Decoding Your Working Genius - Christina Rossini

Our latest Catholic Founders Guild Expert Call on June 10, 2026, featured Christina Rossini of Floreat Consulting, who broke down Patrick Lencioni’s Working Genius framework.

She cut through the noise of standard corporate personality tests, showing us how to map our actual energy zones—not just our behavioral styles—to build healthier, more effective teams. More than a productivity tool, Christina reminded us that identifying our areas of genius and frustration helps us honor the dignity of the person and steward the gifts God has entrusted to each of us.

You can find the full recording and transcript here: Recording and Transcript.

One-Liner Takeaway

For those who aren’t paid members yet, here’s the quick one-liner takeaway:

Using the Working Genius framework allows us to practice virtuous leadership, transforming our daily tasks into a way to act as conduits of God’s love and light.

The Working Genius framework fosters virtuous leadership by grounding you in self-knowledge, helping you identify and leverage your unique, God-given talents.

By leaning into these specific strengths, you transform your daily tasks from mere obligations into a purposeful expression of your gifts. This shift allows you to act as a conduit for God’s love and light by serving others through the work you were uniquely designed to perform.

Ready to stop going solo? Join the Catholic Founders Guild to surround yourself with fellow Catholic entrepreneurs building their businesses in Christ. As a paid member, you gain access to the resources and community needed to grow your business.

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The Catholic Founders Guild is an association of Catholic Biz owners who believe that their business is meant to be an extension of God’s will in the world.

If you share this belief, join today!

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News / Updates:

• 🤝 We host a bunch of events. In cities like Nashville (tonight), Washington D.C. (next week), Houston (22nd), Dallas (20th), and Wausau, WI. Check out our events here.

• ⭐ Check out last week’s episode of CF with Juan Dominguez of Ad Aeternum Media

• 🤖 We recently launched a bot to help you learn from ALL the content we’ve produced. Join the Guild today to gain access.

• 💸 Want to invest in other Catholic projects/companies/ventures? Subscribe (for free) to the Faithful Steward newsletter.

In Today’s Issue:

• Guest: John Cannon - Topic: When to Close a Chapter

• Core Takeaway: Take the Next Step

• Episode References

• Select Quotes

• Key Moments

First time here? Learn more about our mission. And don’t forget to subscribe.

Today’s Topic & Guest:

John Cannon | Monk Mindset

Today’s guest is the one and only John Cannon. He started SENT Ventures after many years as a monk. SENT currently puts on one of the biggest conferences for Catholic builders every year (happening in Denver this year). But now John is on to his next venture.

We take some time to discuss his journey, and we spend a bit of time on what it looks like to close a chapter and go onto the next one. It’s a core focus of the discussion.

John’s genuine spirit and care for the work he’s doing is very evident to all who meet him. Hopefully that comes through in this interview.

Do what John has promoted, build like the saints!

Core Lesson:

The journey you’re called on, is going to be a lot crazier than you imagine. God is helping you take step after step — He doesn’t usually share the next 100 steps. But trust Him!

John’s journey, like many of us, did not go in a straight line. As entrepreneurs, we have lived this and seen how many ups and downs the entrepreneurship life has.

But what’s funny is often when we start out, we think it’s going to be in a straight line. Growth is going to be up and to the right, and before you know it, we’re going to be millionaires.

Anyone who’s been in this for any period of time knows that’s not exactly how it goes.

However, despite all of these ups and downs, the point is we must trust in God and take the next step and the next step and the next step. We must follow Him with trust, knowing that He will be with us.

The road ahead isn’t likely a straight line, but I assure you its the journey of a lifetime.

God Bless & Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

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Key Episode References:

• SENT Ventures

• Monk Mindset

• Hallow

• Missionaries of Charity - Calcutta

• Institute of Christ the King

• Mystery of Transfiguration of Jesus

• Come Holy Spirit Prayer

• Her Last Conversations (book)

Select Quotes:

• “The faith had transformed my life so much. I was like, well, why don't people like take this seriously out there?” - John Cannon

• “It just got me seeing that entrepreneurship has actually been a key ingredient to how the church has renewed historically.” - John Cannon

• “I found that there was like a lot of them, one of the things that they really benefited from or that was most important or meaningful to them was having like a community or at least a few other entrepreneurs they could really like, they trusted and they could bring hard problems or issues too to get.” - John Cannon

• “There's a saying in entrepreneurship, fail fast, and that's actually preferable. If you just fail very quickly, then you know that doesn't work, and you can move on to the next thing. Like it's actually really painful to fail slowly because then you don't actually know you're like failing over a long period of time.”- John Cannon

• “God, if you don't want this, like just crush it or have it fail or like, like actually praying that prayer.” - John Cannon

• “The wheat and the weeds are all together, right? A little bit in almost any human endeavor.” — John Cannon

• “I think the hard part for me sometimes feels, though, that there are two or three viable options that it feels like God's kind of saying, like, Hey, it's up to you to choose. Right? Like at the end of the day, still want you to be, to use your agency, to use your free will...” — Silas Mähner

• “God will help open those doors in that path. And then I think on the human and natural level, like we're not relieved of doing the work there too, right?” - John Cannon

Key Moments: (outline)

• [00:00] Intro Silas introduces John Cannon and sets the stage for discussing monastic life, high-level business networks, and the transition into fresh vocational missions.

• [05:08] Founding SENT: John describes his deep-dive study into historical church renewal leaders like St. Benedict and St. Francis, highlighting the entrepreneurial core driving these major movements.

• [07:56] Navigating the Evolution of Ideas An exploration of how early concepts begin as amorphous goals and must adapt continuously through initial feedback loops.

• [10:38] Building Community Among Entrepreneurs: Discussing the critical value of trusted peer circles where founders can openly process professional and spiritual hurdles.

• [13:11] Balancing of Faith & Entrepreneurship: Reflecting on the integration of everyday business with a life of prayer, including the practice of praying for non-viable paths to be cleared away.

• [15:59] From Nonprofit to For-Profit: John details the early structural considerations of Sent Ventures and how its mission evolved over time.

• [20:23] Reflections on the Impact: Discussing the unique synergy that occurs when sharp business operators and spiritually-driven apostolate leaders collaborate in a shared ecosystem.

• [23:09] Introducing Monk Mindset: John presents his latest project focused on delivering traditional monastic structure and interior habits into modern daily schedules.

• [29:27] Stoicism & Monk Mindset: Contrasting popular secular self-help philosophies with the deeply rooted, transcendent truths of Catholic monastic tradition.

• [33:06] Cultural Shifts and the Return to Tradition: Identifying a growing societal hunger for continuity, timeless truth, and traditional institutional wisdom amidst modern digital overload.

• [36:42] Monk Mindset and Its Impact on Entrepreneurship: How bridging media production with enclosed monasteries allows ancient charisms to reach millions of modern seekers.

• [41:16] Daily Practices for a Flourishing Life: Breaking down the four core daily monastic habits necessary to establish interior stability, foster community, and prevent burnout.

• [45:46] Discernment God’s Call: Exploring how to evaluate clear vocational signs and navigate the transition of handing off or wrapping up a major project.

• [50:14] Rapid Fire: A concluding fast-paced segment touching upon favorite books, formative saints, and essential insights gained on the journey.

• [58:04] Intentional Work: Why regular daily tasks, when approached with explicit intentionality, transform into a continuous expression of deep prayer.

• [58:42] Embracing Change: Encouraging builders to release personal self-reliance and confidently allow the Holy Spirit to open or shut relevant doors.

• [59:47] Closing: Final words from Silas outlining the mission of the Catholic Founders Guild and urging listeners to support fellow builders.

Hey Folks! Welcome back. We’re gonna keep this one as short as I can because I just got back from a long weekend in NYC, where we hosted a discussion on Magnifica Humanitas (we’re hosting another this Thursday in Nashville. Register if you’re around).

Welcome back to Saintly CEO. Every Monday, while you sip your coffee, get some tactical advice to run your business fully in union with your Catholic faith.

IN TODAY’S ISSUE

• News/Events: Discussion on Magnifica Humanitas, this week in Nashville!

• Feature Content: Implementing Solidarity into your Business (Part 4 of 4)

• Heavenly Hustlers: 6 People Building for the Kingdom

[read time: ~7 min | word count 1,472]

News / Updates

• 🤠 This week in Nashville, I’m hosting a discussion on Magnifica Humanitas. We will walk through it in an open discussion format. Please join us.

  📆 We have other recurring events taking place in Houston, Dallas, Wausau, and NYC. Check out all our events here.

• 📣 ICYMI, we published a commentary podcast with Zak Slayback and Edmund Mitchell on Magnifica Humanitas.

• 🤖 Join the guild to access our AI bot trained on all our content.

Implementing Catholic Social Teaching: Part 4, Solidarity

Today, we are concluding our series on integrating Catholic Social Teaching with the fourth pillar: Solidarity. This is where our commitment to our neighbor becomes a firm and persevering determination.

Solidarity: The Teaching

Let’s start with a quote from The Church on Solidarity.

“The principle of solidarity, also articulated in terms of “friendship” or “social charity,” is a direct demand of human and Christian brotherhood.” CCC 1939

What it is, in simpler terms, is… the truth that we all have a responsibility towards our fellow man. Regardless of our differences, we are all brothers in the sense that we are all created children of God.

As a business owner, this means having a heart for your employees and customers. Especially if you end up generating wealth and become an outlier in society, you cannot forget your connection to help your brother.

Solidarity relates to many aspects of what it means to be someone’s brother, but principally, it refers to spiritual (the most important part) and economic/financial.

We are called to ‘share’ our faith and our goods with others so that they may have eternal life and that their needs on earth may be met. Here are two more quotes from the Catechism.

“Solidarity is manifested in the first place by the distribution of goods and remuneration for work.” — CCC 1940

“Solidarity is an eminently Christian virtue. It practices the sharing of spiritual goods even more than material ones.” — CCC 1948

The Why

The why of this is pretty simple; it just requires a bit of contemplation.

Each of our fellow humans is a brother to us because we are all created by Him in His image and likeness. If God created us, how could we hate any of our fellow man without also hating God?

Of course, you may not hate anyone actively, but do your actions show that you’re doing your part to share your faith and goods in order to help your fellow man? For those who are substantially less fortunate, do we help them out through offering employment and friendship? For those who do not know the faith, are we coming to know them so we can walk with them as they come closer and closer to God?

Now, let’s talk about the subtopics under Solidarity and how to implement them.

1. Human solidarity

This is the lived experience of being responsible for the people in your supply chain, your office, and your neighborhood. It shows up in the just distribution of goods and fair treatment.

How to implement: Respect your employees as humans — as neighbors. Do not overburden people with work. Allow ample time for rest. Do not see them as ‘costs to cut.’

2. Preferential option for the poor

This is the measure of whether justice is real in your business. It asks if your company is removing obstacles for the vulnerable to ensure they have access, stability, and opportunity. ie, Not only serving the rich because they can pay.

How to implement: You can do product discovery with poor communities. Or craft a particular offering that allows the poor to access your services. Dr. Daniel Tataje has his dentists and hygienists do a day for the poor each month, where people who cannot afford dentistry services get them for a heavily discounted rate.

3. Fair wage

A fair wage is a concrete way solidarity is made real. Pay and benefits should be evaluated against human dignity and family needs so that workers can live with stability and respect.

How to implement: This one is pretty straightforward. But it doesn’t mean paying ‘market rate’ wages. Because market rate wages may be insufficient for a family to meet their basic living needs. Consider adding other benefits, such as strong healthcare options or continued education funding.

4. Right of labor to organize

Workers should be able to form associations to protect their rights and mutual interests. Solidarity supports the idea that workers should not be left isolated or powerless. Yes, it allows for the organization of labor unions. However, if we are doing our job well and have proper channels for them to open up to us and discuss their challenges with us, they may never need to unionize.

How to implement: Do not do things that prevent people from organizing a union. But in order to avoid the combative nature that unions bring, listen to your workers and treat them with respect so that they never have an interest in this.

Thanks for reading this series! If you have not read parts 1, 2, or 3 yet, please check them out and circulate with your networks. My hope is that this series will help demystify what Catholic Social Teaching actually is and help business owners start implementing it.

God Bless & Happy Building

~Silas Mähner

Heavenly Hustlers

These are other Catholic business owners. Nominate one (including yourself).

• 📣 Brandon Benson is the co-founder of Leo Ads, the AI agent of Percuity AI. They ensure your business campaigns and ads are optimized.

• 🤖 Nick Stokman is the founder and CEO of Third Loop. What he’s building helps companies and teams use AI effectively.

• 💪🏻 Betsy Hoyt is from Charlotte Metro, a certified professional trainer and the Founder IntegratedCatholicWoman.com. She coaches women on how to lead a sustainable, healthy, and rewarding life.

• 📲 David Spaedy is the president of DS1 Phone Systems serving the Charlotte, NC Metro area. Before cloud phones were trendy, David was already connecting businesses.

• 🫂 Elza Spaedy is the executive director of Healed and Restored. Healed and Restored is helping women and girls who have experienced abuse, violence, trafficking, and trauma find healing, restoration, and the strength to reclaim their lives.

• 🏞️ Lance Johnson is building Groundwork Ventures. Through Groundwork, he is tearing down the million-dollar wall of traditional real estate, rewriting the rules of land development so accredited investors can fractionally back high-upside entitlement deals.

🙋‍♂️ Nominate a Heavenly Hustler (including yourself) - It takes 1 min.

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Highlight:

Nothing for you today as I’m out of time to hit send. Come back next week.

Here is a huge list of various resources that we have complied overtime: The Ultimate Catholic Founders Resource Guide.

The Catholic Founders Resource Guide

Feel free to bookmark it as we’ll continue to update it. And if you have suggestions on what to add, ping us (even if you want to promote your own stuff).

How did we do? Reply with 1 (Great 😄), 2 (Mid 🫤), or 3 (Needs Work ☹️)

News / Updates:

• 🤝 We host a bunch of events. In cities like New York, Dallas, Houston, Nashville, and even Central Wisconsin. Check out our events here.

• 🇻🇦We released an emergency episode last Tuesday to break down the newest Encyclical of Pope Leo XIV: Magnifica Humanitas.

• ⭐ Check out last week’s episode of CF with Zak Slayback and Edmund Mitchell

• 🤖 We recently launched a bot to help you learn from ALL the content we’ve produced. Join the Guild today to gain access.

• 💸 Want to invest in other Catholic projects/companies/ventures? Subscribe (for free) to the Faithful Steward newsletter.

In Today’s Issue:

• Intro to the Guest and Topic

• Core Takeaway

• Episode References

• Select Quotes

• Key Moments

First time here? Learn more about our mission. And don’t forget to subscribe.

Today’s Topic & Guest:

Juan Dominguez | Ad Aeternum

Welcome back, everyone, to another episode of the Catholic Founders Podcast.

If you’ve spent any time bouncing around the Catholic part of Substack over the last few years, you have almost certainly crossed paths with the work of today’s guest. I am joined by Juan Dominguez, the founder of Ad Aeternum. A best-selling Substack publication formerly known as Simple Man.

Juan has built an incredible global community dedicated to a massive mission: helping young men recover deep virtue, shake off the epidemic of modern loneliness, and start living with radical purpose.

In this conversation, we talk about living a faithful life in this modern age. The interior life. Sharing our faith publicly. How building a business can satisfy the desire to conquer in modern times. And what to do about the AI situation (this was recorded pre Magnifica Humanitas FYI).

I really had fun chopping it up with Juan. I hope you enjoy this episode as well!

Core Lesson:

True Catholic entrepreneurship is not false humility. It’s about us using our God-given talents to answer the calling He has for us.

Humility doesn’t mean being small. It doesn’t mean disagreeing with people when they compliment a skill you have.

Humility is recognizing where it all comes from and directing the praise towards Him.

Humility is realizing you’ve been given a mission calling, and answering it, regardless of how unworthy you feel.

Humility is what allows you to run a wildly successful business without it going to your head, because you don’t see it as yours at all.

Now, in the new AI era, it’s more important than ever that we take this responsibility seriously.

God Bless & Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

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Key Episode References:

Creative Works & Publications

• Ad Aeternum Substack

• Ad Aeternum YouTube Channel

• Becoming Noble by Johann Kurtz

• Simple Man (Song)

• The Fountain of Youth by Dave Durand

Scripture & Parables

• “Be the light of the world” Gospel (Matthew 5:14)

• Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30)

• Isaiah 6:8

Select Quotes:

• “At times like this, the halos are hanging from the lowest branches.” - Juan Dominguez

• “Sanctity and holiness is there for the taking. It’s really up to you to decide to be one of the few ones who are a light in this world, and the encouragement and the motivation are for you to actually do it and strive to become a saint.” - Juan Dominguez

• “You are the representation of the Gospel. You are the representation of what the Catholic Church stands for. So it’s a huge responsibility to carry, even if you’re not doing it publicly, of course, especially if you’re doing it publicly, but just in day-to-day life, in the conversations that you have with other people, it’s we have that a huge burden to bear and I think we really haven’t been understanding that and taking it with the seriousness that it deserves” - Juan Dominguez

• “If you are called to build, then build and do it for the glory of God.” - Silas Mähner

• “It’s usually just a cop out and just an excuse for cowardice to not put yourself out there and try, you know, it’s way easier to just accept what is, not try to build anything better, not try to go anywhere better, not try to be better in any way.” - Juan Dominguez

• “The coward’s way out is just using this false humility, like you said, to masquerade a cowardice that keeps you from actually doing what you need, like what your duty is, and that is to put your talents to good use” - Juan Dominguez

Share your favorite quote from above!

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Key Moments: (outline)

• (00:00) - Intro : Juan Dominguez frames the vital need for promoting virtue and guiding young men back to Christ.

• (00:35) - Mission Statement : Silas Mähner outlines the core objective of Catholic Founders and introduces Juan Dominguez.

• (02:23) - The Origin of Ad Aeternum : Juan discusses his background as a Colombian writer and entrepreneur growing his Substack community.

• (04:38) - Rediscovering the Faith : Juan details how a secular masculinity project unintentionally led him back to the Catholic Church.

• (07:34) - The Heavy Burden of Hypocrisy : A deep look at why modern men reject the Church due to poor lived examples, and our duty to be the face of the Gospel.

• (11:53) - The Rebrand Blueprint : Juan shares the business and spiritual motivations for shifting from “Simple Man” to a serious faith-based media company.

• (18:39) - The AI Breaking Point : How artificial intelligence acts as a spiritual amplifier and where men must draw strict relational boundaries.

• (21:05) - The Resurgence of the Human Element : A strategic look at tech layoffs, automated markets, and why uniquely human skills are poised for a comeback.

• (28:19) - Anarchy vs. Chivalry : Confronting the cultural void that attracts lost young men to worldly gurus like Andrew Tate, and how Catholic leaders can fill it.

• (40:05) - The Masculine Drive to Conquer : Why entrepreneurship serves as a modern frontier for men to exercise their drive to build in an orderly, creative way.

• (45:18) - Cycles of Cultural Restoration : Juan envisions a hopeful future anchored in restored families, structured relationships, and traditional values.

• (50:51) - The Duty of Wealth & Talents : Busting the myth of false humility, breaking down the Parable of the Talents, and competing directly against godless influence.

• (55:14) - Rapid Fire Questions : Juan reveals his favorite scripture, an inspiring Colombian entrepreneur, his love for St. Francis, and the ultimate spiritual “cheat code”.

• (57:13) - Outro : Silas recaps his biggest takeaways, challenges listeners to stop hiding behind cowardice, and invites founders to join the Guild.

Hey folks! In case you haven’t had enough about Catholic Social Teaching with the drop of the summer (aka: Magnifica Humanitas) we are back at it with part 3 of 4 in our series covering the key aspects of Catholic Social Teaching, with our takes on how to actually implement them.

Today we are talking about Subsidiarity, and don’t worry it’s a lot shorter than last week’s.

Welcome back to Saintly CEO. Every Monday, while you sip your coffee, get some tactical advice to run your business fully in union with your Catholic faith.

IN TODAY’S ISSUE

• News/Events

• Feature Content: Subsidiarity; What, Why, and How to Integrate It

• Seven Incredible Heavenly Hustlers

• Highlights: Wisper Flow

[read time: ~6 min | word count 1,172]

News / Updates

• 📆 Check out our upcoming events in NYC, Nashville, Dallas, Houston, Wisconsin, and beyond by going to our Luma Calendar.

• :🎙️ Yesterday, we published a commentary podcast with Zak Slayback and Edmund Mitchell on Magnifica Humanitas.

• ⭐ Here is our summary episode of Magnifica Humanitas.

• 🤖 Join the guild to access our AI bot trained on all our content.

Implementing Catholic Social Teaching: Part 3, Subsidiarity

Welcome back to our 4-part series on Catholic Social Teachings, and actually implementing them.

Last time we covered The Common Good (the second pillar), and today we are covering Subsidiarity, the third pillar. This might be the most practical pillar for leadership and organizational structure.

Subsidiarity: The Teaching

A lot of you have probably heard the word subsidiarity. But many of you may not know what it means. Likely because it’s one of those Catholic words that sounds totally made up. I get it. But let me explain it in very simple terms.

The idea behind subsidiarity is, that decisions should be made at the most local level possible. The reason being that someone closer to the situation likely has a much better understanding of the situation itself. They likely know the people involved. And they probably know what the consequences will look like for those involved once they make a decision.

What follows is that the higher-level authority should not interfere with the lower-level authority whenever possible.

What’s pretty mind-blowing about this is that it’s actually the key to scaling a business. If everything is centrally planned, you are naturally constrained by one person’s ability to make decisions. But when other people can make decisions, the person at the top can focus on making key decisions rather than all the decisions.

Said another way, subsidiarity is the way to scale any business.

Here is the official line from the Church, in the Catechism.

“In accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, neither the state nor any larger society should substitute itself for the initiative and responsibility of individuals and intermediary bodies.”1

The Why

The why behind this is relatively simple, actually.

The Church worries that excessive state intervention could threaten personal freedom and the ability of people to take initiative. Another takeaway is that this principle opposes collectivism, where it becomes okay to trample the needs of the individual in order to ‘serve’ the needs of society as a whole.

The Church also argues that a society organized in this way is actually more efficient because everyone is doing what they can, rather than sitting around waiting for some bureaucrat to help them or approve what they are trying to do. Something none of us has ever experienced, I’m sure.

Subsidiarity in Practice

Now that we understand what the Church teaches and why she teaches it, let’s get into some practical examples of implementing it in the workplace (there are no ‘subtopics for Subsidiarity so all of this is just pure play implementation advice, yay!).

Pushing for an Ownership Mentality

In your company, you would push for each employee to understand the desired outcome and empower them to get there. Asking them to exercise their judgement on when they should raise it to their manager for support with the decision-making.

Note, this does involve proper training. You can’t just hand it off and blame them when it goes wrong.

Involving Employees in Policy Making

This one is very important, so please pay attention.

Involve your team when making decisions that affect them. Setting leave policy, bring your kids to work policy, how to lock up the store, etc. The list could go on.

Your employees have lives and families of their own. Your decisions could make living those lives very difficult. Or your decisions about how they should do things on the factory line could be really stupid because it wouldn’t work as well, or would cause danger. Would they know this? Yes.

Today, it’s become the norm that company policies are set by top-down methods. Many of us have personally experienced working in a company that gets acquired, and we see new policies come through that make no sense and hurt how we do our jobs on the front lines.

Those decisions were likely based entirely on ROI projects full of many assumptions. Had they actually delegated those decisions locally, we’d be happier and have a better outcome.

When you’re making decisions that affect your employees, involve them.

Empower Ownership

My favorite example of subsidiarity is when customer success agents are told they can do what they need to to make the customer whole. It may be very obvious how to make an angry customer whole and give them what is owed in justice, but with bureaucratic policies and procedures, they are forced to ask 6 more questions after they already know the problem, so that they are allowed to elevate to their supervisor, who will then ask a bunch of questions as well. Then, finally, after logic has been tossed out the window, and humans have been acting like robots and treated like robots, the right thing to do is done.

Everyone is frustrated. The customer success agent is just used to it. Heck, they are probably dehumanized by this point.

If you empower your people properly, they can do what they know is right. The customer gets helped right away, and depending on how pleasant the experience was, they might become an even bigger customer in the future.

Help Your Employees As Much As You Can

Before the nanny state existed, with all of the benefits it provided to citizens, how did people in need get help?

People helped each other. I know it sounds crazy, but we can just start doing this again. And we can start with our employees. If they had an unexpected medical expense, we could cover it. They are struggling to feed their kids and pay them more.

Heck, they might need help butchering a cow, make it a company weekend, and get all hands on deck to help.

Learn to make this a muscle. Help your employees locally rather than making them struggle and go to the state for help.

In Closing

One of the most fascinating things I find about subsidiarity is that, when you really engage people in this way, they are able to become more capable. And in a way, become more themselves. They are able to take the 1, 2, or 5 talents God gave them and multiply them. This multiplication means more people have the opportunity to benefit from that person’s unique gifts.

All of this starts with giving someone that ownership mentality. Then, treating them with respect and autonomy, so that they can become fully alive.

This to me, is one of the great mysteries of being an entrepreneur. That ability to affect the development of the employees under your care in such a positive way, that they can become more fully human.

To any reading this, please don’t take this part of your role as ‘boss’ or CEO for granted. Ever.

Okay, come back next week, as we wrap up our series with the 4th and final pillar of Solidarity!

God Bless & Happy Building

~Silas Mähner

Heavenly Hustlers

These are other Catholic business owners. Nominate one (including yourself).

• ✈️ Joseph Rodriguez is the Founder of Vocatio Travel. They turn your dream trips into realities, and they have experience supporting several dioceses as well as many other Catholic-owned businesses with their travel plans. If you’re in the Dallas area, reach out to him.

• 💻 Garren DiPasquale is the Founder & CEO of Artifact. They turn language into living software.

• 🏛️ Matt Salerno is building DealCompass. A software that helps the real estate industry. Fun fact: he’s a Notre Dame alum. But he’s based here in Nashville.

• 💸 Peter Scott is building an app called Plena. Think of it like Acorns but for tithing.

• ✍️ William Van de Planque (don’t you wish you had a name like that… I know I do) is launching Beloved Son, a ghostwriting agency to help people keep active blogs and improve SEO. He’s just getting started, so reach out to him if you’ve got advice or are interested in giving him a project.

• ⚖️ Teddy Malone founded his own Tax Attorney practice in NYC called Estel Law. I met him a while back at one of Luca’s Fides events. Reach out to him if you need a tax lawyer.

• 👴 Nathanael Riddle is the co-founder of OmniBand. A wearable for aging parents. Think Whoop, but built for your grandpa, and not for sleeping.

🙋‍♂️ Nominate a Heavenly Hustler (including yourself) - It takes 1 min.

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Highlights: Don’t Type, Dictate. Use Wisper Flow

If you want to save a lot of time typing, try out Wisper Flow. I’ve been using it for a while, and it saves me a ton of time, especially when writing emails. TLDR, instead of typing, you can dictate (on computer or phone), and it’s VERY accurate + has some wizardly features. It’s crazy good.

I am not sponsored by them, but it’s literally one of the best pieces of software I’ve ever used. While I’m not sponsored, they do give out a referral code, so I’m dropping that here. I believe if you use that link, you’ll get a month free (I’m not entirely sure how these affiliate things work)

Get 1 Month Free of Wisper Flow

Here is a huge list of various resources that we have compiled over time: The Ultimate Catholic Founders Resource Guide.

The Catholic Founders Resource Guide

Feel free to bookmark it as we’ll continue to update it. And if you have suggestions on what to add, ping us (even if you want to promote your own stuff).

How did we do? Reply with 1 (Great 😄), 2 (Mid 🫤), or 3 (Needs Work ☹️)

News / Updates:

• 🤝 We host a bunch of events. In cities like New York, Dallas, Houston, Nashville, and even Central Wisconsin. Check out our events here.

• 🇻🇦We released an emergency episode last Tuesday to break down the newest Encyclical of Pope Leo XIV: Magnifica Humanitas.

• ⭐ Check out last week’s episode of CF with Matt Ingold

• 🤖 We recently launched a bot to help you learn from ALL the content we’ve produced. Join the Guild today to gain access.

• 💸 Want to invest in other Catholic projects/companies/ventures? Subscribe (for free) to the Faithful Steward newsletter.

Intro to our Guests & the Point of Today’s Podcast

Zak Slayback is a Venture Capital Investor and well-read convert to Catholicism (2020).

Edmund Mitchell is a serial entrepreneur and is very plugged into the AI world, especially on the Catholic side of the scene.

We brought them on today to discuss their key perspectives on Pope Leo’s first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas.

We cover a wide range of topics, but we are just scratching the surface, so let me know if you’d like to hear another one of these.

God Bless & Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

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First time here? Learn more about our mission. And don’t forget to subscribe.

Select Quotes:

• “The fundamental anthropology that is proposed in Rerum Novarum […], is that the primary unit of society is man and his family.” - Zak Slayback

• “Unemployment is a grave evil. That is one thing that is noted in the document, citing back to John Paul II’s social encyclicals. Why is it a grave evil? Well, one, because work is a good thing for man.” - Zak Slayback

• “Pope Leo doesn’t give us the room to outsource our thinking to this document or outsource our thinking to any, you know, podcast or news clip, right? Like we I think sometimes we want to find a justification for things we’re already doing when often the opposite is the case, these encyclicals challenge us to change.” - Edmund Mitchell

• “The social function of credit remains irreplaceable. Finance for its own sake is fundamentally different from finance aimed at the development. Creation and evolution of work.” - Zak Slayback (Quoting from Magnifica Humanitas)

• “ROI maxing is not the purpose of being an entrepreneur. It shouldn’t be at least. It shouldn’t be the purpose behind making an investment.” - Silas Mähner

• “The call to action from the Holy Father is to develop more sustainable technologies, it’s not necessarily to tear the data. Centers down or to not build them.” - Zak Slayback

• “The decision to invest in one place rather than another, and one productive sector rather than another, is always a moral and cultural choice, and that’s italicized in the original document.” - Zak Slayback

• “Technology itself is one of the talents that we’re granted. And I was thinking a lot about the fact that we were intentionally put in this time of history to be to use the things that are at our disposal.” - Silas Mähner

• “We can use the tools that are at our disposal in our time and our own journey of sanctification is intentionally set up. to be in this time of history.” - Silas Mähner

Key Episode References:

Church Documents & Papal Teachings

• Magnifica Humanitas Encyclical | Rerum Novarum | Quadragesimo Anno | Populorum Progressio | Pacem in Terris | Redemptor Hominis | Laborem Exercens | Centesimus Annus | Caritas in Veritate | Laudato si’ | Fratelli Tutti | Gaudium et Spes | Antiqua et nova | Evangelium Vitae | Veritatis Splendor | Casti Connubii | Humanae Vitae | Second Vatican Council Documents | Paul VI - Address to the United Nations (“No war, no more war”)

Popes & Church Figures

• Pope Leo XIV | Pope Leo XIII | Pope Pius IX | Pope Pius XI | Pope Paul VI | Pope John XXIII | Pope John Paul II | Pope Benedict XVI | Pope Francis | Fr. Jean Gove, Archdiocese of Malta | Second Vatican Council

Organizations, Projects & Media

• Digital Continent

• SENT Ventures

• The Faith and AI Project

• “Delete Magisterium AI Debate” by Matthew Sanders and Mark Barnes

• Catholic Answers

• Y Combinator

• Chesterton Academy

• Simple Man / Ad Aeternum by Juan Dominguez (episode coming out this week)

Tech Companies, Tools & Frameworks

• Pinecone | Patmos Hosting | Pat Lencioni’s Working Genius

People & Other References

• Zak Slayback

• Edmund Mitchell

• Andre Karpathy

• John Johnson

• J.R.R. Tolkien

• Brian Johnson

Key Moments: (outline)

• (00:00) - Introduction and Setting the Stage: Silas welcomes everyone back to the Catholic Founders podcast and introduces the topic of the newly released AI encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, by Pope Leo XIV.

• (04:02) - Getting the Squad Together: Silas brings on guests Zak Slayback and Edmund Mitchell, establishing their backgrounds in venture capital and Catholic tech projects.

• (05:05) - Guest Introductions: Zak shares his background as a tech investor and his 2020 conversion story, followed by Edmund introducing his work with Digital Continent and the Faith in AI project.

• (06:56) - The Encyclical Tradition and History: Zak unpacks the deep history of contemporary Catholic social teaching, charting the path from Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum to modern papal documents.

• (15:21) - Broad Takeaways on Magnifica Humanitas: Edmund and Zak explain that the document is less about specific technology and more about addressing human anthropology within the age of AI.

• (17:25) - AI as an Immersed Environment: Edmund references paragraph 110 of the encyclical to illustrate how AI has shifted from a mere tool to an environment we are completely immersed in.

• (24:10) - Moving Beyond Political Paradigms: The group discusses why analyzing Church documents through an American left-or-right political lens is a category error, emphasizing that the primary unit of society is always man and his family.

• (31:30) - Key Doctrinal Developments: Edmund and Zak discuss authoritative developments within the document, including the practical ban on autonomous weapons, just war limitations, and applying the universal destination of goods to digital data.

• (39:37) - Data Extraction and Emerging Business Models: Zak addresses the ethical concerns surrounding the high concentration of power in tech and the challenge for startup founders to create business models that respect personal data.

• (45:11) - The Rapid Evolution of Software and Infrastructure: Edmund and Zak analyze the shift toward treating compute as a utility and evaluate the environmental impact of data centers without succumbing to secular catastrophizing.

• (56:21) - Intellectual Property in a Knowledge Economy: Edmund looks at the future of intellectual property frameworks, explaining how large language models affect how creators and institutions handle their proprietary data.

• (58:45) - The Social Function of Finance and Work: Silas leads a discussion on paragraph 160 of the encyclical, diving into how financial credit and investments must always prioritize providing dignified, meaningful work rather than pure “ROI maxing”.

• (1:08:33) - Rebuilding Jerusalem and Overcoming Consumption: Silas, Zak, and Edmund call on Catholic founders and individuals to transition from passive consumption to active, real-world participation in building a civilization of love.

• (1:15:30) - Conclusion and Outro: Silas wraps up the episode by reminding listeners that technology is a given talent for our time, announces the next episode with Juan Dominguez, and extends an invitation to join the Catholic Founders Guild.

On May 27, 2026, the Catholic Founders Guild held a Topic Call where we dove into Pope Leo XIV’s new encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas. This document is all about Catholic social teaching in the age of AI. The big idea? Our tech and business work needs to be aimed at God's glory, not just our own success, recognizing that salvation and mercy are available in the AI age.

The topic call is a recurring monthly event where we discuss relevant topics about running the business. To join future events, become a member of the Catholic Founders Guild today.

Alright, the rest of this session is exclusively for CF Guild members. If you’d like to join future calls, consider upgrading to a paid membership today.

Subscribe now

The Catholic Founders Guild is an association of Catholic Biz owners who believe that their business is meant to be an extension of God’s will in the world.

If you share this belief, join today!

Read more

News / Updates:

• 🤝 We have events happening in Dallas, Nashville, Wisconsin, and Columbus. Register to attend.

• 🇻🇦We released an emergency episode last Tuesday to break down the newest Encyclical of Pope Leo XIV: Magnifica Humanitas.

• ⭐ Check out last week’s episode of CF with Matt Pinto

• 🤖 We recently launched a bot to help you learn from ALL the content we’ve produced. Join the Guild today to gain access.

• 💸 Want to invest in other Catholic projects/companies/ventures? Subscribe (for free) to the Faithful Steward newsletter.

In Today’s Issue:

• Intro to the Guest and Topic: Matt Ingold, Founder of Metanoia Catholic

• Core Takeaway

• Episode References

• Select Quotes

• Key Moments

First time here? Learn more about our mission. And don’t forget to subscribe.

Today’s Topic & Guest:

Matthew Ingold | Metanoia Catholic

Alright folks, welcome back to another episode of the Catholic Founders Podcast. Today, we are bringing you a powerful conversation recorded live at the YCP conference in Dallas with the one and only Matt Ingold, co-founder of Metanoia Catholic.

They have been building for 7 years and have evolved into a premier coach training academy that helps form executive and life coaches who integrate the Catholic faith into human development and personal growth.

We discuss:

• How founders can reclaim the entrepreneurial space from modern hustle culture.

• How looking closely at our daily biz ops can help us with our interior diologue with the Father.

• What it’s like to run a business with your wife.

• How to see God’s hand in the ups, and the downs, of running a business.

• And much more.

Regardless of what type of biz owner you are, and how far along you are on your journey, I think you’re going to like this.

Core Lesson:

Your business serves as an architectural space for your personal sanctification and a visible manifestation of the unique, unrepeatable dialogue you share with the Father.

Running your company IS your ministry. It’s God’s way of bringing others to Him through you, and bringing you to Him through the work.

The challenges of running a business are many. For Catholics, it has a new meaning though, because we know there is more to life than pursuit of money and status. We know that the only thing we can take with us when we die are the other souls that we bring along.

As entrepreneuers, we get the opportunity to affect and touch the lives of many many people in a meaningful way throughout our life. This is our mission field. Mission is the point. Bringing others to know God is the point.

When this clicks, your business is no longer about the specific mission you solve or making oodles of money, as much as it is a mission to bring more ppl to know God.

Perhaps the most fascinating thing that comes from this is, that God uses this experience to help us be sanctified. The daily challenges, the way He teaches us about ourselves, and about His providence and love; it all contributes to bringing us closer to Him… if we allow it.

So, next time you’re thinking about your business challenges, or planning the future, or wanting to complain, realize that this is your mission field. Through answering the call to enter into the mission field willingly, you’ll bring more people to know God, and you will come to closer to God, and eternal life.

God Bless & Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

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Key Episode References:

• Organizations & Websites

  • Metanoia Catholic

  • Young Catholic Professionals (YCP)

  • Catholic Coaching

  • FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students)

  • His Way at Work

  Books & Literary Works

  • The Purgative Way - How to make your coaching Catholic Course

  • Soul of the Apostolate by Jean-Baptiste Chautard

  • Clear Path to Making Missionary Disciples by Jim Jansen

  • The Reed of God by Caryll Houselander

  Assessments

  • StrengthsFinder

  • Working Genius

  Saints, Devotions, & Scripture

  • St. John Paul II

  • St. John Vianney

  • St. Thérèse of Lisieux

  • Mother Teresa

  • Our Lady of Sorrows

  • Ezekiel 37: Valley of the Dry Bones

  People

  • Venerable Fulton Sheen

  • Christopher Pereira

  • Ryan Foley

  • Alex Hormozi

Select Quotes:

• “Something happens when you enter an environment where you got a lot of Catholics that have a similar heart, especially in the business world. I mean, that's where my heart's at. I love business and I love my faith. So getting to share that, it invites me to kind of be better.” - Matt Ingold

• “Fulton Sheen would put it, what the church puts down, the secular world picks up.” - Matt Ingold

• “But then as entrepreneurs, we've got our business, but the business isn't our identity. It's like what we're called to do inside the business because God doesn't care if our business makes money or doesn't, right? That's not what he cares about. What he cares about is leading us closer to him through that.” - Silas Mähner

• “That's why I like coaching. It actually creates a space for somebody to pause and reflect. And suddenly those breadcrumbs that God has been leaving behind all this time, we start to see the path lighting up and his will starts to really focus and sharpen.” - Matt Ingold

• “I think everybody should have a season where they're working with somebody and the person is really guiding them through some intentional self reflection.” - Matt Ingold

• And that's like the unique mission, the unique identity that you bring into your married vocation. And when you're living that authentically, it elevates the way that you experience the married vocation.” - Matt Ingold

• “You can't give what you don't have. You certainly can't witness a relationship which is the Christian called, our telos, our end is to be in union, a relationship with God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, for all eternity, right?” - Matt Ingold

• “And so those very words, if those words that we're using are aligned with the truth of who we are, and that's the foundation of the relationship, it transforms or it elevates the relationship, because God's word always elevates, which elevates and reveals a sense of who we are and sends us on mission.” - Matt Ingold

• “But when we started to realize that no, we just had complimentary gifts and we started to make space for the gift of the other to come forward and be humble and receive, that changed everything.” - Matt Ingold

• “you discover who you are, your identity and relationship, and then your identity reveals your mission. So you have relationship, identity, mission, right? Well, the foundation of a relationship is a dialogue, two people that are conversing, communicating with one another.” - Matt Ingold

• “if you are going through life without any self-reflection because you're too distracted by the world, you are missing out on the second and third dimensions of your own existence because God created us to share in that love, right?” - Silas Mähner

• “I like to look at business as another manifestation of the work that the Holy Spirit is doing with you that’s just made in a way that can be consumed and shared with other, and experienced by other people.” - Matt Ingold

• “This is the business doing the sanctifying work on me. This is a feature, not a bug of business. If it’s really from the Lord, it will sanctify me. It will sanctify the owners. And that’s a good thing.” - Matt Ingold

Key Moments: (outline)

• [01:16] - Podcast Introduction and Mission : Host Silas Mähner introduces the show’s mission to help Catholic entrepreneurs achieve sainthood through their co-creative business journeys.

• [02:19] - Welcome and Conference Vibe : Silas welcomes Matt at the YCP (Young Catholic Professionals) conference in Dallas, highlighting the powerful energy of faith-driven business leaders.

• [03:30] - Introducing Metanoia Catholic : Matt gives an overview of Metanoia Catholic, explaining their evolution into an academy that trains and certifies Catholic life and executive coaches.

• [04:05] - The Origin of Metanoia : Matt shares how experiencing burnout while working in ministry led him and his wife to coaching, inspiring them to build a personal development framework aligned with Catholic anthropology.

• [06:18] - Reclaiming the Business World : Silas and Matt discuss the need for Catholics to reclaim leadership in standard business fields rather than abdicating them to secular humanistic ideologies.

• [08:08] - Deepening Identity and Temperaments : Matt describes identity through personal relationships and temperaments, explaining how his structured choleric nature balances his wife’s charismatic style.

• [10:54] - God’s Breadcrumbs in Entrepreneurship : Matt emphasizes the power of coaching and self-reflection to help entrepreneurs spot the “breadcrumbs” God leaves to clarify their path.

• [12:42] - The Impact of Having a Coach : Matt reveals his favorite part of his own story—investing heavily in a coach to gain self-awareness through tools like StrengthsFinder.

• [14:45] - Running a Business with Your Spouse : Matt shares practical insights on working with a spouse, highlighting the humility required to receive each other’s complementary gifts and set healthy boundaries.

• [18:45] - The Vocation Within a Vocation : Matt defines a business as a “call within a call” that should elevate a marriage rather than compete with it, serving as a litmus test for spiritual alignment.

• [20:42] - Practical Tools for Relationships : Matt recommends using profile assessments to depersonalize irritations and recognize the unique lens through which a business partner sees the world.

• [23:20] - Ministry as a Spiritual Overflow : Drawing from Soul of the Apostolate, Matt notes that any outward ministry or business must overflow from a deep, honest relationship with the Father.

• [25:24] - The Ingredients of a Unique Calling : Silas and Matt discuss how God curates a person’s geography, parents, and early experiences as custom “talents” to steward.

• [28:39] - Self-Reflection and the Trinity : Silas maps self-reflection to the relational nature of the Trinity, stressing that quiet reflection keeps business owners from getting lost in worldly distractions.

• [33:27] - The New Frontier of Evangelization : Matt points out that the workplace engages people for 40 hours a week compared to a short Sunday Mass, making Catholic business leadership a primary engine for formation.

• [35:24] - Isaac vs. Ishmael in Business : Matt warns against forcing secular growth strategies out of fear, urging business owners to let God lead the vision rather than trying to manufacture control.

• [37:57] - A $40,000 Mistake and a Shift in Strategy : Matt shares a past failure with a high-end live event and contrasts it with his current shift toward growing organically through “persons of peace”.

• [44:02] - How to Get Started as a Catholic Coach : Matt breaks down the “beyond healing” focus of positive psychology in coaching and what to look for in a certification program.

• [46:19] - Overcoming the Fee Dilemma : Matt addresses the mental barrier of charging money for faith-adjacent services, emphasizing that “people who pay, pay attention”.

• [48:50] - Rapid-Fire Questions : Matt shares his favorite scripture (Ezekiel 37), favorite entrepreneur (Alex Hormozi), favorite saint (John Vianney), and his current favorite spiritual book.

• [51:06] - Finding Metanoia Catholic : Matt directs listeners to Catholiccoaching.com to browse their certified coach directory.

• [51:56] - Podcast Outro and Call to Action : Silas closes the episode by asking listeners for reviews to boost discoverability, leaving them with his sign-off reminder: “You were created to create.”

Emergency Pod!

As many of you know, yesterday Pope Leo XIV published his first encyclical. It has been heavily anticipated because ever since he announced his name as Leo, we knew this was the reason and that this was coming.

We are in the midst of another industrial revolution, this time caused by AI systems.

Yesterday, instead of relaxing and enjoying the holiday, I took the whole day to read through the encyclical.

Admittedly, I thought it would take me about 4 hours to read and make a pod, but it ended up taking me all day. The only breaks I took were to eat and help my wife with a few things. I’m genuinely surprised at how long it took me. Nevertheless, it is here.

The Structure of My Breakdown: Summary + Key Considerations for Business Owners

This is not some scholarly take going deep into the theology. I am not a theologian. Heck, half the time I can barely speak English properly.

Instead, I summarize the key components of the introduction, 5 chapters, and the conclusion.

Then I dive into the key components of each section that I thought were interesting to focus.

Along the way, I offer my commentary on what each of these means for us as business owners.

This is by no means an extensive exploration. It is meant to help you understand the key items.

I will be writing more about this in the coming weeks and months, and I will likely do additional podcast episodes on key components of it. But I hope that this helps you figure out which part of the encyclical to focus on reading, and the key things that you, as a business owner, should be aware of.

I Need Your Help

Please, help me out by sharing this around with your friends. Ideally, please reach out to a fellow member of the Catholic Founders Guild to discuss it with.

I cannot emphasize enough that each of us has a role to play in building the city of the future that Pope Leo speaks of in this encyclical. We all have a role to play.

None of us is on the bench. This is a Church-wide effort. We must work in union.

Please share this, and please reach out with your key observations for business owners so that I can continue to formalize my understanding of how this applies to Catholic Founders.

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Key Moments: (outline)

Here are the timestamps for your podcast show notes, organized cleanly by the key chapters and themes discussed in the transcript.

Podcast Timestamps: Pope Leo XIV’s Magnifica Humanitas

• 00:00 – Introduction: Reflecting on recording late and the release of Magnifica Humanitas on May 25th.

• 00:46 – Setting expectations: A non-theologian’s summary focusing on business owners and major takeaways.

• 01:21 – Why this encyclical matters: The significance of the name “Leo XIV” and the historical connection to Catholic Social Teaching (Rerum Novarum and Laborem Exercens).

• 02:18 – High-level overview of the document’s structure (Introduction, 5 Chapters, and Conclusion).

• 04:02 – Deep Dive: The Introduction – The Tower of Babel vs. the walls of Jerusalem, technology as non-neutral, and the human heart.

• 05:43 – Chapter 1: The Church’s Journey with Humanity – Continuous tradition, initiating good processes, and moving away from cultural strongholds.

• 06:50 – Chapter 2: Core Principles & The Spicy Take on Data – Restating human dignity and the common good; why data, patents, and algorithms are now considered universal goods.

• 07:54 – Chapter 2 (Cont.): Subsidiarity & Solidarity – The role of the state, environmental impacts of data centers, and avoiding exploitation.

• 09:30 – Chapter 3: The Dangers of AI – Why AI is not human, the trap of fake objectivity, and the simulation of human connection.

• 11:15 – Chapter 3 (Cont.): Critiquing the Technocratic Paradigm – Why human suffering is a feature, not a bug, and a response to transhumanism.

• 12:54 – Chapter 4: Truth, Work, and Modern Slavery – The pursuit of truth and a direct challenge to business owners regarding layoffs and profit margins.

• 14:41 – Chapter 4 (Cont.): The Dark Side of Tech Infrastructure – Data labeling exploitation, child labor in supply chains, and the hijacking of attention spans.

• 16:11 – Chapter 5: AI in Warfare – The socialization of war and the absolute necessity of keeping humans in the loop for lethal choices.

• 17:33 – Chapter 5 (Cont.): Building a Civilization of Love – The 5 pillars of peace, reviving dialogue, and a practical challenge to know your neighbors.

• 19:10 – Conclusion & Final Reflections – The Incarnation through Mary, our role as “weavers of hope,” and final thoughts for Catholic entrepreneurs.

News / Updates:

• 🚀 We just hired Oscar Shingledecker to help us grow! Our first FT hire. So if he reaches out to you, it’s legit.

• 🤝 We have events happening in Dallas, Nashville, Wisconsin, and Columbus. Register to attend.

• 🎵 Check out last week’s episode of CF with Will Hickl — the Catholic Spotify

• 🤖 We just launched a bot to help you learn from ALL the content we’ve produced. Join the Guild today to gain access.

• 💸 Want to invest in other Catholic projects/companies/ventures? Subscribe (for free) to the Faithful Steward newsletter.

In Today’s Issue:

• Intro to the Guest and Topic: Matthew Pinto — Founder of Ascension Press & Ascension Presents

• Core Takeaway: Build for Eternity

• Episode References

• Select Quotes

• Key Moments

First time here? Learn more about our mission. And don’t forget to subscribe.

Today’s Topic & Guest:

Matthew Pinto | Ascension Press, Catholic Catalyst, The Genesis Group

Hey folks! Excited to share this discussion with Matthew Pinto. He is an absolute legend.

Not only did he found one of the most widely known Catholic media assets today (Ascension Press / Presents, yes, the place Fr. Mike Schmitz Publishes), but he also does coaching of startups and angel investing.

Matthew is one of the rare people who deeply understand that their money is not for themselves. He views his role as a servant of God here to leverage the connections and network that he has with the excess capital he has to help advance the kingdom of God.

Oh, and he’s a serial entrepreneur. In addition to Ascension Press, he founded CatholicExchange.com, the Theology of the Body Institute, and Envoy Magazine.

It would be an understatement to say that Matthew is a giant in the history of Catholic Media in the modern age. But, you wouldn’t know it by his humility.

Core Lesson:

As Catholic builders, we need to think in Decades.

Behind every massive, visible breakthrough we witness in the Church today (ie, the success of Father Mike Schmitz’s video content) lies a decade (or more) of hidden groundwork. There was infrastructure in place to handle the growth when it happened.

This means, as we build our companies, we need to be thinking in decades. As founders, it can be super frustrating if things aren’t ‘taking off’ right away, but, as is evident through Matt’s story, sometimes the time is necessary.

Jesus gave us the same example. 30 years of preparation for 3 years of ministry.

Let’s build for the future — let’s build for eternity! We as Catholics should understand this better than anyone else.

God Bless & Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

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Key Episode References:

• Books & Publications

  • Companion Book to Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ

  • Only the Paranoid Survive by Andy Grove

  • The Great Adventure Bible / Bible Timeline

  Scripture & Parables

  • Book of Revelation

  • Parable of the Talents

  Movies

  • The Passion of the Christ

Select Quotes:

• “I think this is the... I guess you could say in some ways the challenge of our age is like if we're going to try to be good Catholics in the world, it's a very challenging world to be in in so many ways, but we cannot become paralyzed by fear of making a mistake or, you know, fear of the wrong decision because then we have no momentum.” - Silas Mähner

• “One is the book of Revelation with the Lord when he says, I'd rather you be hot or cold, just not lukewarm. I'm of the opinion that we're supposed to use prudence. You know, it's the mother of all virtues… I think the Lord would rather us strike out than not swing.” - Matt Pinto

• “So I encourage anyone who's listening, who loves the Lord, loves the Church, wants to do things, pray specifically for a double portion of blessing and zeal and fervor for the faith.” - Matt Pinto

• “Praise if everything depends on God. Work if everything depends on you.” - Matt Pinto

• “And believe me, the celebration is not in oneself. It's in what the Lord did through broken instruments. Yes, we had skills, but it was all a gift.”- Matt Pinto

• “She said, money in the right hands is a very good thing.” - Matt Pinto (quoting a prominent mother in Philadelphia)

• “But what they do is they guard, they build safeguards when you don’t fully trust yourself. And at the end of the day, no human being should fully trust him or herself.”- Matt Pinto

• “If you think of an idea and it looks like it works out from the different angles that you look at it, be bold and go for these things.” - Matt Pinto

• “Think big, but realize that you gotta lock in and you gotta put in the time.” - Matt Pinto

• “Think big, but realize that you gotta lock in and you gotta put in the time. Very few things are cultural phenomena. Even the viral things that we see pop up. Well, for every one viral phenomena, how many videos are produced that are not viral? 500,000? Have optimism, have zeal, pray for zeal. But I'm sorry guys, most instances you gotta get ready to lock in because there really are very few free lunches. It's just gonna take time.”- Matt Pinto

Key Moments: (outline)

• [00:00] - Groundwork for Success: Matt Pinto highlights the 15 years of hidden groundwork behind Ascension Presents.

• [00:52] - Show Intro: Silas welcomes listeners and introduces serial Catholic entrepreneur Matt Pinto.

• [03:24] - Welcome and Framing: Silas sets the stage for a conversation exploring Matthew’s vast portfolio of faith-based building.

• [04:04] - Introducing Matthew Pinto: Matt shares his background and historical achievements across multiple ministries.

• [05:25] - Vision and Drive: Matt explains how conviction for the Catholic faith drives organizational action.

• [06:29] - Handling Mistakes and Regrets: A reflection on navigating individual wrong choices while avoiding macro regrets.

• [07:53] - Overcoming Lukewarmness: Matt shares how scriptural reflection drives him to push hard rather than stay passive.

• [09:21] - Praying for Charism and Zeal: Christopher West’s insight on passion and the power of praying for a double portion of spirit.

• [11:09] - Grace and Nature in Apostolates: Balancing hard work with reliance on God and rejecting false humility.

• [14:20] - Commerce and Faith: Two vital self-examination questions for entrepreneurs concerning wealth and kingdom building.

• [19:20] - Inflection Points and The Passion Project: The inside story behind the massive success of the Mel Gibson companion book.

• [24:43] - Discovering Father Mike Schmitz: Leadership lessons on building a young staff to stay ahead of cultural shifts.

• [33:37] - Tactical Advisory for Builders: Analyzing total addressable markets, assessing hidden costs, and identifying loss leaders.

• [34:40] - Defeating Ego in Business: Matt warns that ego is dust and underscores the need for structural safeguards.

• [40:31] - The Priority of Personal Prayer: Matt candidly reflects on wishing he had tripled his personal prayer time during operational seasons.

• [47:20] - Catholic Integration of Body and Spirit: How Catholic theology leads to superior human resource and business practices.

• [50:06] - Discerning Excess Capital: Strategic views on tithing safeguards and managing financial returns.

• [56:27] - Accountability and Salvation: A sobering reminder from a mentor that failing to bring our natural gifts to bear risks our salvation.

• [58:08] - Scriptural Inspiration: Matt shares the favorite Bible verses that hung on his office wall for a decade.

• [1:03:09] - Episode Outro: Final practical thoughts on connection points, investment pauses, and closing encouragements.

Hey folks! Another Monday! Another potentially amazing week in front of us! It’s up to you to decide… 🚀

Welcome back to Saintly CEO. Every Monday, while you sip your coffee, get some tactical advice to run your business fully in union with your Catholic faith.

Each week you’ll find…

IN TODAY’S ISSUE

• News/Events: SF, Dallas, Nashville, Wausau, Columbus

• Feature Content: The Common Good. Pillar 2 of CST

• Heavenly Hustlers: 5 Folks Building for God

• Highlights: Biz Dev VA Hack

[read time: ~9.5 min | word count 2,071]

News / Updates

• This week, Dallas is meeting. Next week, Nashville and Wausau. And then Columbus coming up in June.

• Last week, we hosted a hangout in SF after the Ascension mass. Great turnout! Check out the picture here (and follow us on Instagram).

• Listen to our most recent episode with Will Hickl — the man taking on Spotify! 🤯

• ICYMI: Derek hosted a Growth Mastermind for the group. Check out the recording here if you missed it (guild members only).

Implementing Catholic Social Teaching: Part 2, The Common Good

Last week, we discussed the first pillar of integrating Catholic Social Teaching into your business: Dignity of the Human Person. Today, we’re tackling pillar #2, The Common Good.

It’s especially important to discuss this because the current culture is heavily focused on the individual and merit alone. A sort of “pull yourself by your bootstraps” mentality is pervasive. This leaves many people at a substantial disadvantage. Something the new AI order is likely to exacerbate 100x.

Well! Enough pre-rambling — let’s get into it.

The Common Good: The Teaching

What exactly is the Church’s teaching about The Common Good?

Here’s the official quote from Catechism (1905-1906). It’s a little long, bear with me and read through it. Slowly and repeatedly if needed.

“In keeping with the social nature of man, the good of each individual is necessarily related to the common good, which in turn can be defined only in reference to the human person:

Do not live entirely isolated, having retreated into yourselves, as if you were already justified, but gather instead to seek the common good together. By common good is to be understood “the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily.”

The common good concerns the life of all. It calls for prudence from each, and even more from those who exercise the office of authority. It consists of three essential elements:”

The common good is the sum total of social conditions that allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily. For a CEO, this means success is not just about what is legal or profitable, but whether your operation contributes to the flourishing of society.” 1

Alright, let’s put our best Vatican-ese translation hat on.

Each person possesses infinite dignity as a person (because they are created in the image and likeness of God). And since we as persons exist in a society of other persons, we must not take actions that directly prevent or harm the ability of others to reach their fulfillment (flourishing).

In other words, since we have personal freedom, we must keep our fellow man (also a person and free being) in mind when we act.

This matters even more for those in positions of authority precisely because our actions directly impact the lives of many (not just one or two). We manager dozens or hundreds of employees. We may have thousands of customers. We can directly impact more lives with a single action than those not in authority. Our actions can either harm or help others.

Consider the example of a company owner. He has a hundred employees under his care. He could find ways to use the income generated through the company to benefit all of those employees as much as possible. Cultivating a positive culture. Making family-centered policies. Allowing for the flourishing of those 100 employees.

Alternatively, he could focus on maximizing his own take-home pay. He benefits (at least in the short term) at the expense of his employees.

The latter example is against the common good because he, as an individual, benefited while the other individuals suffered.

The Why

The why of this is quite simple. If personal gain is set as the ultimate good, it would lead to the degradation of many humans for the benefit of one or a few. In other words, if this were true, it would be impossible for everyone to pursue this outcome because some others inevitably would have to suffer.

By recognizing the dignity of each person around us, we are naturally inclined to share and care for those around us. This is directly in line with the Christian Charity that we are taught.

That’s the what and the why of the second pillar. Now let’s dive into the 5 subtopics that go under this broader pillar.

Just like last week, we’ll give a brief description of each and then my perspective on how to integrate each one into your business.

1. Justice and the common good

Justice is giving each person what is due to them. Economic forces must be subordinated to the demands of social justice to ensure the whole operation serves a real good.

How to implement: Choosing how much to pay your team? Negotiating with your suppliers? Delivering the service you marketed to your customer? All of these are opportunities to practice justice. Pay fairly.

It must be understood that paying a just wage does not always mean paying market rate. Sometimes, a person cannot afford to feed their family on market-rate wages. If you’ve sold a certain service or product, you must deliver what was promised. If you don’t, you’re taking more than is just because the other party is now hindered in some way from flourishing, because you’ve taken more money from him than was just.

2. Conformity of social order to moral order

You cannot build a healthy business on a moral falsehood. Strategies and incentives must conform to objective moral law rather than just convenience or profit.

How to implement: Don’t participate in (or enable through services to) enterprises like pornography, drugs, IVF, contraception, etc. Any business that may be legal does not mean it’s sanctioned. It must not violate morality. Note, this would include refusing to supply any such enterprises with services that help them operate their business. Including software and financing.

You’d also need to avoid strategies such as ‘high-pressure’ sales because they are predatory in nature. As well as any other ‘strategies’ that would be considered immoral.

3. Private ownership vs. universal purpose of resources

While private property is a right, it has a social quality. The goods of creation are ultimately for the whole human race. Resources are entrusted to us to manage for the good of others. This is an interesting point to help us realize that our business is about far more than just making money. We are like employees of God who have a facility to manage. The purpose of the facility is to take care of other members of God’s creation.

How to implement: Consider if you grow food products or produce goods, giving some of your product away to those in need. To those who cannot afford but may be in need. View your assets as a tool for blessing others. Your employees, customers, your community, and the homeless. Any man who enters your life.

You’d should also empower your own employees to participate in this activity. To use their judgment to give away a pastry here and an oil change there, to those clearly in need.

4. Right to participate

People should not be arbitrarily excluded from the decisions that affect them. Social justice involves learning how to participate in the common order rather than dividing it.

At first glance, you might think this means something like ‘don’t be racist.’ It does. But it means a lot more.

How to implement: When making employee conduct policies and procedures, you should not exclude them. This is the problem with Private Equity bros making sweeping company policy decisions that affect people they have never met and who have had absolutely zero input to those decisions despite being the ones affected by them (this is against subsidiarity as well).

I cannot state this seriously enough. It’s critical. Just writing about this gets my blood boiling because the practice is so widespread.

5. Stewardship for creation

The environment and natural goods are resources entrusted to us for the common good. We have a responsibility to protect our common home for future generations.

How to implement: If a more sustainable option exists for an item in your supply chain, choose it. If you are a farmer, do not partake in harmful farming practices that degrade the property and make it impotent for future generations. Ensure your products or services do not lead to the destruction or harm of the environment.

There you have it. Join us next week to discuss Subsidiarity, the third principle. This focuses a lot on empowering your team.

God Bless & Happy Building

~Silas Mähner

Heavenly Hustlers

These are other Catholic business owners. Nominate one (including yourself).

• 🛜 Ed Burns is the Co-Founder of TruSygnal. Based out of Philly. They connect shippers and carriers directly for contract opportunities without the endless back-and-forth. He’s also one of the few guys who actually replies to me on Twitter (thanks bro!)

• 🏡 Blanca Agregado is the Founder of Tessell Studio, a commercial interior design and strategy consultancy serving organizations based out of Ontario, Canada.

• 💻 Ian Doromal is the Co-Founder & CEO of Continuous AI in the Orlando area. The tech prevents your AI agents from going HAM and using way too much compute.

• 👨🏻‍🍳 Keegan Conrey is the CEO of Decision Logic in the Omaha, Nebraska area. They help restaurant operators boost their growth. Their platform turns messy operational data into actionable decisions that help restaurants run smarter.

• 🎨 Joseph Hearney is the owner of Decree Design Co.®, a published branding and design studio based in Western, KY.

🙋‍♂️ Nominate a Heavenly Hustler (including yourself) - It takes 1 min.

Thank you to Catholic Owned for helping us find some of these folks each week. Get listed today!

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Highlights

Keeping this short bc this is already too long.

If you network a lot, hire an overseas EA so that instead of saying you’ll follow up, and don’t, you can just text a picture of each biz card to your EA and send a voice msg with the follow-up instructions. I learned this idea from Jimmy Coleman on the episode he did with us.

Here is a huge list of various resources that we have complied overtime: The Ultimate Catholic Founders Resource Guide.

The Catholic Founders Resource Guide

Feel free to bookmark it as we’ll continue to update it. And if you have suggestions on what to add, ping us (even if you want to promote your own stuff).

How did we do? Reply with 1 (Great 😄), 2 (Mid 🫤), or 3 (Needs Work ☹️)

On May 12th, the CF Guild discussed how to aggressively scale their businesses by overcoming financial limiting beliefs and implementing tenacious, systematic sales strategies. A key theme was that the decision to grow is not a secular calculation but a spiritual calling to magnanimity, requiring the bold faith to crush the internal resistance to charging for one's professional gifts.

The topic call is a recurring monthly event where we discuss relevant topics about running the business. To join future events, become a member of the Catholic Founders Guild today.

Alright, the rest of this session is exclusively for CF Guild members. If you’d like to join future calls, consider upgrading to a paid membership today.

Subscribe now

The Catholic Founders Guild is an association of Catholic Biz owners who believe that their business is meant to be an extension of God’s will in the world.

If you share this belief, join today!

Read more

News / Updates:

• Shout out to Fio for sponsoring this recording at the recently held YCP Conference 🙌🏼

• We have events happening in Dallas, Nashville, Wausau, and Columbus. Register to attend.

• I recently went on the BeatiDudes podcast. Check it out here.

• We just launched a bot to help you learn from ALL the content we’ve produced. Join the Guild today to gain access.

• Want to invest in other Catholic projects/companies/ventures? Subscribe (for free) to the Faithful Steward newsletter.

In Today’s Issue:

• Intro to the Guest and Topic: Will Hickl — Taking on the Music Giant: Spotify

• Core Takeaway: Build for the Long Haul

• Episode References

• Select Quotes

• Key Moments

First time here? Learn more about our mission. And don’t forget to subscribe.

Today’s Topic & Guest:

Will Hickl |Fio, Novum Records

I’ve known Will for a while now. Ever since he liked one of my posts about Catholic Founders stuff, he’s been ensnared in my web muahhahaha. Just kidding.

However, when he liked that post, I reached out to see what he thought of the content. This led to him eventually joining the Catholic Founders Guild and becoming one of the most active members. Always being helpful and shares his witness with the world.

In the time we’ve known each other, I’ve seen Will go through some challenging times in life, things out of his control, and the way he handled them was truly inspiring to me. It was about time we had him on the podcast to tell his story and to share more about what he’s doing to take on Spotify (among other things).

It’s also because of Will that I ended up getting to record these in-person interviews in Dallas at the YCP conference. So… shoutout to him for that.

If you’re not already, go download the Fio app, become a paying member, and go subscribe to our podcast on there 🤣.

Core Lesson:

Taking the Long view is, in most cases, the Catholic ‘way’ to be an entrepreneur.

This manifests in two ways with Will’s story.

First, he’s building Fio slowly but surely. He hasn’t given up despite not seeing huge uptake from day one. He’s building the business slowly but surely. He takes his excess income and invests it in Fio to keep it going. This has led to them having a strong position in the market, and the compounding continues. Also worth noting that in some cases this has meant not focusing solely on the artists ‘financial appeal’ so that he can invest in them and give them a chance when others may not.

Second is building a platform that rewards the artists more than Spotify. He’s taking a long view on this, meaning that he’ll draw in more artists who want better payment per stream. Sure, they are giving up more of the profit to the artists, but the artists make the platform. This is the key behind Catholic entrepreneurship. We do the right thing in the long view. We build companies that make a profit for the long term. Not just for one quarter.

This is how we win. Build good companies that do good, for the long haul.

God Bless & Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

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Key Episode References:

• YCP Conference

• Novum Records

• Fio.fm

• Grace Lee

• The Church Needs Your Dreams (Will Hickl’s talk)

• St. John Nepomucene

• Our Lady of Walsingham

Select Quotes:

• “ I think entrepreneurs and business people should know their industry or what they're trying to do, I think they should know it well. I think they should be a subject matter expert if they want to do it well” - Will Hickl

• “ You need to understand the basics and be willing to have that learning spirit the same way that we have to have that learning and willingness in our faith. ” - Silas Mähner

• “ God is not going to ask me, you know, hopefully I'm talking to him before the gates of heaven and he's not going to be like, hey, how many artists did you like get a million streams for? How many artists got like big Instagram followings? He's going to be like, hey, like, did you love them well? Did you treat them with dignity? Did you help them glorify me through their gifts? ” - Will Hickl

• “ I genuinely think it'll be a different generation will see it and I'm okay with that and I love that idea even that I like I want to build something that like, you know will last generations ” - Will Hickl

• “ I think the church deserves excellence… I have zero qualms with ambition as a Catholic. I think, honestly, think God deserves it. ” - Will Hickl

• “… regardless if you have a lot of horsepower upstairs or you don't, like you are called to use whatever horsepower you were given to take it as far as God will take you. ” - Silas Mähner

• “ If you know, if you think to yourself, if you go to bed and you're like, I should do this, but I don't know, and you dream about like, or you think to yourself like, am I gonna regret this in 30 years that I didn't do this? And the answer is strongly yes, you've got your answer. ” - Will Hickl

• “ …no matter what anxieties I had about work like once I see the crucifix and I realized like none of that stuff matters like eternity is all that matters… ” - Silas Mähner

Key Moments: (outline)

• 00:26 - Podcast Introduction : Silas welcomes listeners to the episode recorded live at the YCP conference in Dallas and introduces Will Hickl.

• 02:32 - Architectural Motivations and Childhood Legos : Will shares how his love for building Lego sets guided his approach to early ideation and starting new projects.

• 05:32 - The Origin Story of Novum Records : Will recounts a powerful moment of prayer in adoration that led him to establish an infrastructure for Catholic artists.

• 08:55 - Subject Matter Expertise in Code and Business : A deep dive into why founders should study the core components of their industry, referencing books on music contracts and Android development.

• 14:01 - Answering the Call and the Concept of Late Bloomers : The discussion centers on matching God’s timeline instead of forcing immediate professional milestones.

• 18:18 - Discernment and Navigating Dry Seasons : Will shares his personal benchmark for evaluating entrepreneurial initiatives based on active prayer and spiritual fruitfulness.

• 20:02 - Redefining Balance Sheets by Eternal Standards : Will explains how he evaluates success based on the dignity and care of creators rather than conventional corporate metrics.

• 34:00 - Holy Ambition and the Parable of the Talents : An exploration of why excellence is an offering to God and how burying gifts out of fear harms the church.

• 46:10 - Cultivating Communities for Catholic Creators : Will and Silas discuss the value of the Catholic Founders Guild and the significance of intentional consumer habits.

• 53:19 - Embracing Calculated Risks and Overcoming Regret : A tactical discussion about calculating personal runway and following a clear path of long-term vocational clarity.

• 58:13 - The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass as a Centerpiece : Silas emphasizes utilizing the flexibility of entrepreneurship to visit daily Mass to calm professional anxieties.

• 1:02:59 - Outro and Call to Support Creators : Silas wraps up the episode by encouraging listeners to leave reviews and download the Fio app to directly support independent Catholic content.

After our hiatus last week, I’m back. Mostly out of guilt because not putting this out feels like I failed you all.

Welcome back to Saintly CEO. Every most Mondays, while you sip your coffee, get some tactical advice to run your business fully in union with your Catholic faith.

Each week you’ll find…

IN TODAY’S ISSUE

• News/Events: (SF, Nash, Houston, DFW, WI)

• Feature Content: Integrating Dignity of the Human Person

• Heavenly Hustlers: (skipped today)

• Highlights: A friend of CF has an incredible Substack

[read time: ~8.5 min | word count 1,837]

News / Updates

• We have events happening in Houston, San Francisco, Dallas, Nashville, Wausau, and Columbus. Register to attend.

• LMK if you’re in SF this week. I’m there Tuesday until Friday midday. Glad to link up.

• Check out the last episode of the pod with Edmund Mitchell. So far, people have liked it. If you think you might have ADHD and want to run a business, or do, this will likely resonate with you.

• ICYMI: We had an incredible session with Marco to learn marketing, branding, and positioning. Check out the recording (guild members only)

Implementing Catholic Social Teaching: Part 1, Dignity of The Human Person

Catholic Social Teaching is something people talk a lot about in the business world. But it’s usually very theoretical. Pie in the sky type of talk. This isn’t usually the way that business owners tend to talk. This has led to a lack of implementation of Catholic Social Teachings in the workplace.

Over the coming weeks, I’m going to attempt to do a breakdown of the 4 core tenets of Catholic Social Teaching (CST). I’m doing this in preparation for a talk I’m giving later this year.

These will by no means be extensive. The intent is to make this SUPER tangible for business owners.

Okay, let’s jump in.

The four key pillars of Catholic Social Teaching (CST) are:

1. Dignity of the Human Person

2. Common Good

3. Subsidiarity

4. Solidarity

Today, we are going to try to cover the first pillar, Dignity of the Human Person.

As a heads up, I had a lot of help researching this with Magisterium AI. I also apologize, because some of this stuff is a little wordy, because Church language often is. Even if you don’t have a lot of background reading, things like this, just go slowly, and I am confident that with the aid of the Holy Spirit, you’ll be able to grasp the concepts.

Dignity of The Human Person: The Teaching

The teaching states that every person has an intrinsic worth that society must recognize and protect. Not because of usefulness, talent, or social value, but because the person is human.

The Church states this principle in a classic way: “The human person … is and ought to be the principle, the subject, and the object of every social organization” (from Gaudium et Spes, quoted in the Catechism). 1

In other words, social institutions exist to serve people, not the other way around.

The Why

The Church teaches this because human dignity is grounded in what a person is before God, not in what a person can do currently. Dignitas Infinita clarifies that the most fundamental dignity (“ontological dignity”) belongs to the person simply for the fact that they exist, are created and loved by God, and therefore is “indelible and remains valid beyond any circumstances.” 2

This is why the Church rejects treating people as disposable or as tools: even when someone is vulnerable, the person still has a right to live with dignity. In Dignitas Infinita, Pope Francis says, “this fundamental right cannot be denied… People have this right even if they are unproductive… a dignity based not on circumstances but on the intrinsic worth of their being.” 3

That “why” shows up in how a just society should be built. The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church teaches that “A just society can become a reality only when it is based on the respect of the transcendent dignity of the human person,” and it adds a practical rule: the social order must work for the person, since “the order of things is to be subordinate to the order of persons.” 4

It also insists that every program — political, economic, scientific, cultural — must be inspired by the truth that each human being has a primacy over society, so that no one is excluded from protection and care. 5

Said another way: a human’s essence of being is present regardless of their perceived ‘value’ to society, and that is why each person must be treated with Dignity. That is why our businesses must exist to serve people, individuals.

Now that we have this understood. We need to cover the five ‘sub topics’ that fit under this heading. First, again with the help of Magisterium AI, I’m going to describe the principle, then I’m going to give my two cents on at least one way you could integrate this into your business.

1. Primacy of the human person

Every decision in your business should be weighed against whether it helps or harms the dignity of the people involved. Employees and customers are persons with souls, not expendable factors in a growth plan.

How to implement: Making an employee policy? Setting customer terms? Ask yourself if this policy is genuinely good for the human on the other end. Or is it just convenient for your business? Decide accordingly.

2. Importance of marriage and the family

The family is the basic cell of society. Business structures should support a healthy home life rather than competing with it for a person’s entire focus.

How to implement: What do you give your employees and expect out of them? Does the way you run your company allow for employees to carry out a healthy home life? To be home for dinner? If you’re detracting from an employee’s ability to fulfill his primary duties, find a way to change that.

3. Importance of religion

This protects the freedom of conscience and the spiritual dimension of life. A business culture should respect that moral truth is not subjective and that people have a right to live out their faith.

How to implement: For many of us, this one is pretty straightforward. Do you encourage a culture that allows people to speak openly about their faiths? Assuming you’re not following woke ideology, you should be good. But, be cautious as your company grows because it’s more likely for barriers to be set, usually due to common HR practices.

4. Dignity of work and workers

Work is meant for the person, not the person for the work. Labor has priority over capital. Workplace conditions must never degrade the individual.

How to implement: Ensure the workplace is better than simply neutral. Make it a place that is uplifting. From the music played, to the conversations between work, to the beauty of the place. Elevate your team. If they feel like they have to filter what happens at work to their children, then you should work on fixing that.

5. Morally responsible openness to life

Human life must be respected in every economic decision. We should never treat human life as something to be managed based on cost or utility.

How to implement: Ensure safe working conditions. Never consider rushing or sparing an expense if human safety is involved. I’d also interpret this to mean take good care of your team financially, so they can also be open to life without financial hardships.

That is all for this week. Please feel free to discuss further in the comments. I’m especially curious to hear other suggestions on how we can implement these principles.

The Bottom Line

A just society—and a successful business—is only possible when it’s built on the “transcendent dignity of the human person.”

I’m curious: Which of these five sub-topics is the hardest to implement in a remote or fast-growing environment? Let’s discuss in the comments and of course make sure to tune in next week as we cover the next core pillar, the Common Good.

God Bless & Happy Building

~Silas Mähner

Heavenly Hustlers

Hey guys! We are having to skip this week because of how behind I was in creating this. If you really want to help me out, send me more people I should cover with the link below. 👇

These are other Catholic business owners. Nominate one (including yourself).

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Highlights: For Solo Operators

This week, I’m just sharing the link to a friend’s Substack. Lucas Wollschlager runs Veritas Copy and recently launched a really fascinating newsletter called The Solo Operator.

He does deep dives and provides implementation advice on running a solo business. This first piece crushed it as I heard a lot of people in our community commenting on how good it was. He covered how a dryer vent cleaning biz cleared $100k in the first year of business with a super simple strategy.

Give him a follow, and read that first issue here.

Read It

Here is a huge list of various resources that we have complied overtime: The Ultimate Catholic Founders Resource Guide.

The Catholic Founders Resource Guide

Feel free to bookmark it as we’ll continue to update it. And if you have suggestions on what to add, ping us (even if you want to promote your own stuff).

How did we do? Reply with 1 (Great 😄), 2 (Mid 🫤), or 3 (Needs Work ☹️)

News / Updates:

• Shout out to Fio for sponsoring this recording at the recently held YCP Conference 🙌🏼

• We have events happening in Houston, San Francisco, Dallas, Nashville, Wausau, and Columbus. Register to attend.

• Luca at Fides is hosting an awards night on May 15th in NYC. We’re a sponsor. Sign up here.

• I recently went on the BeatiDudes podcast. Check it out here.

• We just launched a bot to help you learn from ALL the content we’ve produced. Join the Guild today to gain access.

• Want to invest in other Catholic projects/companies/ventures? Subscribe (for free) to the Faithful Steward newsletter.

In Today’s Issue:

• Intro to the Guest and Topic: Edmund Mitchell

• Core Takeaway: AI is the Great Equalizer

• Episode References

• Select Quotes

• Key Moments

First time here? Learn more about our mission. And don’t forget to subscribe.

Today’s Topic & Guest:

Edmund Mitchell. Creator of Digital Continent, The Faith & AI Project, Real+True, Zealous Parish Ministers

Welcome back to the pod! Today, we’re sharing an episode we recorded in person at the YCP conference in Dallas a few weeks back. I was joined by Edmund Mitchell. He and I had a lot of fun, probably because in so many ways we are very similar personalities, both just loaded with ADHD, ideas, and energy. You kind of get the picture.

I learned about Edmund because he recently hosted a debate between Mark Barnes and Matthew Harvey Sanders about AI on his podcast called The Faith and AI Project.

Edmund is dedicated to helping Catholics turn their obsessions into intellectual property, authority, and income by applying Catholic anthropology to modern marketing.

Our conversation dives straight into the biggest world-changing shift of our time—Artificial Intelligence—which Edmund argues is uniquely geared towards entrepreneurs who are intrinsically motivated.

For Catholic Founders, this is an immense opportunity to escape the corporate monkey life by leaning into our unique calling and putting our personality into our work.

Core Lesson:

AI is the Great Equalizer, and Will Enable 100x More Catholic Entrepreneurship

With AI, the barriers to starting a business are much lower. You can get started with very little pre-existing knowledge. Turning those ideas you dreamt up, or the ones you saw on Instagram, into a real business has a minimal barrier now.

On top of this, more people will need to build out some sort of side hustle. Either they will be laid off because of AI, or they will need additional income because the rising cost of living makes it impossible for them to pay for their 10 kids.

The ingredients are there for some spicy soup.

As Catholics, who have true knowledge of our purpose, we must seize this moment to build business. To gain influence and prestige, to create a future that puts human flourishing at the center of society.

(There are many other things I could have put from this episode, but this one stands out to me the most)

God Bless & Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

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Key Episode References:

• Digital Continent (Edmundo Reyes)

• Zealous Parish Ministers

• Real and True (digital content based on the catechism of Catholic Church)

• Scott Hahn

• Tim Ferriss

• Richard Feynman

• Working Genius

• Murray Davis

• Matthew Harvey Sanders vs Mark Barnes debate podcast

• Magisterium AI

• A Thousand True Fans - Kevin Kelly

• Lucas Wall, Catholic University of America

• Leviticus 3:16

• The Righteous Mind - Jonathan Haidt

• Dietrich Von Hildebrand

• FIO

• YCP Conference

• The Faith and AI Project

• Delete Magisterium AI - Mark Barnes article

Select Quotes:

• “If you’re in the old model of the industrial revolution, the public school system, it was there to train people to be good employees. But the AI world is much more geared towards entrepreneurs. And these are people that are intrinsically motivated, who can come up a direction to go on their own. So instead of what’s the correct answer to the question, an entrepreneur is saying, is the question?” —Edmund Mitchell

• “As Catholic entrepreneurs, we are not just created to achieve some sort of earthly fame or glory or monetary pile. We are called to be instruments of God’s will in the world and to bring glory to Him. So that’s what we’re here and that’s what we’re all about.” —Silas Mähner

• “The litmus test of have you found your one thing is does it work for you?”—Edmund Mitchell

• “There’s a lot of people that aren’t saying something new because they’re scared. They’re scared to put their unique personality into their message.” —Edmund Mitchell

• “As long as I just keep coming up with ideas, just keep pursuing things. At some point you’ll find it.” —Edmund Mitchell

• “AI is one of the most, I mean, it is the most groundbreaking thing. I thought the internet and social media was going to be the most revolutionary thing, but AI really is.”

• —Edmund Mitchell

• “There’s a difference between automated and automatic. Something that’s automatic, I automatically send a text, or I automatically get a reminder to send a text to my sister when it’s her birthday. That’s automatic. Automated is a robot sends and crafts a text and sends it to my sister. So we want to avoid automated things. But we want to avoid automating things that should be a human touch and are built built on trust and connection. We want to make other things automatic.” —Edmund Mitchell

• “Of all of the disruption and confusion, we [Catholics] should be thinking, we should be so thankful that we have truth and morality to lean on. And we have these anchors because the number of people who are going to have lost all sense of stability and understanding of who they are. is going to be really hard for a lot of people.” — Silas Mähner

Key Moments: (outline)

• [02:55] - Edmund Mitchell’s Work and Mission: Mitchell introduces himself as a freelance content creator and brand strategist whose mission is to help Catholics turn their “obsessions into intellectual property, authority and income” by applying Catholic anthropology to modern marketing.

• [04:24] - Entrepreneurial Origin: Mitchell shares that his entrepreneurial journey began in college when he secretly read business books while serving in parish ministry, noting how business and Catholic theology helped each other.

• [08:24] - Finding Your Unique Calling: Mitchell advises defining your life’s work by picking “one question” for the next five years, stating the “litmus test” for finding your one thing is “does it work for you?”.

• [11:27] - Ideas Spreading: Mitchell quotes sociologist Davis Murray: “Ideas don’t spread because they’re true Ideas spread because they’re interesting,” and notes that many Catholic content creators are scared to put their unique personality into their message.

• [18:38] - The Creator Economy: Mitchell discusses the massive growth of the creator economy and how AI is increasing the effectiveness of solopreneurs, making freelancers look “much more like just business owners”.

• [25:27] - The Mindset of Persistence: Mitchell shares his long-term mindset on failure: “I’ll never fail because I’ll come up with another idea” and just keep pursuing things until you find it.

• [32:02] - AI as a Groundbreaking Shift: Mitchell calls AI “the most groundbreaking thing” since electricity, noting its exponential growth and current security challenges with models like Mythos.

• [36:36] - Leveraging AI Agents: Mitchell explains advanced AI use as having a “Jarvis companion AI” that routes tasks to an entire “team of agents” (research, content creation, SEO), allowing him to operate as an advisor to his company of agents.

• [38:21] - Automated vs. Automatic: Mitchell clarifies the need to avoid “automated” tasks (robot crafting a text) and instead make other things “automatic” (a reminder), especially to preserve the “human touch” built on trust and connection.

• [49:50] - The Insight Economy: Mitchell says the world is moving from the “information economy” into the “insight economy,” where unique connections between ideas and ultimately wisdom become the most valuable assets.

• [52:34] - Gratitude for Truth: Silas Mähner encourages Catholic listeners to be thankful for their anchors of “truth and morality” in times of disruption, which provides stability and clarity amid widespread confusion.

First time here? Learn more about our mission. And don’t forget to subscribe.

More About the BeatiDudes Podcast:

A while back, when I met Jeff Schiefelbein in person, he said I could come on the BeatiDudes podcast the next time I was in Dallas. It finally happened. He was true to his word.

The BeatiDudes podcast is a religiously funny podcast that brings people closer to Christ. I joined hosts Jeff Schiefelbein, Paul Kolker, and Nick Bezner to cover a lot of big topics at their tiny table.

We covered some of my story, being from Wisconsin. How I started Catholic Founders. We talked about how to take risks as a Catholic Founder and our relationship to risk, storytelling, prudence, and humility.

I asked them some questions too. Including what held them back from doing what God called them to do.

Overall, it was a lot of fun. Especially so because Jeff was running on very little sleep. Less sleep = more unfiltered = more fun.

Enjoy the conversation!

Key Episode References:

• Silas Marner by George Eliot

• The Five Love Languages

• Wild Leaders Assessment

• Young Catholic Professionals (YCP)

• Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

• The Virtuous Leadership Institute (Alexandre Havard)

• Everybody Matters by Bob Chapman

Select Quotes:

• "I started to wonder, what if Jesus was the CEO of a company? How would that look?" — Silas Mähner

• "God created your soul in this particular time of history to those particular parents in whatever circumstances. You didn't choose that, right?" — Silas Mähner

• "It's not to say we can't derail ourselves, but if we just lean into the track that He's laid out for us... whether or not you achieve great things in the eyes of the world or small things, it doesn't really matter because it's what God called you to." — Silas Mähner

• "My way is not the way, it's just a way. There's certain things that are true and certain morals that are right and wrong, but everything else is just like the lens by which you're looking through stuff." — Jeff Schiefelbein

• "What are my unique gifts that aren't replaceable? Or at least that only a handful of people can use, right? So that if I'm using them in my kind of circle, then I'm having the greatest impact for those people."— Paul Kolker

Key Moments: (outline)

• [00:00] - Intro : Silas introduces the crosspost of his appearance on the BeatiDudes podcast.

• [06:26] - Jesus as CEO : Silas explains the original thesis behind Catholic Founders and his interest in clean tech.

• [10:20] - Man of the Woods : A look into Silas’s upbringing in rural Wisconsin as the oldest of eight kids.

• [13:20] - Co-creators with God : Discussing the inherent call to entrepreneurship and co-creation.

• [17:01] - Identifying the Track : Silas shares what he has learned from interviewing 60 different founders.

• [21:34] - The Dinner Format : Describing the intentional networking dinners Silas hosts in Nashville.

• [24:19] - The Big Question : Silas asks the Dudes what they feel uniquely called to and what holds them back.

• [36:39] - Prudence vs. Risk : A discussion on the balance between business risk and trusting in God’s providence.

• [42:30] - Resilience through Failure : Jeff and Paul discuss how failures create the best stories and build character.

• [52:56] - Outro : Final plugs for Catholic Founders and the BeatiDudes sponsors.

Two Years of Catholic Founders: Reflections, Rebranding, and the Future of Co-Creation

Today marks a milestone that is deeply personal to me. It is May 1st — the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker.

As the son of a carpenter, this day has always held a special place in my heart. But today, it carries a double significance: it is the two-year anniversary of the public launch of my recruitment business and the birth of Catholic Founders.

At the start, the key goal was to understand how to be a Catholic Founder. How to imitate the way Jesus would run a company today.

The beginning was rough — my AI-generated logo and the sporadic blog posts. But it’s been two years, and things are a lot more refined. Not perfect, but it’s a good time for updates.

I want to cover why I started this, what we’ve accomplished so far, and where we are going (what we’re evolving into).

Why We Started: The Theology of Entrepreneurship

In 2019, I was struck by a question that I couldn’t find a substantial answer to: If Jesus were the CEO of a company today, how would He lead?

We have Theology of the Body and a lot of writing on the Theology of Money, but I saw a void where a Theology of Entrepreneurship should be. I knew there was more to the hustle culture of Gary V and Tai Lopez. Jesus wouldn’t be telling you about how to make money with a Lambo in the background.

My hope in starting Catholic Founders was that I’d find others who were also curious about this question. Thankfully, I did.

What We’ve Achieved So Far

What was at first sporadic blog posts and a simple WhatsApp group chat has thankfully become a lot more than that.

• The Podcast: In January 2025, we launched the podcast. We are now 64 episodes deep. We’ve been blessed to have heavy hitters like Alessandro DiSanto (Hallow), Andreas Widmer (CUA), Matthew Harvey Sanders (Magesterium AI), Tim Connors (Investor), John Johnson (Patmos), and many others.

• The Saintly CEO & Faithful Steward: We launched a tactical Monday newsletter and a free private deal-flow newsletter to connect Catholic investors with Catholic builders.

• The Community: We now have over 800 total subscribers, 109 paid members, and have hosted ~20 meetups, coffee hangs, and dinners. And the group chat is now a thriving WhatsApp community. (Join today)

The Next Chapter: The Launch Pad For Catholic Entrepreneurs

As we move into our third year, I have gained immense clarity on who we are here to serve. We are going all in on helping Catholics start and grow their businesses. The launchpad, so to speak.

We’ll continue to provide value and create resources that serve those early needs.

The four core types of people who would be a good fit for Catholic Founders are as follows.

1. The Aspiring Founder: You want to start a business but have no idea where to begin. Maybe it’s a side hustle to support a growing family; we are here to help you get off the ground.

2. The Struggling Entrepreneur: You have a business (likely under $1M in revenue), and you’ve hit a ceiling. You need mentors and peers to help you break through bottlenecks.

3. Seeking Friends Founder: You’re likely hitting your stride and winning, but you don’t want to go it alone. You want a community that cares about the same things you do.

4. The Mentor: You’ve achieved significant success and want to turn around and lend a hand to the next generation.

This IS the Missing Layer: While great organizations like Legatus or SENT Ventures exist for established leaders, there is almost nothing for the beginner. We are filling that gap.

Why This Matters Now: The Post-AI Civilization

We are at a crossroads. AI disruption is changing the nature of work, and many people are going to lose their jobs. But we know that work is good for man. God told us to dominate the earth before the fall of Adam. It’s part of our divine mandate.

I believe, metaphorically speaking, society is about to experience a series of gargantuan earthquakes that will level the structures we take for granted. But when the dust settles, the Church and her faithful will still be standing — visible in the distance. Gleaming like a city on a hill.

When people hit rock bottom, they become open to the Truth. This is a massive opportunity for evangelization. Think of the energy St. Paul would have today — he’d be on every podcast, in every forum, bringing the truth to a world in ruins.

On top of this, we have a chance to shape the new civilization. Will it be vapid and utilitarian, or will it be beautiful, founded on truth, and full of the laughter of children?

The future will be built by someone. Let’s make sure that someone is a group of Catholic entrepreneurs who love God.

Join the Guild

If this resonates with you, I invite you to join the Catholic Founders Guild.

We’ve priced it at $100 a year (or $10 a month) because I want it to be accessible to the person just starting. While there are many perks, I wouldn’t suggest joining for that reason. It’s about surrounding yourself with like-minded Catholics striving for both saintly greatness and professional excellence.

You were created to create. Don’t forget that.

Join us at: catholicfounders.com/subscribe

Subscribe now

Thank you for two incredible years. Here is to many more.

God Bless & Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

News / Updates:

• Sign up for the Faithful Steward private newsletter.
  As mentioned in the episode, we are launching the Faithful Steward. A private newsletter for Catholic Investors.
  👉 Sign up to get deal flow here.
  👉 Submit your deck to be shared with the network here.

• Wausau, WI Monthly Meetup: Sign up here (Last Saturday of each month)

• San Francisco Meetup: May 14th, after mass at Star of the Sea (Feast of The Ascension, Holy Day of Obligation). Sign up here.

• Houston, TX, and Columbus, OH, are close to getting something on the books - reach out if interested in attending.

• Sponsor Catholic Founders to get in front of Hundreds of Catholic Business owners each week. admin@catholicfounders.com

In Today’s Issue:

• Intro to the Guest and Topic: James Reichert - Cana Wedding Group

• Core Takeaway: Our daily evangelization mandate

• Episode References

• Select Quotes

• Key Moments

First time here? Learn more about our mission. And don’t forget to subscribe.

Today’s Topic & Guest:

James Reichert | Cana Wedding Group

In this episode, I sit down with James Reichert, the co-founder of Cana Wedding Group, to discuss how they are taking on the “big wedding” industry. ie: Zoho, The Knot, etc. You know, the companies that have turned marriage into a commercial activity and nothing more.

His take (which I agree with) is that because Marriage is a sacrament, and we as Christians are the only ones really doing it properly, we should have a company to work with that doesn’t actively hate what marriage truly is.

Not to mention, we’re the only ones with families, so we’re the ones who are creating their future customers.

Aside from his story and what they are building, we also get into his thoughts on how Catholics should be building businesses, and how entrepreneurship is an incredible vehicle for evangelization.

You’re going to enjoy this — I’m sure of that.

Core Lesson:

Every Catholic-run business carries a mandate for daily evangelization, whether through direct witness or the pursuit of excellence in service.

For too long, we’ve separated our professional lives from our spiritual calling. It’s what the world has demanded of us. But as Catholic entrepreneurs, we know we are created to be instruments of God’s will in the world. James points out, if your target market is fellow Catholics and you can offer a tool that avoids the woke friction of secular competitors, you have a unique opportunity to strengthen the faith of your customers.

True success in business should be framed through the lens of excellence rather than blind ambition. While ambition can become vicious if it overlooks holiness, excellence glorifies God by utilizing the specific talents He has entrusted to us to their fullest potential.

The goal of a Catholic venture is not just to survive in a secular market. It’s to build an uncancelable ecosystem where our values are preserved, and our businesses serve as a primary vehicle for sanctification. By creating high-quality alternatives like Cana, we reclaim territory in the modern world and provide living examples of what it means to be a “Man of the Kingdom”.

God Bless & Happy Building!

~Silas Mähner

Share

Key Episode References:

• Magisterium AI

• Leaving a Legacy - Johann Kurtz

• St. Moses the Black

• National Catholic Register article

• EWTN article

Select Quotes:

• "It's a funny one too, if you're a Catholic and you run a company, there should be a level of evangelization every single day."— James Reinchert

• “Shoot for excellence, not ambition. Blind ambition, can I think eventually become a bit vicious in the sense that like if you have ambition over empathy or ambition over compassion, ambition over holiness, that’s where things can be a bit dangerous. So shoot for excellence. Ambition can be a good thing. You want to funnel and use that ambition for excellence and to glorify God in whatever way you can, but just be careful about taking it to its logical extreme.”— James Reinchert

• "The parable of the talents is a really important one, especially for the modern young man who, if he wants, he can sit on his couch all day long and play Fortnite... and never live up to the potential that he's supposed to."— James Reinchert

• "Catholics should be owning marriage preparation, wedding preparation, wedding planning."— James Reinchert

• “If you give, the Lord will give back. And that's not the reason why you should do it, but he really does love when you take the gifts that he's given you and you put them to good work.”— James Reinchert

Key Moments: (outline)

• [04:27] - Introducing Cana: James describes building the first Catholic and Christian alternative to secular wedding sites.

• [10:18] - The Need for Catholic Alternatives: A discussion on why certain industries like marriage require uncompromised faith-based solutions.

• [14:44] - Ambition vs. Excellence: James explores the fine line between healthy drive and blind ambition, emphasizing excellence for God’s glory.

• [21:02] - Parable of the Talents: The importance of using God-given skills to avoid wasting potential on earthly distractions.

• [35:12] - Honesty in Business: Why truthfulness creates a “spiritual resonance” in professional relationships and fundraising.

• [44:35] - Sacrifice and Startups: James shares the personal challenges of building a venture while providing for a young family.

• [51:41] - Leaving a Legacy: A brief discussion on the importance of generational support and the work of John Cortines.

• [54:19] - Reinvigorating Faith: James talks about the power of confession and adoration in his personal spiritual life.

Marketing for Market Challengers - Marcellino D'Ambrosio

Our latest Catholic Founders Guild Expert Call (Apr 28, 2026) featured Marcellino D’Ambrosio of Sherwood Fellows, delivering an essential strategy for Marketing for Market Challengers.

Marcellino introduced the four Ps of marketing, emphasizing that true marketing problems usually stem from issues with positioning or the offer itself. The core theme was that brand building is the most powerful “competitive moat” against AI and feature theft, achieved by establishing a distinctive aesthetic and articulating a unique value proposition aligned with fundamental human needs.

You can find the full recording and transcript here: Recording and Transcript.

🚨 SPECIAL OFFER: There is a special offer contained in this for any member of the CF Guild. If you’d like to get access to that, join the guild today to find out.

Join the CF Guild today.

One-Liner Takeaway

For those who aren’t paid members yet, here’s the quick one-liner takeaway:

The only competitive moat you can build today is a distinctive brand aesthetic that AI cannot replicate.

When features can be stolen and AI can automate execution, the relational and personal touch of the founder’s brand, manifested through a distinctive aesthetic, is the only thing that creates long-term, sustainable value and protects your company's ethos and identity in the marketplace. If you want to stop competing on price and promotion, you need to look and sound completely different from everyone else.

Ready to stop going solo? Join the Catholic Founders Guild to surround yourself with fellow Catholic entrepreneurs building their businesses in Christ. As a paid member, you gain access to the resources and community needed to grow your business.

Subscribe now

The Catholic Founders Guild is an association of Catholic Biz owners who believe that their business is meant to be an extension of God’s will in the world.

If you share this belief, join today!

Read more

Happy Monday, folks!

Welcome back to Saintly CEO. Every Monday, while you sip your coffee, get some tactical advice to run your business fully in union with your Catholic faith.

Each week you’ll find…

IN TODAY’S ISSUE

• News/Events: SF, Nashville + a new perk for the Guild

• Feature Content: Make Generosity Your Entrepreneurial Compass

• Heavenly Hustlers: 8 folks. From Gluten Free Flour to an Uber Competitor

• Highlights: This Accounting Method Helps You Make Money

[read time: ~8.5 min | word count 1,845]

News / Updates

• 🚨🚨🚨 ICYMI: We recently launched the Faithful Steward. A free, private newsletter for Catholic investors to discover Catholic-run ventures raising money. A deal flow newsletter. It’s totally free. Sign up today. Builders, submit your deck here.

• 🎸 In Nashville? We’re hosting a hangout tomorrow night, sponsored by Lucid Private Offices.

• 🌉 In SF? We’re hosting a hangout after the Ascension Mass at Star of the Sea on May 14th. Details TBD, but sign up here to get notified.

• 🤠 In Houston? There will be an event the week of May 13th. Stay tuned for details.

• 🤖 We’re launching a new CF Guild perk. An AI bot that will answer questions from all of the CF content, and it will be able to help you meet other members of the Guild who can help you. To gain access, you’ll need to be a member of the CF Guild, so sign up today.

Make Generosity Your Entrepreneurial Compass

As entrepreneurs, it is easy to measure success by the bottom line, the growth rate, or the market share. But for the Catholic business owner, those are secondary markers. The real question is whether your work is ordered to God.

At the center of this vocation is a radical call to generosity. It is the key that unlocks our identity as stewards rather than masters.

Stewardship Over Ownership

If God has blessed your business with more than your family and your enterprise need to live well, that surplus is not just a cushion for comfort — consider it a sacred trust. The mindset should really be that this is His. Thinking “how should I give away my things” would be the incorrect framing. All of it belongs to God in the first place.

“In his use of things man should regard the external goods he legitimately owns not merely as exclusive to himself but common to others also, in the sense that they can benefit others as well as himself. The ownership of any property makes its holder a steward of Providence, with the task of making it fruitful and communicating its benefits to others, first of all his family.” — (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2404).

When we realize we are merely stewards, the temptation to stack up more and more dissipates. We begin to see our capital as a tool for the Kingdom.

The Entrepreneurial Fiat

To live this vocation well, your business plan must begin with a fiat. Like Mary, our response to God’s provision should be a total surrender of our professional path.

“Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’ Then the angel departed from her.” — (Luke 1:38).

This “yes” is not just a spiritual sentiment; it has to be practical. It must shape our time, our plans, and our use of money. You cannot follow God with your work while remaining closed-fisted.

Honoring God with Everything Over and Above

Scripture and Tradition are incredibly direct when it comes to how we handle the “extra.” The question is not, “How much can I keep?” but rather, “How can I honor the Giver with what remains?”

“But, when what necessity demands has been supplied, and one’s standing fairly taken thought for, it becomes a duty to give to the indigent out of what remains over. “Of that which remaineth, give alms.” — (Rerum Novarum, 22).

“Furthermore, a person’s superfluous income, that is, income which he does not need to sustain life fittingly and with dignity, is not left wholly to his own free determination. Rather, the Sacred Scriptures and the Fathers of the Church constantly declare in the most explicit language that the rich are bound by a very grave precept to practice almsgiving, beneficence, and munificence.” — (Quadragesimo Anno, 50).

We see this pattern throughout the Gospels. Martha “welcomed him into her home” (Luke 10:38). Mary sat at his feet and listened. Jesus “loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus” (John 11:5). And Joseph of Arimathea gave Jesus his own tomb, where he was “laid… in his own new tomb” (Matthew 27:60). These were people who made room for the Lord through the sharing of their home, their space, and their property.

A Mission, Not Just a Business

When we lead with a generous heart, our work takes on a mission-shaped purpose. We are not just building something for ourselves. We are building something that can serve God, serve the Church, and serve people in need. This is a direct imitation of Christ’s life of service.

That is what Catholic entrepreneurship looks like: faithful stewardship and open hands. Not a life focused on accumulation.

The Cheerful Giver

Ultimately, the goal is a heart that belongs entirely to God (because that’s what we’d have in Heaven). When we stop being selfish with our surplus, the grind of entrepreneurship becomes a joyful act of service.

Be generous toward God. When you do, your career can blossom into a path to holiness and a vehicle for delivering His will on Earth.

God Bless & Happy Building

~Silas Mähner

Heavenly Hustlers

These are other Catholic business owners. Nominate one (including yourself).

• 🚲 Patrick McFarland and Davide Thompson are co-founders of CARI, a campus-based alternative to DoorDash that helps employ students. This is a little bit of an over-simplification, but that’s the way I understand it. They are based in Nashville.

• 👩 Anna Saucier & Megan Gephar run Apostolic Fruit. Helping Catholic women lead healthy organizations. They run some really interesting retreats called Rest Boldly.

• 💼 Mark Mastroianni is building an app to help board members bring up the most critical things, and to help executives integrate the 12 levels of humility from St. Benedict. He’s generally doing a lot of things. A bit of a hustler. Based in the Indianapolis area.

• 🚗 Ryan Kreager is the CTO & Co-Founder of Rides2U. A high-trust ride-hailing network that only employs the people you’d feel comfortable giving your daughter a ride home at 1 in the morning. They do schedule ahead and have much better economics. He’s based in the South Bend area.

• 👻 Daniel Urdaneta recently launched a ghostwriting agency. He’s focused on serving Catholics, and he’s based in Argentina.

• 🍞 Emmett Ackerlund is commercializing his sister’s gluten-free flour recipe. Guy is sharp. Based out of NYC. I’m already on the waitlist for my wife’s gluten allergy.

  Share

🙋‍♂️ Nominate a Heavenly Hustler (including yourself) - It takes 1 min.

Thank you to Catholic Owned for helping us find some of these folks each week. Get listed today!

Highlight: An Ultra-Short Explanation of How to Use the Profit First Method

Many of the founders I encounter don’t take profit first. They have all their money in one bank account, making it hard to visualize how much burn you have left.

I get it. That’s what I used to do. Until I heard about the profit-first method of accounting. I’m not going to explain the whole thing, but will give you my version of it so you can (hopefully) be convinced to get the book and implement it and save yourself a lot of headache.

Instead of 1 bank account, you’ll have 5. Income, Owner’s Comp, Tax, OpEx, and Profit.

When you get paid, it goes to the income account.

Then, on a periodical basis (maybe once or twice a week), you’ll ‘balance’ the accounts.

Depending on your business, you’ll put x% into each account from your income account, leaving it with the minimum needed (I just keep $100 in it).

It might look like this. 10,000 comes into the income. 15% ($1,500) goes to profit, 20% ($2,000) goes to tax, 30% ($3,000) goes to OpEx, and the remaining 35% ($3,500) goes to Owner’s Comp.

At the end of the quarter, you can pay yourself a ‘bonus’ from the profit account. Usually, let’s say 50-75% of the value of the profit account.

The other key benefit here is that you’re ‘forced’ to make your company run on the allocated OpEx account, rather than forgoing your own compensation for the sake of the company.

This creates more discipline on spending, and will also help light a fire under your butt to get more sales.

Again, this is super ‘not official’ — this is just my read on it. But I’m confident a LOT of you would benefit from reading this book and implementing something similar to ensure you are actually making money rather than just scraping by.

Here is the link to the book.

Here is a huge list of various resources that we have complied overtime: The Ultimate Catholic Founders Resource Guide.

The Catholic Founders Resource Guide

Feel free to bookmark it as we’ll continue to update it. And if you have suggestions on what to add, ping us (even if you want to promote your own stuff).

How did we do? Reply with 1 (Great 😄), 2 (Mid 🫤), or 3 (Needs Work ☹️)