May 2025
Vale Francis, welcome Leo - YCW Centenary - Forming leaders for synodality - Ex-YCW to lead nuns worldwide
Welcome Pope Leo, son of the CFM
Dear Friends,
What a momentous month it's been! We've unexpectedly said farewell to Pope Francis after he seemed to have weathered the storm. And already we've welcomed Pope Leo XIV to a role that he seems born for.
Of particular interest for Americans and the Cardijn network in general is the fact that Pope Leo's own parents belonged to the US branch of the Christian Family Movement in Chicago.
This makes him undoubtedly the first pontiff to have been raised in a see-judge-act family environment. No surprise, then, that he should take the name of Leo in honour of his pioneering predecessor, Pope Leo XIII, author of what's often regarded as the first social encyclical, Rerum Novarum.
Remembering Pope Francis, we also present Belgian Bishop Jean-Pierre Delville's reflection on the importance of the see-judge-act method to the late pontiff's legacy.
In current news, we note that former International YCW chaplain, Dom Reginaldo Andrietta, will be presenting at a conference in San Francisco this week along with Cardinal Robert McElroy and Sr Maria Cimperman. Details below. First session tonight!
Congratulations also to former Catholic student leader, Fr Chris Malano, on his ordination as a Paulist priest last weekend.
Elsewhere, we note that an Irish-Australian nun, Sr Oonah O'Shea, who was herself once a YCW leader, has taken on a very important international role as president of UISG, the global network of religious sisters.
As the YCW continues to celebrate its centenary, we can therefore expect to hear continuing echoes of the movement's and Cardijn's legacy reverberating in Rome.
Meanwhile, another report from France informs us that the canonisation cause of French YCW founding chaplain, Fr Georges Guérin, has concluded the diocesan stage and now moves to the Holy City for the next steps in the process.
Lastly, as usual we conclude with reflections from Pat Branson and Richard Pütz plus a brief selection of social media posts.
The Cardijn Associates Team
Growing demand for Church’s social doctrine: Leo
Addressing a Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice Foundation Conference on “Overcoming Polarisations and Rebuilding Global Governance: The Ethical Foundations,” Pope Leo XIV said that there is a growing demand for the Church’s social doctrine that needs to be met.
“Those born and raised far from the centres of power should not merely be taught the Church’s social doctrine; they should also be recognised as carrying it forward and putting it into practice.
"Individuals committed to the betterment of society, popular movements and the various Catholic workers’ groups are an expression of those existential peripheries where hope endures and springs anew. I urge you to let the voice of the poor be heard," the new pope added.
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Growing demand for Church’s social doctrine: Leo
See, judge, act was key for Pope Francis: Belgian bishop
"Pope Francis was an inductive person," recalled Belgian Bishop Jean-Pierre Delville..
"He started from concrete reality, from particular situations, to arrive at the great mysteries of the faith. He was therefore the opposite of a deductive person (which Benedict XVI was more so), who starts from the great principles to conclude on the actions to be promoted.
"This approach of Pope Francis is very visible in his encyclical Laudato Si, devoted to integral ecology. He describes reality, gives a judgment, and then proposes courses of action."
READ MORE
See judge act ‘key for Pope Francis’: Belgian bishop
Leo credits Christian Family Movement for his vocation
In a 2020 interview, the future Pope Leo XIV credited the Cardijn-inspired Christian Family Movement as one of the influences on the discovery of his vocation to the priesthood.
“My family was very practical; my dad was a catechist, my mom participated in various activities in the parish where we lived,” Cardinal Prevost said. “Besides, they were members of the Christian Family Movement.
“And so since I was a child, I had a very nice experience of the various dimensions of parish life. I was also an acolyte in the parish, and studied in a parish school. All of these things certainly contributed to me at some point considering the possibility of being a priest,” he noted.
Chicago during the 1960s was an influential centre of the lay apostolate, with the Young Christian Workers (YCW), Young Christian Students (YCS) and the CFM all having their national centres there.
READ MORE
Leo credits Cardijn movement for vocation
Aussie ex-YCW leader heads worldwide nuns
The International Union of Superiors General (UISG) has announced the election of Sr Oonah O’Shea, NDS, as the new President of the Union.
Her election took place during the Delegates’ Assembly, held in Rome as part of the broader 2025 Plenary process.
Sr Oonah, a member of the Congregation of Notre Dame de Sion, is an Australian religious sister born in 1946 to Irish parents.
She began her professional journey as a primary school teacher in Catholic schools and was actively involved in the Young Christian Workers movement. In 1968, she entered her religious congregation and continued her service through teaching and further studies in theology, politics, and economic history. A formative year spent in Israel deepened her understanding of faith and intercultural engagement.
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Aussie ex-YCW leader elected UISG president
Webinar: Forming Catholic Leaders for a Public & Synodal Church
Former International YCW chaplain, Dom Reginaldo Andrietta, now the bishop of Jales in Brazil, will deliver the keynote address on 20 May at a conference in San Francisco sponsored by the Collaborative for Catholic Organizing.
The theme of the conference is "Praxis of Encounter Conference: Forming Catholic Leaders for a Public & Synodal Church," a theme Dom Reginaldo is well versed in.
The organizers have made his keynote talk free to follow online as well as other talks by Cardinal Robert McElroy, an advocate of the See Judge Act method, and Sr Maria Cimperman, who took part in the Synod on Synodality and is a longstanding friend of the Cardijn movements.
REGISTER HERE
https://usfca.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_A7_Koj8_RrSCcvkkzGCgng#/registration
Canonisation cause for French YCW founder moves to Rome
The diocesan process for the cause for canonisation of French YCW founder-chaplain, Fr Georges Guérin, concluded at a ceremony in Paris on 16 May 2025.
Vicar-general Mgr Michel Guéguen presided at the event which took place at the office of the Workers’ Catholic Action (ACO) movement.
An apprentice metal tester then an office worker, he was ordained a priest of the diocese of Paris in 1925 and was appointed vicar at St Vincent de Paul parish in Clichy, an inner suburb.
Appointed as chaplain to the new movement in 1927, he remained in this post until 1950.
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French YCW founder canonisation process moves to Rome (Cardijn.info)
Gospel: "Jesus wants to wash my smelly feet"
Jesus is the heart and soul of each Gospel Enquiry, and our relationship with him the reason for reflecting on the Gospel. Cardinal Joseph Cardijn (1882-1967) provides an explanation of the part the Gospel plays in the life of the young worker. The following statement comes from the first of three lectures on person, family and education, which he delivered in Godinne in 1950:
The gospel really explains the human person; it is the explanation of Our Lord Jesus Christ, that admirable person, the Son of God, with a mission and a vocation to fulfil. When we see the person of Our Lord we then understand to what a dignity God intends to call people. It was Our Lord who said: “You will love the poorest as you love me; you cannot love God unless you love people, and especially the poorest and the humblest.”
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“Jesus wants to wash my smelly feet!" (Gospel Enquiries)
Reflection: Plastic Jesus
"I was thinking about growing up," writes Richard Pütz. "It was the 1950s, and Sunday mass was in the school’s basement at the parish (QAS). I remember walking out to the parking lot and always noticing the number of cars with plastic Jesus and plastic St Christopher, some with plastic BVM, and a handful with all three neatly lined up on the dashboard centered under the rearview mirror.
"The cultural implications of all that. Think of all the different versions of the plastic Jesus, but not too many different ones for Christopher or BVM. It was the 1950s that gave us plastic Jesus, fuzzy dice, and Dashboard Hula Girl, one of my favorites."
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Richard Pütz, Plastic Jesus (Cardijn Reflections)
News briefs and social media
Fr Chris Malano celebrates his first Mass
YCW Centenary in Brussels
Online opening of the Centenary program
WATCH THE VIDEO
Editorial Note: The purpose of the Cardijn Associates USA 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 USA
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