This repository contains the official bylaws of the Catholic Digital Commons Foundation, maintained as a version-controlled public record.
The authoritative text of the bylaws is located in BYLAWS.md.
The Catholic Digital Commons Foundation exists to steward shared digital goods with clarity, accountability, and continuity.
Maintaining the bylaws in a Git repository directly serves that mission.
Version control provides:
All changes to the bylaws are publicly visible, attributable, and reviewable.
There are no silent edits and no ambiguity about when or how governance rules evolve.
Git preserves the complete amendment history of the bylaws, allowing the Foundation and external stakeholders to trace decisions over time with precision.
Each modification is associated with a concrete proposal, discussion, and approval record, reinforcing responsible governance.
Plain-text Markdown ensures the bylaws remain readable and usable decades into the future, independent of proprietary formats or platforms.
As a foundation committed to open, shared digital infrastructure for the Church, it is fitting that its own constitutional documents are maintained using open, inspectable tools.
The content of BYLAWS.md constitutes the official bylaws of the Catholic Digital Commons Foundation,
subject to adoption and amendment according to the procedures defined therein.
The Git history records how the text has evolved; the bylaws themselves define when changes take legal and organizational effect.
Proposed amendments to the bylaws are introduced through documented changes to BYLAWS.md,
reviewed according to the Foundation's governance procedures, and merged only after proper approval.
The full amendment workflow — including branch naming, versioning, and approval procedures — is defined in GOVERNANCE.md.
Where applicable, significant changes may be summarized in a CHANGELOG.md for ease of reference.
After cloning the repository, install the Node dev-dependencies:
npm installTo build an HTML version of the bylaws locally:
npm run build:htmlThis requires Pandoc as a system dependency (not installed via npm).
Install it first — for example sudo apt install pandoc on Debian/Ubuntu,
brew install pandoc on macOS, or see the Pandoc installation docs.
This repository contains governance documents of the Catholic Digital Commons Foundation.
Reuse or adaptation for other organizations should respect applicable legal and canonical requirements.