Tag: François Houtart
Cardijn and Catholic Social Doctrine
Someone recently asked me about the relationship between the Cardijn or jocist method and Catholic Social Teaching, or as Cardijn preferred to call it, Catholic Social Doctrine. Let’s explore how that relationship developed over the years.
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.
Cardijn, François Houtart and the princes of the Church
One of many stories François Houtart shared with me concerned Cardijn’s disgust at the opulence of the episcopal palace of the Cuban archbishop.
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
Cardijn and Marx
Today marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Karl Marx on 5 May 1818. So it’s interesting to reflect on what Cardijn, who read Das Kapital while a political prisoner during World War I thought of him.
Francis, Lucio Gera, Walter Kasper… and Cardijn
German Cardinal Walter Kasper offers some interesting insights on the sources of Pope Francis’ thought, particularly regarding the Argentine theologian and jocist chaplain, Lucio Gera.
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.
No pomp and privilege for Cardijn
St Michael Archangel Church at Pietralata, Rome: Cardijn’s titular church as cardinal Here’s a great little Cardijn anecdote told by Francois Houtart of how Cardijn had a visceral reaction to pomp and circumstance. “Just before the war (World War II),” Houtart writes, “Monsignor Cardijn was hosted by a Yugoslav bishop and the experience horrified him.…
