André and Angèle Regnier started CCO in 1988 at the University of Saskatchewan. The Regniers were part of an Evangelical Protestant group called Campus Crusade for Christ. They saw that other people in this group were excited about being Christians. They wanted Catholics to be excited about their religion too. They found a group of Catholics called the Catholic Charismatic Renewal who were already trying to do this. This group showed them how to get Catholics to be excited about their religion. The Regniers and their parish priest started CCO so that they could teach university students at the University of Saskatchewan about their religion and how to teach others about it too.