From California — where trends like to begin — comes word of a new website devoted to Catholic business professionals: the Catholic Business Journal. According to the California Daily Catholic:

CBJ’s inaugural press release announced its ambitious August public launch, hoping within a few months to “consistently reach” more than three million Catholics business people in the U.S., “with spike outreaches exceeding 80,000,000 worldwide.”

“Fully faithful to the teaching magisterium of the Catholic church,” CBJ’s website declares it to be “dedicated to fostering a seamless integration of faith and work in the practical arena of business.”

“As far as I know, this is the first venture of its kind,” CBJ’s marketing director Karen Walker told California Catholic Daily. “I went looking for something like this, and didn’t find it. There are many excellent Catholic sites on the level of apologetics, devotional and prayer sites, Catholic blogs, and so forth, but we are the only website created by business professionals, for business professionals, and about business issues — from a Catholic perspective.”

The interactive site is a place to “explore best practices, share resources, find and post jobs, and discuss business issues,” as well as to “submit prayer requests and read outstanding commentary from Catholic columnists who are proven savvy business leaders.”

The new venture’s spiritual director is Cistercian Fr. Bernard McCoy As the CEO of LaserMonks.com, a $4 million online office supply business started by his Cistercian community, Fr. Bernard has been highlighted widely in the national media, including a feature on ABC’s World News Tonight with Peter Jennings.

Jesuit Fr. Robert J. Spitzer, Ph.D, president of Gonzaga University, an author who often explores ethical leadership, has been tapped as a regular CBJ columnist.

John LaBriola, Founder and President of Lighthouse Training, sales trainer for a Fortune 500 company, host of “St. Joseph Radio Presents,” and author of Christ-Centered Selling, is another columnist on the CBJ marquee.

William Applegate, president of the National Catholic Professional and Business Clubs, an organization with more than 13 regional chapters nationwide, says that CBJ can be a “tremendous tool” both for business and for the Faith because “it’s not trying to be all things to all people.”

It’s an ambitious idea, to be sure. And not a bad enterprise to pray for, and pray over, for Labor Day.

Photo: Fr. Bernard McCoy, O.S.C.O., from the Catholic Business Journal.