaders with His Way At Work. In a world that is pummeling Catholic professionals and leaders to compartmentalize and separate their lives of faith from their secular professional lives, this community will support our business owners and leaders in such a way that they will be able to live their professional lives and run their businesses imbued and driven by their faith. — Luigi Manente, Director of Diocesan Guilds
Participating business owners receive free access to formation materials and a guidebook funded by the diocese. Members commit to monthly formation meetings held at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Fairfield, supported by a shared framework that encourages ethical treatment of employees, customers, and the broader community.
Putting Faith First in Daily Operations
Among those taking part in the consecration was Kathleen Conroy Cass, owner of St. Anthony’s Book & Gift Shop in Orange, who noted that placing God first brings order to professional endeavors. Deacon Patrick Toole, Chancellor & Secretary of the Curia, emphasized that the consecration serves as a public declaration that owners are not shelving their beliefs when they walk through their office doors.
The guild remains open to businesses of all sizes, ranging from solopreneurs to companies with more than 300 employees, including restaurants, family businesses, trade services, and professional practices. By adopting this Catholic framework, leaders pledge to ensure that mercy and compassion dictate workplace decisions rather than a pure pursuit of profit at all costs.
