Just in time for Canada Day, an Edmonton-based nonprofit organization dedicated to Catholic intellectual and cultural renewal in Canada has launched a 12-part YouTube series, exploring the relationship between faith, reason and public life.
“Reasonable Passions,” hosted by Ryan N.S. Topping, executive director of the Gregory the Great Institute, examines what its creators describe as the “broken mirrors” of modern secularism and offers a “roadmap for the renewal of Catholic and classical culture across North America.”
“I am part of the generation that has inherited broken mirrors,” Victor Carpay, 22, the institute’s director of development and communications told CCN. “Shards of truth and shards of what a Christian nation once was.
“The institute is one of the few places in Canada seriously asking how we can put a coherent image of the faith and culture back together — and more than asking, doing it,” he said.
The series seeks to address questions facing Catholics aged 25 to 45 by drawing on some of the giants of Christian thought, such as St. Thomas Aquinas, St. John Henry Newman and Roger Scruton. Topics include the renewal of culture, classical education, local community-building and lessons from the Christian intellectual tradition for navigating contemporary society.
“We are witnessing a unique moment where young families and men are showing up at our parishes asking for something ‘seriously Catholic,’” Topping said in announcing the series. “This series is for the builders — the parents, educators, and citizens who want to stop being products of a secular assembly line and start becoming links in a living chain of tradition.”
This initiative is one of several sponsored by the institute, whose mission is “to equip Christians to renew culture in the light of faith and reason” through formation programs, short courses, and publications focused on Catholic life in Canada.
The institute, founded in early 2025, describes its long-term vision as fostering “a Catholic intellectual renaissance in Canada” through “a lay-led movement of formation, scholarship, and beauty” that builds institutions serving the Church for generations, according to its website.
A quote from St. John Paul II summarizes the institute’s approach: “A faith that does not become culture is not fully accepted, not entirely thought out, not faithfully lived.”
Other initiatives include the Renewing Culture Conference, Faith & Reason seminars for Catholic leaders, St. Gregory’s Folk Music Camp for youth, book studies, and “Magnalia,” a journal devoted to Catholic thought and culture.
According to its 2025 Impact Report, the institute surpassed its initial seed-funding goal in its first year, established its leadership and advisory boards, became a registered nonprofit society, launched more than 30 book studies across Canada, hosted its first Renewing Culture Conference, and outlined plans for expanded programming in 2027.
Cardinal Thomas Collins, archbishop emeritus of Toronto, serves as the institute’s patron, and its advisory board includes leaders from CCO Canada, Seat of Wisdom College and Cardus.
The Gregory the Great Institute is one of several organizations seeking to strengthen Catholic intellectual life in North America through scholarship, leadership formation, and educational initiatives. While organizations with a similar mission in the United States, such as the Lumen Christi Institute in Chicago, have emphasized engagement with university communities, the Gregory the Great Institute says its focus is on renewing Catholic intellectual and cultural life within the Canadian context through research, formation and public programming.
