A journey with Joseph Cardijn & the Jocist Network (1959-65)
On 27 February 1963, Jean Rodhain, wrote to Mgr Jean Streiff, secretary general of French Catholic Action and now also a member of the Lay Apostolate Commission, informing him of a proposal discussed in the commission for a new Vatican body dealing with the lay apostolate.
SOURCE
Archives Streiff 605
On 31 January 1963, Mgr Jean Streiff, the secretary for Catholic Action in France, wrote to Mgr Achille Glorieux informing him that Cardinal Liénart had forwarded him a letter appointing him as a peritus for the Lay Apostolate Commission.
Paris, 31 January, 1963
Monsignor GLORIEUX
Commission Secretary
Apostolatu Laicorum
Opizio S.Marta
Vatican City – ROME
Ref.63/47
Dear Monsignor,
His Eminence Cardinal LIENART, back from Rome, sends me a letter of appointment and a card of “Peritus” from the Council.
He asks me in his letter to place me at your disposal immediately, which I gladly do.
In a few days we have a meeting of the National Committee for the Apostolate of the Laity and we have included in the program the remote preparation of the World Congress and the search for the best method to work usefully and efficiently on the texts that you kindly sent us.
Be assured, dear Monsignor, of the assurance of my prayers for your work which affects us so closely in the expression of my religious and very friendly sentiments.
Monsignor Jean STREIFF
Secretary General of Catholic Action
SOURCE
Archives Streiff St 11 467 (Institut catholique de Paris)
Stefan Gigacz, The Leaven in the Council, Chapter 7, The Council opens without Cardijn (Australian Cardijn Institute)
On 26 December 1962, French priest, Jean Rodhain, wrote to Cardinal Liénart seeking intervention by the French bishops over what he regarded as a lack of balance among the periti.
“I consider it as the most elementary loyalty to share my concern and to admit how much the designation as an expert in the Commission of a French priest resident in France and specialising in Catholic Action appears desirable to me,” he wrote.
Although, according to Rodhain, the experts only had a “very accessory role,” the lay leaders of Catholic Action might also “like me, end up astonished and worried,” he warned.
In striking contrast with Suenens failure to react to Cardijn’s non-appointment, Liénart responded swiftly, immediately intervening to obtain the appointment in January 1963 of Msgr Jean Streiff, secretary of the French bishops’ commission on lay apostolate.
SOURCE
Stefan Gigacz, The Leaven in the Council, Chapter 7, The Council opens without Cardijn (Australian Cardijn Institute)
Archives Jean Streiff St 11, 465 (Institut catholique de Paris)
