January 2025
Francis slams deportations - McElroy to DC - Jimmy Carter - YCW centennial - Fighting fascism - Child labor
Jubilee Year 2025
Dear Friends,
Happy New Year for the Jubilee Year announced by Pope Francis!
As the new federal administration begins its work, we note the warnings issued by Pope Francis and by US bishops against the mass deportations promised by President Trump.
More positively, we welcome the appointment of a new "see judge act" archbishop of Washington DC in the person of Cardinal Robert McElroy. And we share the recollections on Jimmy Carter of former US YCS leader Tom Higgins, who worked as part of the late president's administration.
In another important anniversary, we highlight the centennial of the Young Christian Workers (YCW) movement, founded in Belgium in 1925 by Joseph Cardijn and a team of lay workers, including Fernand Tonnet and Paul Garcet, both martyred in a Nazi concentration camp at Dachau.
In memory of Tonnet, we present an article he wrote in 1924 - soon after Mussolini came to power in Italy - warning of the dangers of fascism, a warning that is no doubt of increasing relevance today. And we remember Garcet with an Instagram post remembering his insistence on the need for a "powerful" Church movement for young workers.
On this note, we include another inquiry on the exploitation of young workers and child workers inspired by Pope Francis' current Wednesday audience catechesis on children.
In fact, the Jubilee Year of 2025 is a great year for anniversaries, including the 60th anniversary of the Vatican II documents, Gaudium et Spes, and Apostolicam Actuositatem, both key milestones in the development of the lay apostolate, as well as the tenth anniversary of Pope Francis' landmark encyclical, Laudato Si'.
In another article, Stefan Gigacz points to the incredible number of great lay leaders and priests formed by the Cardijn movements over the last century.
On an academic level, we feature a new article by Australian, Paul Lentern, reflecting on the importance of the see, judge, act in the context of Catholic education.
As usual, we have a Gospel Enquiry by Pat Branson and a Gospel Reflection by Richard Pütz.
And in late news, we share a report of a potential miracle attributed to Cardijn disciple and founder of the Argentine Christian Family Movement, Enrique Shaw.
Great reading to launch the new year!
The Cardijn Associates USA Team
Inquiry: US mass deportations of immigrants a ‘disgrace,’ ‘profoundly disturbing’
Pope Francis has described President Donald Trump’s plans for mass deportation of immigration as a “disgrace” while Chicago archbishop, Cardinal Blase Cupich has called them “profoundly disturbing.”
In an Italian television interview, Pope Francis said it would be a “disgrace” if Trump went forward with the plan, in unusually forceful language for the leader of the global Catholic Church, Reuters reports.
“It would make the migrants, who have nothing, pay the unpaid bill,” said the pope. “It doesn’t work. You don’t resolve problems this way.”
SEE JUDGE ACT INQUIRY
Inquiry: US mass deportations of immigrants a ‘disgrace’ and ‘profoundly disturbing’
See judge act cardinal appointed to Washington DC
Pope Francis has appointed San Diego’s Cardinal Robert W. McElroy, 70, of San Diego as the new archbishop of Washington, the Holy See announced on 6 January.
Recognised internationally as one of the intellectual heavyweights in the US hierarchy and a specialist in the social teaching of the church, Cardinal McElroy is a bishop who has wholeheartedly embraced the synodal vision and pastoral approach of Pope Francis, writes Gerard O’Connell in America Magazine.
In a 2022 article, also in America Magazine, Cardinal McElroy wrote that Cardijn’s “electrifying” see-judge-act method lies at the heart of the synodality process.
Cardinal McElroy also told Vatican News in an interview that the just war theory never fits with the message of the Gospel, no matter how technically “moral” the theory may be.
READ MORE
See judge act cardinal appointed to Washington DC
Tribute: Jimmy Carter’s ‘moral compass’
“It’s taken some time, but Carter, who died in Plains, Georgia, on Dec. 29, is now being recognised as one of our most consequential presidents,” writes Thomas Higgins, a former US YCS leader, who worked for President Carter’s White House administration.
“Landmark domestic legislation in education, the environment, healthcare reform ‘and energy policy; enshrining human rights as a “constitutive element’ in American foreign policy; securing the Panama Canal Treaty; recognizing China; and almost single-handedly achieving the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Accord.
“But he never forgot where he came from, and it was no surprise that he returned there from the White House,” Higgins noted in an article for the US National Catholic Reporter.
READ MORE
Jimmy Carter’s ‘moral compass’
Inquiry: Don’t be complicit in child labour: Pope Francis
We must be aware of how we eat and dress in order to avoid becoming complicit in child labour, Pope Francis stated in his General Audience on 15 January 2025.
"Fighting exploitation, especially child exploitation, is the way to build a better future for the whole of society," the pope said.
"And so, we can ask ourselves: what can I do? First of all, we must recognise that, if we want to eradicate child labour, we cannot be complicit in it. And when is this the case? For example, when we purchase products that involve child labour. How can we eat and dress, knowing that behind that food and those garments there are exploited children, who work instead of going to school?
"Find out where those products come from. Awareness of what we purchase is a first act in order not to be complicit."
READ MORE
Don’t be complicit in child labour: Pope Francis
Doctors verify miracle attributed to Argentina CFM founder, Enrique Shaw
The cause for canonisation of Argentine business leader and Christian Family Movement founder, Enrique Shaw, has taken another step forward after the alleged miracle attributed to his intercession passed the medical stage.
The alleged miracle will now be evaluated by a commission of theologians of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, Catholic News Agency reports.
READ MORE
Miracle attributed to Argentinian Cardijn disciple clears medical stage (Centre International Cardijn)
YCW Centennial 2025 and other anniversaries
The biggest jocist anniversary of 2025 is indisputably the centennial of the official foundation of the Belgian Jeunesse Ouvrière Chrétienne or JOC in 1925, writes Stefan Gigacz.
The JOC or YCW has been such an important movement in the lives of so many of us around the world. Today, it’s still present in close to 100 countries around the globe. Not forgetting the many other movements and initiatives that have sprung from it over the last century.
Let’s join with the YCW movement in our countries and internationally to make sure it’s a memorable year.
No less important, however, was Cardijn’s iconic first meeting with Pope Pius XI in March 1925 when he gave his approval and whole-hearted endorsement to the new movement.
READ MORE
2025: YCW centenary and other anniversaries (Cardijn Research)
YCW Centenary: 100 years of struggle for young workers! (International YCW)
People anniversaries 2025
Once again, this year’s list of “jocist” people anniversaries reveals an extraordinary range of movement leaders and chaplains who lived lives – and sometimes died – lives of incredible commitment and sacrifice.
Their witness is our legacy. And it’s truly an amazing and humbling heritage with which we have been entrusted.
READ MORE
People anniversaries 2025 (Cardijn Research)
Laudato Si' turns ten in 2025
2025 promises to be an “annus mirabilis” in the life of the Church, according to the Laudato Si' Movement.
With a global Jubilee, the 10th anniversary of Laudato Si’ and of Laudato Si’ Movement, the 800th anniversary of the Canticle of the Creatures, and a momentous UN conference on climate change, this is a year for change.
Significant events during the year include the 30th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which will take place in Brazil, the world’s most populous Catholic country.
"This conference needs to succeed in order to turn the arc of greenhouse gas emissions downward in time to protect creation," the Laudato Si' movement says.
Cardijn Community International is affiliated with the Laudato Si' movement.
READ MORE
2025: A year of adventure (Laudato Si' Movement)
Analysis: YCW and other movements lack institutional support
“If the work of evangelisation is to flourish then it must move beyond the realms of liturgy, ministry and Church governance and it must embrace the secular world as its primary and fundamental focus,” writes ACI board member, Paul Lentern, in Theology and Philosophy of Education journal.
“This is the place of the lay person, and this is the essence of the lay mission and vocation. Cardinal Cardijn demonstrated, well and truly, how this could be done and, for the decades that followed, the young people of the Jocist movements lived this mission with energy and passion,” he continues in an article first presented at a conference in Prague on 11 October 2024 entitled “Christians and the Transformations of Evangelisation.”
“In recent years this has been waning with a lack of institutional support,” Paul observes. “The Church today and the people of our world, whom she serves, are so much the poorer for this occurrence.”
READ MORE
YCW and other movements lack institutional support
Gospel: Being a Spirit-filled evangelist?
Pope Francis released his first major teaching letter, referred to by its Latin title Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel) in 2013, the first year of his papacy. He draws on the image of Jesus found in this Gospel passage and he reminds “the Christian faithful” that “Spirit-filled evangelisers are evangelisers who pray and work” (Evangelii Gaudium, 262).
Pope Francis warns the Christian faithful against focusing on prayer to the exclusion of the work to be done, which can be summarised as the corporal and spiritual works of mercy
He then addresses the situation in which people focus on the work to be done, but neglect prayer. He concludes that work done without commitment to being a prayerful person is “meaningless.”
Pope Francis provides a solution that avoids the excesses outlined above: “What is needed,” he states, “is the ability to cultivate an interior space which can give a Christian meaning to commitment and activity.”
DO THE ENQUIRY
Being a Spirit-filled Evangeliser
Reflection: Do Catholics really understand Catholic Social Teaching?
"The role of U.S. Catholicism as the leading ecclesial and theological hub for the path of the church in political modernity might be over." ~ Massimo Faggioli
A new wave of understanding of Vatican II influenced conservative Catholicism in the United States. This trend does not bode well for Catholic Social Teachings, writes Richard Pütz.
Catholic Social Teaching (CST) is neither conservative nor liberal, nor should it be. However, we often see extremes when we intertwine political ideology with religion. Just look at the rise of Christian nationalism.
READ MORE
Hello Catholics! Do we really understand CST? (Cardijn Reflections)
History: Fighting fascism… in 1924
The fascist leader, Benito Mussolini, came to power as Italian Prime Minister on 31 October 1922. Many Catholics in Italy had supported his rise. So too did many Catholics in Belgium and France, lamented YCW lay co-founder, Fernand Tonnet, in the movement magazine, La Jeunesse Ouvrière, in July 1924.
“The people behind fascism are simply daring and intelligent adventurers, who have taken advantage of the troubles in their country to seize power,” he claimed. “They are ambitious people dripping with impatience to take over.”
They are “people who jumped ship and woke up one fine morning, patriotic as hell,” he wrote, in a clear reference to Mussolini, who had abandoned his previous socialist convictions to become a hyper-nationalist.
“Their main ideas are the fight against the working class, and against Christianity. Beyond that, there is nothing in fascism,” Tonnet deplored.
“When they claim that they have saved their homeland and that since their rise to power factories are operating and the shops well-stocked, ask them where the capital for these factories came from. You know the answer, i.e. from the adventurers of international finance,” he continued.
READ MORE
Stefan Gigacz, Fighting fascism… in 1924 (Cardijn Research)
News Briefs and Social Media
YCW co-founder martyred 80 years ago
Thailand
Pax Romana IMCS hosts Catholic Civic Forum
Ecuador
IYCW leader Leizyl Salem visits Ecuador JOC.
Ecuador JOC leaders meet
YCS welcomes Jubilee Year!
Flashback
An amazing memory from Patrick Keegan
Editorial Note: The purpose of the Cardijn Associates Newsletter is to share information and promote discussion. Citing or linking to articles does not imply any endorsement by ACI of the authors' views.
Cardijn Associates of the USA
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