Category: See Judge Act
Peter Henriot SJ, promoter of the pastoral circle
Very sad news of the death on 12 September 2026 of Fr Peter Henriot SJ, co-author with Joe Holland, of the influential booklet, Social Analysis, promoting the pastoral circle based on the see-judge-act.
Drop the ‘judge’ in the see judge act? Or not!
“A big changeover has taken place in the reflection of the Church over the last years,” according to Bishop Emeritus Lucas Van Looy of Ghent, who claims that Pope Francis has dropped the “judge” from the see-judge-act!
Cardinal Pierre: Pope Francis and the See Judge Act
Delivering the 2024 Cardinal Bernardin Lecture Holy See Nuncio to the USA, Cardinal Christophe Pierre, spoke of the importance of the see-judge-method as a tool of ecclesial discernment, particularly in showing mercy.
See, discern, act: Back to the future
Addressing French Specialised Catholic Action movements in January 2022, Pope Francis drew a parallel between the “judge” process that is the second step of the see-judge-act and the process of discernment.
Shedding light on what we see with Oscar Romero
The Romero Trust great Sunday has published a beautiful reflection from St Oscar Romero, illustrating his use of the see-judge-act method.
Léon Ollé-Laprune & the origin of the See-Judge-Act
Here is the video and slides of my Australian Cardijn Institute webinar talk on Léon Ollé-Laprune and the origins of the See-Judge-Act. Slides
Young domestic workers at Vatican II
Young domestic workers at Vatican II? Unless they were serving any of the 2500 Council Fathers and 500-odd periti and other officials, there were certainly no young domestic workers there.
See, judge, act… with the Laymen’s League of New York
In 1911, the Laymen’s League of New York organised social study groups using an early form of the see-judge-act.
Paulo Freire and the Jocist movements
Today, 19 September 2021, we celebrate the centenary of the birth of the great Brazilian educator, Paulo Freire, known for his book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, which described the literacy education programs he had developed for promoting critical consciousness and action among the poor.
Mater et Magistra endorses the See Judge Act
On 15 May 1961 – 60 years ago this week – Pope John XXIII published his new encyclical, Mater et Magistra, Mother and Teacher, commemorating the 70th anniversary of Rerum Novarum.
2021 in anniversaries
As the new year dawns, it’s time to glance at the significant anniversaries Cardijn and Cardijn-movement anniversaries that are coming up in 2021.
Young Léon Ollé-Laprune
Today, I’d just like to share a “new” or in fact very old photo of French philosopher, Léon Ollé-Laprune (above top left), that I have “found” on the web.
Blessed Oscar Romero and the See, Judge, Act
Archbishop Oscar Romero is reputed to have been greatly influenced by the assassinated Jesuit, Fr Rutilio Grande, who had learned the Cardijn methods while studying in Brussels.
Plus ça change: Synod bishops battle the See Judge Act
Several working groups at the current Synod on the Family are questioning the utility of the method for an “ecclesial document”, according to press reports.
See Judge Act: From John XXIII to Pope Francis
Great to see the Synod bishops following the See Judge Act method in their work as their Mid-Term Report shows. But as we’ve seen previously, there seems to be confusion in some minds over where the method came from.
The roots of the Suenens-Cardijn conflict
We have seen previously that Suenens-Cardijn tensions date back at least to 1953 when Suenens wrote to Legion of Mary founder Frank Duff reacting to what he interpreted as Cardijn’s criticism of the Legion of Mary.
The emergence of the “jocist method”
We have seen in these pages that Cardijn’s See Judge Act method had many historical antecedents. As I also have mentioned previously, the earliest specific reference to the See Judge Act that I have been able to trace is in the 1930 pamphlet La JOC et la détresse intellectuelle et morale de jeunes travailleurs. The same…
Facts, principles, solutions: Victoire Cappe 1911
Even before she met Cardijn, Victoire Cappe had started to make a name for herself as an emerging trade union leader. Born in 1886, four years after Cardijn, she was only twenty when she founded Le Syndicat de l’Aiguille at Liege in 1907 under the influence of a local priest, Abbé Paisse. See my article here.…
See, judge, act at Vatican II
It has often been noted that the Vatican II document Gaudium et Spes follows what is sometimes called “the inductive method”, starting from the bottom and moving up from the specific to the general. Here’s how that came about.
French prudence during World War I
AD Sertillanges’ analysis of the virtue of prudence does indeed pre-date his 1916 book on the moral philosophy of St Thomas.
Seek, Judge, Act – the Sertillanges side of the story
The story of Dominican priest, AD Sertillanges’ contribution to the see-judge-act method.
See, Judge and Conclude with Léon Ollé-Laprune
I initially stumbled across the role of Léon Ollé-Laprune in the development of the See Judge Act method while following Cardijn’s list of his reading.
Paolo Freire, the YCW and Cardijn
I first read Paolo Freire’s famous book Pedagogy of the Oppressed in about 1973 while studying law at Melbourne University. It was fantastic to read about his reflection/action praxis method of education and conscientisation.
Karol Wojtyla channels Cardijn
In his book ‘Sources of renewal’ on how to implement Vatican II, young Polish Bishop Karol Wojtyla only cites by name one Council participant besides Popes John XXIII and Paul VI.
See Judge Act with Cardinal Turkson
Ghanaian Cardinal Peter Turkson and the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace of which he is president are both emphasising the importance of Cardijn’s See Judge Act method.
