The organization was founded in response to the 2004 presidential election, which, in the view of the group, had witnessed unprecedented attempts to bend Catholic Social Teaching to accommodate policies which are in conflict with the teaching and values of the Church. It characterizes its membership as people who share an aversion to the kind of abuses of U.S. military power that led to the Iraq War, along with "the exploitation of social issues to advance the economic interests of a few, and the misuse of our Catholic faith for political gain."