The Curriculum
Twelve modules, four issues each, one a week. A year of formation in the Church’s social doctrine, taken in the order the Church itself builds it. Every issue works from the primary documents and cites them by paragraph number.
Four weeks a year are held back for Advent, Lent, Holy Week, and whatever the world does that cannot wait.
Module One · Free to everyone
Human Dignity in the Age of the Machine
The first module runs free. It works through Pope Leo XIV’s Magnifica Humanitas, the first major papal document on artificial intelligence, and asks what the Church actually holds about the human person when machines can imitate so much of what we do. If you want the document itself first, the plain-English guide to the encyclical is free and needs no account. Everything on this principle so far.
Issue 1 · 27 August 2026 · Human dignity is not conferred by usefulness
The case: hiring systems that screen résumés before a person sees them. Sources: Magnifica Humanitas 51-58 and 112-124; Catechism 1700-1706.
Issue 2 · 3 September 2026 · A machine cannot bear moral responsibility
The case: autonomous weapons and the question of who answers for a killing. Sources: Magnifica Humanitas 96-111 and 198; Gaudium et Spes 17.
Issue 3 · 10 September 2026 · Work is participation, not merely output
The case: automation reaching work that people thought was safe from it. Sources: Magnifica Humanitas 37 and 148-167; Laborem Exercens 6.
Issue 4 · 17 September 2026 · Who owns the common inheritance of data
The case: training data, consent, and what a society produces together. Sources: Magnifica Humanitas 65-71 and 109-111; Centesimus Annus 31-32.
Modules two to twelve · For members
The Rest of the Year
2. Work and the Worker
Begins 24 September 2026. Rerum Novarum and Laborem Exercens. Wages, unions, rest, and what an employer owes. Everything on this principle so far.
3. The Common Good
Mater et Magistra, Gaudium et Spes 26, Compendium 164-170. Why it is more than the sum of what individuals want. Everything on this principle so far.
4. Subsidiarity
Quadragesimo Anno 79-80, Compendium 185-188. Decisions belong at the lowest level competent to make them. Everything on this principle so far.
5. Solidarity
Sollicitudo Rei Socialis 38-40 and Fratelli Tutti. Without subsidiarity it becomes dependency. Without solidarity, subsidiarity becomes selfishness. Everything on this principle so far.
6. The Preferential Option for the Poor
Evangelii Gaudium 52-60, Compendium 182-184. What the phrase means, and what it does not mean. Everything on this principle so far.
7. Property and the Universal Destination of Goods
Rerum Novarum and Centesimus Annus 30-43. Private property is legitimate and it is not absolute. Everything on this principle so far.
8. War and Peace
Pacem in Terris, Gaudium et Spes 77-82, Fratelli Tutti 255-262. Just war, and why the Church keeps narrowing it. Everything on this principle so far.
9. Life, from Conception to Natural Death
Evangelium Vitae, Catechism 2258-2330. The whole arc, including the parts each side of American politics prefers to skip. Everything on this principle so far.
10. Family, Community, Participation
Familiaris Consortio and Octogesima Adveniens. The family as the first cell of society, and what follows from that. Everything on this principle so far.
11. Integral Ecology
Laudato Si’ and Laudate Deum. Why the Church treats creation and the poor as one question. Everything on this principle so far.
12. The Political Vocation of the Laity
Christifideles Laici and Faithful Citizenship. What the Church asks of a Catholic in public life, and what it leaves to your judgment. Everything on this principle so far.
After Each Module, a Study Guide
When a module finishes, its four issues are collected into a printable PDF with discussion questions and room to write. Members can use it alone, with a spouse, or with a parish small group. Eleven of these across the year, and by the end you have a shelf of the Church’s social doctrine worked through against real events. Members will find every guide, starting with Module 1, on the study guides page.
Seven days free, then $4.99 a month. Cancel any time.