SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, Calif., Aug. 16, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- The Catholic Business Journal LLC (http://www.CatholicBusinessJournal.biz), a new online platform connecting Catholic business professionals with each other and with their Faith, announced its 17-week public launch beginning today, August 15, 2007 and continuing through December 12, 2007. The corporate marketing strategy estimates consistently reaching more than 3,000,000 Catholics in the U.S. during this period, with spike outreaches exceeding 80,000,000 worldwide.
But for the Catholic Business Journal, it's not just a numbers game.
Created by Catholic business professionals, for Catholic business professionals and "seekers," the online site magnifies the intersection of Faith and business. It offers users an interactive place to explore best practices, share resources, find and post jobs, discuss business issues, solve problems, create joint ventures, give opinions on books, movies, restaurants and hotels, yet also submit prayer requests and read outstanding commentary from Catholic columnists who are proven savvy business leaders.
Featured among the Catholic Business Journal's nine, hand-picked columnists are two unlikely business leaders; a Cistercian monk and a Jesuit priest.
Columnist Fr. Bernard McCoy, O.Cist., is the new venture's spiritual director. As the enterprising CEO of LaserMonks.com, a $4 million online office supply business started by the priest's monastic community a few years ago, Fr. Bernard has shared a speaker's podium with such innovators as a Google global director at a San Francisco Internet conference. He also has been featured in national newspapers, wire services, and on radio and television shows, including a feature on ABC's World News Tonight with Peter Jennings.
Columnist Fr. Robert J. Spitzer, S.J., PhD, a Jesuit priest and president of Gonzaga University, is a prodigious author whose writings often explore the principles and beneficial results of ethical leadership. This is not, for him, an academic pursuit. Fr. Spitzer's consulting work has transformed sections of major companies-including Boeing, Toyota and Costco, and he has founded several leadership training institutions.
Two priests. Two unlikely, yet exemplary, business columnists.
"We are confident that the caliber of our columnists -- and their intimate understanding of Faith AND business -- will help influence lives and thinking in the workplace," says marketing director Karen Walker. "Feature stories on Catholic business leaders, best practices, and problem-solving will be introduced shortly. We're already exploring partnerships to greatly enhance the jobs section in order to better serve the varying search needs of the highest level executives and CEOs, as well as the new, young applicant."
"There's a tendency to either relegate the principles of Faith to a dark corner until Sunday, or else to wear Faith on our sleeve as though it justifies inadequate skills," explains Walker. "Neither approach makes sense. Faith forms who we are as individuals. It directs how we exercise our talents and skills, how we approach problem-solving and how we treat each other. It gives meaning and purpose to all that we do. This robust online platform connects Catholic business professionals with each other and with their Faith in a new way, from a broad-based business perspective. It fills a void in the online marketplace, and is set-up to grow and expand as users give us feedback. It's an exciting vehicle to serve the Catholic business community."
William Applegate, president of the National Catholic Professional & Business Clubs, an organization with more than 13 regional chapters nationwide and three more forming this year, concurs.
"This is a tremendous tool for Catholic business clubs," explains Applegate. "Because it focuses on the intersection of Faith and business, it's not trying to be all things to all people. This provides us with a great partnership avenue to offer our membership more value and more services, to reach beyond local regions, to grow our businesses and even attract new members."
For more information, go to www.CatholicBusinessJournal.biz
About the Catholic Business Journal: Formed in 2006 by Catholic business professionals, for Catholic business professionals, and publicly launched August 15. 2007, the Catholic Business Journal is a Limited Liability Company dedicated to "generating a return on principle" by connecting Catholic business professionals with each other and with their Faith. For more information, go to www.CatholicBusinessJournal.biz.