October 2024
RIP Gustavo Gutierrez - Rome Declaration - Synodality - Cardijn Rediscovered
Remembering Gustavo Gutierrez
Friends,
As we prepared this edition of the newsletter, we were saddened to learn that liberation theology pioneer, Fr Gustavo Gutierrez, has died overnight at the age of 96. A Young Christian Students (YCS) chaplain as a young priest, he was a constant companion of the twin Pax Romana movements (IMCS and ICMICA) over many decades.
No doubt there will be many tributes to him and his work in the coming days. But we begin in this issue with a simple compilation of quotes from leaders and chaplains of our movements who knew and worked with him.
We also report on the highly successful Lay Mission and Vocation Conference in Rome co-sponsored by ten international lay apostolate movements, the Cardijn Community International and others from 9-13 October 2024. Already, the US Catholic media has published a series of reports.
The conference concluded with a special declaration addressed to participants in the Synod, calling for greater priority to be given to the promotion of the lay apostolate. The statement was endorsed at a moving Martyrs' Mass at the Domitilla Catacombs where the original 1965 Pact of the Catacombs was adopted.
This edition of our newsletter also includes the videos from an online conversation during the conference with Vatican nuncio to the US, Cardinal Christophe Pierre, and with US journalist, Nate Tinner-Williams on synodality.
Since our last edition, many have asked for more details on the life of Joseph Cardijn, founder of the Young Christian Workers (YCW) movement. Perhaps the best place to start is with this very short biography by the late Fr Eugene Langdale.
A new book by Stefan Gigacz, Rediscovering Joseph Cardijn, was also launched during the conference and will be available in the US in 2025.
This month we also mark the World Day for Decent Work with an article by German Fr Stefan Eirich, chaplain to the World Movement of Christian Workers, the global movement with which the Catholic Labor Network is affiliated.
The Cardijn Associates Team
Lay apostolic movement leaders around the world are expressing their appreciation for the life of the late Fr Gustavo Gutierrez, the Peruvian liberation theology pioneer, who died on 22 October 2024 at the age of 96.
As a young priest, Fr Gustavo was a chaplain to the Young Christian Students and Catholic university students movements.
“Today, we mourn the passing of Fr Gustavo Gutiérrez, a profound theologian and chaplain of IMCS Peru (Unión Nacional de Estudiantes Católicos del Perú UNEC),” the Pax Romana IMCS team wrote in a Facebook tribute.
READ MORE
Leaders re-affirm importance of lay apostolate
Fifty lay leaders from thirty countries working with ten international lay apostolate movements and the Cardijn Community met in Rome from 9-13 October 2024 to study the theme “Lay Mission and Vocation.”
On Saturday 12 October, participants celebrated a Mass of Martyrs at the Domitilla Catacombs, recalling the many lay leaders and chaplains of the movements, who have been martyred over the course of the last century.
There they adopted a message addressed to lay leaders at the Second Session of Synod on Synodality, which is currently under way, reaffirming the original 1965 Pact of the Catacombs for a servant Church of the Poor.
In their message, they also called on the Synod to clearly affirm the primacy of the baptismal vocation and the need to work to ensure that all lay people will become protagonists of a synodal Church that promotes the formation of responsible citizens active in the world.
READ MORE
Lay leaders re-affirm primacy of baptismal vocation (ACI)
DOWNLOAD THE STATEMENT
MORE CONFERENCE REPORTS
Michael Centore, October 11: An Apostolate of Like to Like (Today's American Catholic)
Nate Tinner-Williams, Catholic Action reps renew 'Pact of the Catacombs' in Rome, marking solidarity with the poor (Black Catholic Messenger)
Camillo Barone, Worldwide Catholic lay leaders call for inclusive church at Rome conference (National Catholic Reporter)
Stefan Gigacz, Lay leaders re-affirm primacy of baptismal vocation (Australian Cardijn Institute)
Stefan Gigacz, Lay movements challenge Synod to prioritise lay apostolate (Synodal Reflections)
Lay leaders re-affirm primacy of baptismal vocation (CathNews)
Video: Being a synodal missionary church
Last month, Cardijn Associates USA and the Australian Cardijn Institute hosted Nate Tinner-Williams, co-founder and editor of the Black Catholic Messenger, for a webinar on “Being a Synodal Missionary Church”on Saturday 28 September, 2024.
Nate travelled to Rome to report on the Second Assembly of the Synod on Synodality, which will take place during the month of October 2024.
READ NATE'S REPORT FROM ROME
Catholic Action reps renew 'Pact of the Catacombs' in Rome, marking solidarity with the poor (Black Catholic Messenger)
WATCH THE VIDEO
Access to decent work essential
The promotion of social justice and an economy for life to which our movement is committed for the next 4 years is only possible if every man and woman has access to decent work, i.e. a job, appropriate remuneration (in cash or in kind), safety at work and healthy working conditions, writes Fr Stefan Eirich, chaplain to the World Movement of Christian Workers.
Unfortunately, trends in the current global political situation seem intent on wiping out the few gains and small steps made so far in terms of personal rights and freedoms. The spectacular rise to power of extreme right-wing parties poses an unprecedented threat to the values of democracy, the rule of law, equality and fairness.
On the celebration of the World Day for Decent Work on October 7, 2024, we join the movements of Europe in their declaration against the rise to power of extreme right-wing parties and their effects on the enjoyment of personal rights and decent work.
READ MORE
Message from the World Movement of Christian Workers (WMCW) on the World Day for Decent Work 2024 (World Movement of Christian Workers)
From precarious work to just work and dignified life (International Young Christian Workers)
Book: Joseph Cardijn Rediscovered
ACI is pleased to announce the publication of Stefan Gigacz’s new book entitled Joseph Cardijn Rediscovered, which was launched with a special Synod edition during the Lay Mission and Vocation Conference in Rome on 11 October 2024.
Subtitled “Mission, Method, Method,” the book traces the origins and sources of Cardijn’s thought and methods.
An Australian edition of the book is expected to be available in early 2025 at $29.95 plus postage.
READ MORE
Video: Conversation with Cardinal Pierre
Cardinal Christophe Pierre, Holy See Nuncio to the United States joined participants at the Lay Mission and Vocation Conference in Rome for an online conversation on 9 October 2024.
WATCH THE VIDEO HERE
History: Pat Keegan's historic speech to Vatican II
On 13 October 1964, Patrick Keegan took the floor to speak to the bishops of the Second Vatican Council, the first lay person to speak in a General Congregation, writes Pat Jones in The Tablet.
It was the final day of the debate on the draft decree on the lay apostolate. Fr John Fitzsimons, an English national chaplain to the Young Christian Workers (YCW), recalled in his eulogy at Keegan’s funeral that there was “a murmur of anticipation around the assembly as Archbishop Krol led a layman to the microphone."
It was a long way from the beginning of the Council, when the preparatory commission working on the lay apostolate had met without any lay people present
READ MORE
Pat Keegan, first lay person to address Vatican II
Gospel: Anxious to see Jesus?
Why would Herod be anxious to see Jesus? asks Pat Branson in this month's Gospel Enquiry.
The man we meet in the Gospels lusted for power. Being so focused on himself and the satisfaction of his own wants, Herod ruled by fear and ridicule with no regard for human life or for the culture of the people of his land.
He built the city of Tiberius, in honor of the Roman emperor, on the western shore of Lake Galilee. He unwisely chose land that was a Jewish cemetery and was incensed when none of his fellow Jews would live in the city he built.
READ MORE
Anxious to see Jesus? (Gospel Enquiries)
Reflection: Discipleship, freedom and grace
Through our work in this world, we often find ourselves at the intersection of civic life and faith; we often encounter a Church and world grappling with deep divisions and profound questions about what it means to be disciples of Jesus Christ, writes Richard Pütz.
This is similar to the times and experiences of Joseph Cardijn, or for that matter, the life and times of Deitrich Bonhoeffer or Thomas Merton.
These three men, Cardijn, Bonhoeffer, and Merton, lived at a time when the world was divided and often on fire, much like our world today. Their lives were simultaneously in the world, just as ours are.
Though their lives never really crossed each other's paths, they were all focused on what it meant to live in the Kingdom of God here and now. Each was prophetic and spoke to a suffering world, their message resonating across time and space, connecting us to a larger narrative.
READ MORE
Discipleship, freedom, and grace (Cardijn Reflections)
Lebanon YCS solidarity action
YCS leaders in Lebanon are organising the distribution of relief in the war torn south of the country.
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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 Cardijn Associates of the authors' views.
Cardijn Associates USA
Contact: cardijnassociates@gmail.com