Cardijn’s role at the Council

In an undated checklist probably written around 29 October when he was organising his trip to Rome, Cardijn lists the topics he wished to raise with Secretary of State, Archbishop Angelo dell’Acqua.

Checklist

  • Presence in Rome during the Council
  • Support for YCW Missionary Action:

1. by the Council

2. by Propaganda Fide

3. by certain foundations

Publication of “The Apostolate of the Laity in the dimension of the world”.

Clearly, Cardijn was seeking some clarity on the role he could or should play during the Council, given the fact that he had not been made a peritus.

Again, he frames his visit in terms of looking for assistance for YCW rather than lobbying or advocating at the Council.

Interestingly and significantly, he is more specific in the mention of his book on “the apostolate of the laity,” an issue he had avoided mentioning in his communication with Suenens.

SOURCE

Archives Cardijn 1300

An IYCW office in Rome during the Council?

On 29 October 1962, Cardijn wrote to his bishop, Cardinal Suenens, to inform him of his plan to visit Rome from 18-21 November, i.e. during the First Session of the Council.

In a file note signaling possible topics of discussion with Suenens, Cardijn mentions

1. An office for the International YCW in Rome for the duration of the Council

2. Publication of the book on the laity (?)

The book referred to is of course Cardijn’s long awaited book.

In his letter, Cardijn diplomatically avoids all mention of the Council itself, explaining his objectively as simply “to contact some Council Fathers who wish to speak to me about the international YCW.”

SOURCE

Archives Cardijn 1300

A letter of concern to Pope John

On 8 October 1962 – three days before the official opening of the First Session of the Council – the members of the IYCW International Secretariat wrote to Pope John expressing their hopes and commitments for the Council.

Their main concern however was to ensure recognition of the apostolate of the laity as understand by the YCW movement and promoted by Cardijn:

We also thought of expressing a hope that exists throughout the whole Church by requesting Your Holiness that the Second Vatican Council specify the mission of the apostolate of the laity and of the organised laity in the Church, and provide orientations regarding its insertion into the overall pastoral care of the Church. As a movement of young workers, we would like to humbly request official recognition of the need for the proper, personal and community apostolate of the workers and young workers themselves, and an insistence on the apostolic formation which needs be given to this population group. 

In light of Cardijn’s difficulties in the Prep Com on Lay Apostolate, the ongoing criticism from Cardinal Suenens and the fact that Cardijn had not been appointed as a peritus, it is clear that the IYCW leaders were highly concerned at the direction the Council might take,

Read the full letter below.


To His Holiness Pope John XXIII.

Most Holy Father,

On the occasion of the annual meeting of its Executive Committee, which took place in Berlin in September 1962, the International YCW wishes to express to Your Holiness, on the eve of the opening of the Ecumenical Council of Vatican II, how much it participates in the faith and hope which animate Catholics throughout the world before this event of providential value for the life of the Church both at present and for the future. She especially wishes to thank Your Holiness for having convened this Council, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and for having deployed, with a view to its preparation, an immense activity in which so many personalities so rich in thought and experience were associated.

In the name of the entire international YCW, we wish to inform Your Holiness how much we pledge,, to unite ourselves with the Council in prayer and apostolic action among the young workers of the whole world.

Henceforth, we promise Your Holiness and the whole Hierarchy of the Church that, with the grace of Christ, we will neglect no effort to put into practice the orientations that the Council will provide, in the same attitude of fidelity and with the same enthusiasm, with which we have endeavoured to spread knowledge and worked on the application of the providential encyclical “Mater et Magistra.”

Your Holiness knows how, in more than 90 countries of the world, young men and women workers within the YCW and the Church are striving to respond to their vocation as apostles of Christ and the Church in the whole of their lives, in all their circles, among their working brothers and sisters. It is the YCW’s intention to constantly multiply among the humble and the little ones of this world the number of those who commit themselves to live Christianly and apostolically, to unite them in an organised laity and to collaborate with the Hierarchy for the Christian solution of the problems of life and the Christianisation of all young workers of the whole world.

It is in this spirit that we would like to express to Your Holiness some good wishes, which we humbly ask Him to submit to the Ecumenical Council.

The surveys that the YCW has carried out in all the countries where it exists regularly underline how much living conditions, both in rich and industrialised countries and in developing countries, influence the religious and moral life of young workers. Could we express the desire that in the pastoral care and liturgy of the Church, an effort be made to be very close to the realities of the life of young workers so that they can more easily find an answer to their spiritual hunger in the Church?

We also thought of expressing a hope that exists throughout the whole Church by requesting Your Holiness that the Second Vatican Council specify the mission of the apostolate of the laity and of the organised laity in the Church, and provide orientations regarding its insertion into the overall pastoral care of the Church. As a movement of young workers, we would like to humbly request official recognition of the need for the proper, personal and community apostolate of the workers and young workers themselves, and an insistence on the apostolic formation which needs be given to this population group. 

To concretise this participative effort of young workers in the Council through prayer, the International YCW has launched an appeal to all the national movements, requesting that they ask YCW members and young workers to offer up to the Lord all their work every Friday for the duration of the Council. This offering of work with its joys and sorrows, or sometimes the offering up of a “lack of work,” is a prayer that the young workers will make in union with the prayers of the whole Church for the success of the Council.

Your Holiness, please accept with all Your goodness as the common Father of men, the feeling of total adherence as well as the desires and the promises which we wish to express in the name of the young workers of the world.

Renewing the expression of our total fidelity to Your Holiness, we humbly request You to give Your paternal blessing to the whole movement throughout the world.

Bartolo Perez, President.

Jos. Cardijn, Chaplain General.

Brussels, October 8, 1962.

Betty Villa, Vice President.

Brussels, 8 October, 1962.

Source

JOCI Archives 6.3

Offering up joys and sorrows for the Council

At the beginning of October 1962, the IYCW International Secretariat wrote to all national movements requesting them to follow closely the progress of the Council in particular by offering up their “joys and sorrows” for its success.

International Secretariat of the YCW

78, Boulevard Poincaré, Brussels 7

B.01/38

To national YCWs, members, trial members and associated organisations

To extension workers

Dear friends,

October 1962

The celebration of the Second Vatican Council constitutes an extraordinary event in the life of the Church and of the world in this century..

During the preparatory period for the Council, several national YCW (F), as well as the International YCW put forward their suggestions and requests, particularly to the Commission on Lay Apostolate in which our dear Mgr Cardijn took part as a consultant.

The YCW, a Movement of the Church among young workers, must live this great event intensely and make it known to all young workers around the world.

To this end, we recommend that all national YCW (F) establish a plan of action for the days of the Council, taking as a basis of orientation the following points:

1. Request YCW members and young workers to offer up to the Lord their work each Friday with its joys and sorrows each week for the duration of the Council; for some, this will mean offering up their “lack of work”.

2. Follow the progress of the Council and effectively inform young workers.

3. Each diocesan or national JOC (F) should send to the respective bishops a message expressing their adhesion and presenting its prayers for the success of the Council.

4. Depending on the initiatives and the situation of each country, other activities may contribute to living out the Council more intensely.

Sending you our cordial greetings, we remain united in Christ and His Church for the salvation of the young workers of the whole world.

(original text in Spanish)

The International YCW Executive Committee.

SOURCE

JOCI Archives 6.3

A strategic plan for the Council

In an undated document that seems to be from just before the opening of the First Session of Vatican II, Cardijn sets out a strategic plan for influencing its work.

I. THE YCW AND THE ECUMENICAL COUNCIL

1. Before, during the first session, during the preparation for the second session: attention, intentions, prayer, sacrifices, all the YCW action

2. Expectation in the YCW and among young workers

3. Attention to the problem of young workers in the world

  • its growing importance, one might even say decisive importance for young workers and the working class
  • for the Church and for humanity
    number of young workers
    problems of young workers
    solidarity of young workers

4. Faith in the solution

a/ by young workers themselves (formation – action – representation)

b/ concrete problems: preparation – unemployment – leisure – climate

c/ necessary collaborations

5. The YCW and the problem of young workers

And is the movement of young workers

an apostolic and missionary movement

a holistic movement

6. The Church and the problem of young workers

The problem of YCW

Formation and collaboration of the clergy of all members of the Church

THE YCW in, with working youth, the world of today and tomorrow

The YCW and the apostolate of the laity, specialised and coordinated Catholic Action.

II. THE YCW IN ROME

1. Communicate our intentions

2. Prepare the participation of Bishops from all regions, continents, races

Latin, Greek, Malabar Church

JOC in Europe, North America, Australia
in Asia
in Africa
in Latin America

4. Signal discussions on JOC-MIJARC as much as possible

JOC-JEC

JOC-Christian Trade Unions

5. As the meeting cannot last more than two hours, would it not be better to begin immediately with the problem of working youth in the world?

Then, testimonies of bishops from different continents

Then, general questions for bishops to ask

6. Announce special meetings: Asia

Africa

Latin America

North America

Australia

SOURCE

Original French

Joseph Cardijn, La JOC et le Concile (Joseph Cardijn Digital Library)

Joseph Cardijn, The YCW and the Council (Joseph Cardijn Digital Library)

Reducing the length of the Eucharistic fast

For more than ten years, the Belgian JOC had lobbied Cardinal Jozef-Ernest Van Roey of Malines to seek a reduction in the length of the communion fast, citing the difficulty for young workers in factories who were thus unable to receive communion or take breakfast.

On 1 March 1962, the JOCI International Secretariat took up this issue in a letter to all national movements, calling on them to study the issue and write to their local bishops and/or to the Preparatory Pontifical Commission on the Discipline of the Sacraments.

Here is the letter

YCW International Secretariat 78 Boulevard Poincaré

Brussels 7, Belgium

B.01/29

March 1st, 1962

TO ALL MEMBERS AND ASPIRANT-MEMBERS TO ALL ASSOCIATE ORGANIZATIONS

TO ALL EXTENSION WORKERS

Dear President, Dear Chaplain,

Dear Friend,

On a number of occasions, during trips or meetings, we have noted that in numerous countries the present discipline governing the Eucharistic Fast keeps many workers away from Communion.

There is no doubt that the Ecumenical Council, which opens October 11th, will make a thorough study of this aspect of the canon law of the Church, with the thought of allowing all men easier access to the Sacraments.

May we suggest, therefore, that you study without delay, just what form this problem takes amongst the young workers of your country, particularly those who, through Catholic Action, have come to discover the meaning of the Eucharist and who wish to partake of it more frequently.

If you believe that a reduction in the duration of the Eucharistic Fast would be advantageous, we ask that you speak of it to your local Hierarchy, and that you write a letter to the Preparatory Pontifical Commission on the Discipline of the Sacraments.

As a model, we are attaching the text of the request submitted by the YCW of Belgium.

We believe that a reduction in the duration of the Eucharistic Fast would be of benefit to the workers of the world.

Yours fraternally in Christ,

Permanent Committee of the International YCW

Denyse Gauthier

Assistant

Secretary General

Betty Villa Vice-President

Norbert Balle Secretary General

Joseph Cardijn General Chaplain

M. Uylenbroeck Assistant

General Chaplain

Bartolo Perez

President

The Coming Council

In February 1962, Cardijn published his reflections and desires for the quickly approaching First Session of Vatican II in an article for the IYCW Bulletin entitled “The Coming Council”

He wrote:

The Coming Council

Pope John XXIII has just convoked an Ecumenical Council in Rome this year. The exact date has not yet been fixed but the solemn convocation made by the Supreme Head of the Church and published by the press and radio of the whole world has raised interest and expectations among the whole of humanity which shows its significance that everyone – believers and non-believers – attach to this initiative of the Holy Father.

Jocist militants, and through them, all young people and all adult workers must be the first to understand and to make their comrades understand the significance of the coming council. And as far as possible, they must take part in its preparation, and in the influence that it will have on the whole of humanity.

The Church, its mission and its leaders

To understand the importance of the Ecumenical Council, we need to consider and study it in the light of the mission of the Church.

Christ, God made man to save all people, who accomplished his earthly mission in Palestine around 1962 years ago, wanted this mission to continue in a visible and irrefutable way and to extend to the ends of the work and the whole of humanity.

To ensure this continuity and its extension, he himself chose and consecrated his replacements and successors

  1. who would teach the doctrine
  1. that would guarantee his presence
  1. that would unite all those who believe in him in a visible community, the Church
  1. in brief, that would extend the Kingdom of God on earth as in heaven, in time and in eternity.

These successors of the Redemptive Mission of Christ, designated and consecrated by Himself, are called Apostles: among themselves they form a college united with a leader invested by Christ, and charged with ensuring the Truth, Unity, and Authenticity of the Church, its message and its mission.

Peter and the other apostles themselves designated their own successors, the Pope and the bishops, and transmitted to them their divine powers received from Christ. These authentic successors in the same way transmitted their powers to their successors and replacements, thus guaranteeing the presence of Christ, his grace and his doctrine across the centuries in the whole Church united to them and spread across the whole earth.

The Councils

From the beginning of its history, the Church has had to face up to errors and divisions that are inevitable in any human endeavour, even though it this endeavour has a divine origin and aid. This is why the Apostles met together at certain times, in solemn assemblies, to declare and to specify together the doctrine of Christ, his presence and his action in the Church and to guarantee union in the faith and in the mission of the Church to all the faithful.

These assemblies common to all the leaders of the Church, charged with determining the ensemble of the doctrine of Christ, have been given the title of Ecumenical Councils because they represent the whole Church, as Christ wanted it, fixing the revealed truths (dogmas), condemning errors (heresies), adopting all the measures necessary to the life and extension of the Church as well as the life of faith and salvation of its members.

These conciliar assemblies initially included very few members from very few countries, given that while the Church was very widely spread it was very difficult to travel.

The coming Ecumenical Council

That which distinguished the coming Ecumenical Council first of all is that it will bring together, with the Pope around 3,000 bishops from every continent, from every race and every colour, because today the Church has extended not only to the whole earth but it has bishops, replacements of Christ, belonging to all the peoples of the world.

What will strike many more in the coming Council will be the complete unity of all the bishops united with the Pope, in Truth and Charity, uniquely preoccupied to proclaim and to specify the doctrine of Christ, the manner of communicating the life of Christ, and to transmit to all people its spirit of holiness, salvation and fraternity.

Among the points that will be most striking for public opinion in the modern world and particularly among workers,

  • will be the concerns relating to the place and mission of the simple faithful, the most humble as well as the richest, in the Church of Christ;
  • will also be the desire and the means to unite those who believe in Christ, whatever divisions have separated them over the centuries;
  • will be the aspiration that is so deep today to unite and enable the collaboration of all those who believe in a God, origin and end of all people as well as of all creation, Father of all the living, inspiration of a spirit of fraternity, justice and mutual aid among all peoples.

It suffices to reflect a little on the significance of these problems to understand the consequences of the coming Council for the future of the Church and humanity.

+

Most of all we must not believe that all the problems and solutions studied by the Council will be improvised. In fact, for more than two years all the bishops of the world have been consulted on these problems, as well as all the Catholic universities, all religious frameworks, have been invited to make known the problems that interest the Church in the modern world and that all the faithful have been either individually or collectively to make known their aspirations and desires. The YCW has also taken part in this preparatory reflection.

Study commissions have been created with qualified members of the Hierarchy, with competencies and representatives from organisations concerned with all the problems of interest to the Church and to humanity. All these working commissions have worked and are working tirelessly to present these problems and drafts of solutions.

Armed with the fruit of all this work and enlightened by the Spirit of Truth who illuminates the whole Church and in particular those responsible for its doctrine and mission, namely “the Fathers of the Council” will be truly for the awaiting world the voice of the Church that will proclaim the doctrine of salvation brought by Christ, who alone, in this world of transformation, est will forever remain the Way, the Truth and the Life, the only Saviour of the living and the dead.

It will be like a new Pentecost proclaiming the way of union and Peace to a world so scattered and it will open up the perspectives of Eternity going beyond the problems of time.

In this responsibility for the Council, let us understand and take up our own responsibility. Let us be able to say later that the Council of 1962 was a step in our life, life of prayer and apostolate. It has made us become more conscious of our own responsibility in the Church and in the world.

The Council must contribute to making the Church the light of the world and the salt of the earth.

We are this Church: let us be even more in solidarity than ever with the Pope and the Bishops, will all the faithful whoever they are and let them focus in order to become responsible for the world and humanity.

Above all let us not believe that the Council itself will resolve all the problems: it will be up to us, to take inspiration from its lights and its directives in order to better consecrate our lives to all the goals that the Church will have thus better highlighted and which will bring all towards the more perfect Kingdom of Christ on earth and towards the salvation of the whole of humanity.

– Joseph Cardijn

IYCW Leaders Bulletin, February 1962

SOURCE

Joseph Cardijn, The Coming Council (Joseph Cardijn Digital Library)