The Company of Works is a non-profit organization established on July 11, 1986. It arose through the free initiative of young university graduates—CL members and otherwise—as a living witness to an education and a mature faith. The association’s aim is to “promote the spirit of mutual collaboration and assistance for an optimal utilization of resources and energies, to aid the insertion of young people and the unemployed into the world of work, in continuity with the social presence of Catholics and in light of the teachings of the magisterium of the Church” (from art. 4 of the Statute).

The Company of Works unites in a network tens of thousands of members between small and medium-sized businesses, charitable and cultural associations, and not-for-profit organizations with headquarters in Italy and abroad.

The Company represents a unique element in the panorama of civic associations: it is not a corporation or a holding company, nor an off-shoot of political parties nor is it involved in defending the interests of any category. It does not participate in the management of its members’ organizations.

The “glue” holding the Association together is the shared recognition that a commitment undertaken with the ideals of mutuality, attention to need, and the development of talents improves the quality of work and of social and economic life.

In these years, the Company of Works has been the prime mover and arena for the cultural articulation of important civic battles fought under the banner “More society, less State:” those for freedom of education and for respect of the principle of subsidiarity.

After more than 20 years and with an average of 600,000 participants, the Meeting in Rimini is currently the most well-attended summer festival of encounters, culture, politics, music and shows in the world. Over the years, events, exhibitions, theatrical performances, and concerts of a very high level have been presented, as well as the testimony of historical figures like Pope John Paul II, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Eug�ne Ionesco, Lech Walesa, Giovanni Testori, William Congdon, Del Noce, Clement, Mario Luzi, Romano Guarducci, Giulio Andreotti, and Riccardo Muti, whose contributions have enriched the Meeting enormously.

The Meeting exists in order to give people of different cultures an opportunity for encounter, dialogue, and expression.

Among the many Cultural Centers which have arisen in Italy and abroad, thanks to the free initiative of adults who took onto themselves the burden and responsibility of offering a cultural service to the entire metropolitan community, a special place is held by the Centro Culturale di Milano (Cultural Center of Milan, also known as “cMc”), which serves as a point of reference for the dense network of centers scattered throughout Italy. Born in 1981, the cMc was awarded on December 7, 2000, the Ambrogino d’Oro, a civic award from the City of Milan, for its twenty years of activity in the city. It organizes events and encounters in which writers, artists, politicians, and Nobel prize winners from both Italy and abroad participate.

The only work in which the Fraternity of CL is involved as an institution is the Sacred Heart Foundation of Milan, a non-for-profit organization whose primary purpose is the education of young people, at the same time promoting initiatives aimed at protecting and fostering in Italian society free schools open to the public, in accordance with the culture that derives from Christian tradition and the teaching of the Magisterium of the Church.