On 28 October 1960, the JOC Internationale organised a special meeting to prepare for the Council. It was held at the JOC training centre (above) in Tourneppe, Belgium.
Invited to the meeting were members of the JOCI Executive Committee, the International Bureau, i.e. the elected staff of the International Secretariat. Also invited was Marguerite Fiévez, former international leader, member of the Permanent Committee for International Congresses on Lay Apostolate (COPECIAL), who was now working for Cardijn as his personal secretary.
Two issues: Young workers and lay apostolate
Although the proposal for the meeting is not signed by Cardijn, it certainly bears the imprint of his thought:
“The problem to be studied could be posed as follows: if we send a preparatory note to the Fathers of the Council and to the various preparatory commissions, it seems that the suggestions that we could make would revolve around two problems that characterise our competence and our originality:
a} the mass of young workers to be saved
b) the role of the laity in the Church as we understand it.”
In other words, it is necessary to approach the issue beginning with the life of young workers and to evaluate the role of lay people in response:
“Given these conditions, should we not first simply think about these two questions:
– what do we have to contribute, to emphasise and to suggest with respect to the problem of young workers?
– and with respect to the apostolate of the laity?”
Specific issues
The document goes on to specify these concerns in greater details. It says:
“These two questions can be approached via a series of problems:
– seminary formation
– liturgy, preaching, catechism
– our attitude, the attitude to be adopted towards non-Christians
– attitude to be adopted with respect to “technical civilisation”
– attitude with respect to communism
– how to shed light on some major problems of educating young people
– the sexuality problem
– the problem of juvenile delinquency
– the problem of preparation for family life
– what are the obstacles that we encounter in our apostolate?
– how should we conceive of the collaboration between priests – laity and laity – hierarchy?”
SOURCE
JOC Internationale, Préparation du Concile Oecuménique (Joseph Cardijn Digital Library)
English translation
International YCW, Preparation for the Ecumenical Council (Joseph Cardijn Digital Library)