The initial members and consultors of the Theological Commission were named in three tranches, concluding on 16 September 1960.
Members of the Commission with experience of the JOC and/or other Specialised Catholic Action movements included:
Bishop Lionel Audet, auxiliary of Quebec Archdiocese, who was also president of the Catholic Action Commission of the Canadian bishops;
Bishop Joseph Schroffer of Eichstätt, Germany, who had participated in the 1957 JOC Pilgrimage to Rome.
Archbishop Alfred-Vincent Scherer of Porto Alegre, Brazil, was also sympathetic to the movement there.
There were also two Belgian theologians in the Commission both from Louvain:
Mgr Lucien Cerfaux had been a chaplain to the JUC, the Specialised Catholic Action movement for university students;
Mgr Gerard Philips had been a chaplain to the Flemish YCS movement and had often worked with Cardijn although he did always see eye to eye with the JOC founder.
Among the consultors, the French Dominican Yves Congar had worked closely with the JOC since the early 1930s while his confrere Michel Labourdette was also close to the movement.
The French Jesuit, Henri de Lubac, had been in close contact with the French JEC (YCS).