Category: Vatican II
Venerable Henri Caffarel, YCW chaplain and founder of the Teams of Our Lady
Pope Leo has approved a decree declaring venerable Henri Caffarel, a French YCW chaplain, who later founded the Teams of Our Lady movement.
Restarting the clock on the role of lay people & lay movements
The Vatican II Decree on the Lay Apostolate, Apostolicam Actuositatem, is one of the Council’s most overlooked documents. It’s time to rediscover its radical message.
Cardijn, a cardinal: Intrigues and tears
Sixty years ago this month on 22 February 1965, despite his personal doubts about the honour, Cardijn accepted his red hat as a cardinal from Pope Paul VI just days after his consecration as an archbishop.
People anniversaries 2025
Once again, this year’s list of “jocist” people anniversaries reveals an extraordinary range of movement leaders and chaplains who lived – and sometimes died – lives of incredible commitment and sacrifice.
2025: YCW centenary and other anniversaries
The biggest jocist anniversary of the year is indisputably the centenary of the official foundation of the Belgian Jeunesse Ouvrière Chrétienne or JOC in 1925.
Patrick Keegan, lay pioneer
On 13 October 1964, Patrick Keegan, pioneer of the YCW in England and with the International YCW, as well as co-founder of the World Movement of Christian Workers (WMCW) became the first lay person to address the Second Vatican Council.
Lucio Gera, theologian of the people – and Pope Francis
This month we celebrate the centenary of the birth on 16 January 1924 of Argentinian theologian, Lucio Gera, a chaplain/theologian of the JOC, who later became a major source of inspiration for Pope Francis when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires.
Cardijn slams the 1967 Vatican Council of the Laity
The Specialised Catholic Action movements laid out their vision for a representative laity body at the Vatican in an important document drafted in July 1964, just prior to the Third Session of Vatican II.
Fears for the ICO Conference… in 1967!
To understand the development of an organisation, it’s often useful to look at its origins. Thus, looking at the problems that developed between the Pontifical Council for the Laity (PCL) and the ICO Conference, it’s useful to look back at the origin of the former body.
Cardijn proposes a ‘Roman Centre’ for the lay apostolate
As Marguerite Fiévez told her biographers, Luc Roussel and Lamya Ben Djaffar, Cardijn would not have liked the proposed structure of the the Pontifical Council of/for the Laity created after Vatican II in 1967.
Cardijn’s Greatest Battle: Lay apostolate vs Apostolate of the faithful at Vatican II
This is my presentation for the October 2022 Australian Cardijn Institute webinar, with the accompanying slide presentation.
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.
Remembering Pierre Haubtmann, redactor of Gaudium et Spes
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the tragic death of Pierre Haubtmann, the co-author, compiler and editor of the final, definitive version of the Vatican II Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the World of Today, Gaudium et Spes.
The Australian Plenary Council: A Cardijn perspective
For the first time in over 80 years, the Australian Catholic Church is holding a Plenary Council, which will take place over two sessions in October 2021 and July 2022. It has the potential to shape the Church’s role for perhaps the rest of this century.
The Leaven in the Council – E-book – Now published
I’m pleased to say that my book has now been published and is available for free download in various formats on a website of its own: www.theleaven.com.au
Cardijn @ Vatican II: A new blog
Sixty years ago today on Monday 14 November 1960, Pope John XXIII launched the Central Commission and the 10 specialised preparatory commissions that were to work for the next two years to prepare the Second Vatican Council.
Cardijn and Dorothy Day speaking live in Australia
Two live recordings of JOC founder, Joseph Cardijn, and Catholic Worker founder, Dorothy Day, speaking in Australia during their visits to Australia in 1966 and 1970 respectively have just been posted online.
Marc Sangnier – 70 years
I can’t let today pass without mentioning that it is the 70th anniversary of the death of Marc Sangnier, founder of the French movement, Le Sillon, and who died on Pentecost Sunday, 28 May, 1950.
Universal brotherhood and solidarity: Cardijn & JPII
It’s a hundred years this month since the birth on 18 May 1920 of Karol Wojtyla, now better known as St John Paul II. Remarkably, the Polish pontiff was the fifth and last 20th century pope known personally by Cardijn
Dom Tavora, a Brazilian ‘bishop of the workers’
This month marks the 50th anniversary of the premature death of another remarkable Cardijn bishop, José Vicente Tavora, who liked to consider himself as and in fact became known as a “bishop of the workers.”
Liturgical renewal, Specialised Catholic Action and social change in Quebec
In her article, “Doing It Rite: Specialized Catholic Action and Liturgical Renewal in Quebec, 1930s–1960s,” Indre Cuplinskas highlights the role of Specialised Catholic Action movements (SCA).
2020 in anniversaries – Updated
To start the new year, here is a starter list of significant anniversaries that fall this year.
The Liturgical Movement and Catholic Action in Belgium
Helen M. Larke’s 1938 article “The Liturgical Movement and Catholic Action in Belgium” offers interesting insight into the role of the Belgian Specialised Catholic Action movements in the liturgy reform movement.
Pietralata: The forgotten Mass and Message
If the Mass for the Poor and Pact of the (Domitilla) Catacombs have remained largely forgotten until recently – at least outside Latin America, Cardijn’s Worker Mass on 17 November 1965, hasve languished in even greater obscurity.
The jocist bishops who signed the Pact of the Catacombs
It is no surprise to find a strong jocist influence in the text of the Pact of the Catacombs, notably in its concluding sentences, which explicitly refers to the jocist “review of life.”
The Leaven in the Council – online
My PhD thesis, “The Leaven in the Council: Joseph Cardijn and the Jocist Network at Vatican II” is now online in the University of Divinity website.
Enrique Angelelli, first martyr of Vatican II
Pope Francis has promulgated a decree recognising the martyrdom of Bishop Enrique Angelelli and his co-workers, French priest, Gabriel Longueville, Franciscan Fr Carlos de Dios Murias and lay pastoral worker, Wenceslao Pedernera.
Commemorating Cardijn’s 50th anniversary
Here’s an article I wrote for La Croix International to mark the 50th anniversary of Cardijn’s death on 24 July 1967:
Cardijn and Vatican II: Three perspectives!
Great to see so many places around the world commemorating the 50th anniversary of Cardijn’s death on 24 July 1967 this week.
Marx, Houtart, Wojtyla and the “See” in Gaudium et Spes
Many would be surprised to learn that the introduction on The Human Condition in the World of Today to, Gaudium et Spes, was originally drafted by an avowed Marxist.
The JOC influence at Vatican II
Among his many other engagements throughout his long life, François Houtart took part as a peritus or expert at Vatican II.
RIP François Houtart
The web, particularly in Latin America, is overflowing with tributes to François Houtart, the Belgian priest, sociologist and former JOC chaplain who died in Quito, Ecuador on 7 June at the age of nearly 92.
Louis-Joseph Lebret: Architect of Populorum Progressio
How did the Cardijn method come to be used in the drafting of Populorum Progressio?
Bottom up or top down?
Romeo Maione’s views about Cardijn certainly offer an interesting counterpoint to those of his Canadian compatriot, Fr Sheppard, that we looked at earlier.
Breathtaking misconceptions about Cardijn and the See Judge Act
According to Canadian Fr Jim Sheppard SJ, Cardijn was extremely “apodictic,”which, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, means “expressing or of the nature of necessary truth or absolute certainty.”
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.
More missing words: For various social milieux
Here’s another example of a highly significant phrase that is completely missing from the English translation of the Vatican II document, Presbyterorum Ordinis,
Cardijn and Blessed Paul VI: a 30 year partnership
Giovanni Battista Montini, the future Blessed Paul VI, had already been working for several months as an official at the Vatican Secretariat of State when Cardijn first arrived in Rome for his first and famous meeting with Pope Pius XI
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.
A Cardijn apostle, Bishop Manuel Larrain
After Cardijn was left off the list of experts for the First Session at Vatican II, one of the bishops who, according to Helder Camara, worked (successfully) to have him appointed to the Commission on Lay Apostolate, was the Chilean Bishop Manuel Larrain of Talca.
1912 and all that – Cardijn and YCW history
On 12 October 1964, in the middle of the Third Session of Vatican II, Cardijn wrote a short note entitled “Writing the history of the YCW“.
CathBlogs on Vatican II
A couple of years ago I wrote several blog posts for the CathNews CathBlog column dealing with various aspects of my Cardijn and Vatican II research.
Cardijn ‘pre-conciliar’: Suenens
As we can see, Suenens opens by seeming to contrast the “prec-conciliar” Cardijn with the dynamic figure of Cardinal Liénart of Lille, whose intervention during on the first meeting day of the Council changed the course of Vatican II
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.
God’s lieutenants: The French bishops at Vatican II
The role of the YCW and the specialised Catholic Action movements in changing the Church in France has long been recognised, in France at least.
Suenens clears the decks
Suenens, who had become archbishop of Malines-Brussels in November 1961 just eleven months before the opening of the Council, worked hard to clear the decks among the personnel of the diocese..
Betty Villa remembers Cardijn at Vatican II
Betty Villa from the Philippines was vice-president of the IYCW from 1961-65, i.e. throughout the period of Vatican II. She worked closely with other IYCW leaders and with Cardijn on many aspects of the Council. In this video that she made herself with her colleagues in Naga City, she recalls that powerful experience. The video…
Who locked Cardijn out?
Pope John XXIII appointed Cardijn as a member of the Vatican II preparatory “Pontifical Commission on Lay Apostolate” and he played a very active role there. Then in February 1963, he was appointed as an expert for the conciliar “Commission on the Apostolate of the Faithful, the Press and the Moderation of Shows”, which was…
