National Catholic Register, Jun 23, 2025 /
13:06 pm
Have an innovative idea for a Catholic-minded startup or ministry?
The SENT Summit may be just what you need to pitch your plan.
The summit is part of SENT Ventures’ broader vision to foster Catholic entrepreneurship in the secular world — fostering faith-driven entrepreneurship and innovation.
SENT Ventures’ fourth annual SENT Summit, to be held Sept. 8–11, expects to draw nearly 400 founders, investors, philanthropists, and nonprofit directors to the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. Now the largest U.S. gathering dedicated to “Spirit-led” Catholic enterprise, the summit pairs conventional business programming — keynotes, small-group breakouts, and sector-specific workshops — with daily Mass, adoration, and evening socials.
The format, organizers say, is meant to keep questions of capital and mission in the same conversation, showing how Catholic social teaching can guide decisions from product design to personnel policy.
A highlight for early-stage founders will be the summit’s third annual SENT “Pitch Competition.” Five finalists, selected on criteria including Catholic values alignment, market timing, and current traction, will present to a panel of venture capitalists and angel investors for the chance to receive a $10,000 grant and more than $50,000 in prizes, including business services. A previous winner, Presidio Healthcare, a pro-life insurance startup and the first of its kind, went on to raise $4 million in seed funding after its SENT appearance.
The deadline this year to apply for the Pitch Competition is July 25.
Running alongside the startup track, the “Mission Showcase” offers emerging apostolates a similar platform. Up to five ministries will receive a $1,500 cash grant and paid ticket as well as stage time before major Catholic philanthropists. Past presenters range from MetaSaint — a Roblox-based catechetical game that has logged 300,000 users, with Roblox itself having 70 million daily users — to Forge, an Iowa-based men’s formation network that has since expanded across the Midwest and is endorsed by such Catholic figures as theologian Scott Hahn, Super Bowl champion Matt Birk, and New York Times bestselling author Leonard Sax.
The deadline to apply for the Mission Showcase is July 18.
Even those not selected to present should benefit, however, from the world-class coaching and application process, which helps sharpen mission and model.
Attendance has nearly doubled every year since SENT held its inaugural summit in 2022, forcing the first-ever registration cap this year. SENT founder John Cannon told the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, this is because SENT “tries to run world-class events with deep Catholic spirituality — this includes starting every day with Mass and adoration, access to confession, inviting the top entrepreneurial leaders as speakers and presenters, and a strong culture of trying to lift others up.”
As a former Carmelite monk for seven years before he was called back into the world of business, Cannon holds the firm conviction that business can — in fact, should — be both professionally excellent and integrally Catholic.
The summit is part of a wider SENT Ventures ecosystem that offers year-round masterminds to provide advisement, regional meetups, and mentorship circles aimed at Catholic professionals in startup culture. Cannon’s 2024 white paper “Entrepreneurs of the Spirit” illustrates that lay-led innovation has historically driven periods of great Church renewal — and today should be no different.
SENT’s organizers are showing year over year that their unique showcase of business strategizing and the silence of prayer resonates with Catholic leaders who view entrepreneurship as a vocation as well as a career. There is a great need in the Church to tell more stories of Catholics building businesses and apostolates outside traditional Church institutions.
“It’s not just another conference — it’s a thriving community,” Cannon said. “People often come to get some particular business value or make connections, which happens, but what stays with them is the friendship, the formation, and the sense that they’re not building alone.”
How you can apply
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SENT Ventures is also actively seeking sponsors to scale these efforts.
There are three main sponsorship opportunities:
— General summit sponsorship for brand visibility across the entire event
— Pitch Competition sponsorship to support high-growth Catholic startups
— Mission Showcase sponsorship to assist apostolates tackling pastoral and cultural challenges
Interested parties are encouraged to reach out to Mary at Mary@sentventures.com.
This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, and has been adapted by CNA.
Andrew Likoudis is a graduate of Towson University in the field of communication studies and a 2025 summer intern for EWTN News with the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner.
