Can people on the wrong end of power change the world by working together? Or are the moments when the powerless take control of their own lives doomed to be snuffed out? asks Steven Friedman from the University of Johannesburg.
The question is raised by Kally Forrest’s book Bonds of Justice: The Struggle for Oukasie. It is another in the Hidden Voices series which aims to recover and preserve writings on society which would otherwise fall through publishers’ nets. The book is short and highly readable, and so is accessible to a non-academic audience. It has been some years in the making – it uses information gathered in 2011 and 2012. But the story it tells raises topical issues.
Forrest details the fight, in the last years of apartheid, of the people of Oukasie, a township near Brits in North West Province, against an attempt to force them to move to Lethlabile, 25 km from Brits, primarily because their presence offended white residents. While it was common under apartheid for black people to be removed to areas where they would be out of sight to whites, it was uncommon for those who faced this threat to resist it successfully. Oukasie did manage to defeat the attempted removal.
It organised to do this despite a sustained campaign by the apartheid authorities. This included the murder of anti-removal leaders and members of their family, but its chief strategy was to divide residents. So, resistance could only succeed if the resisters were organised and united. While thousands were induced to move, enough stayed to force the authorities to abandon the removal and agree that Oukasie be developed.
Unusual circumstances made Oukasie an ideal site for strong grassroots organisation in which people remain united because they share in decisions.
The resistance
Brits was the site of strong worker organisation, largely the work of Young Christian Workers (YCW), founded by Roman Catholic priests as a vehicle for European workers to change exploitative conditions through organised efforts. YCW, which in Brits was open to non-Christians, stressed democratic grassroots organisation based on careful strategy summed up in its motto – “See, judge, act” – which encouraged members to reflect on what they saw before deciding what to do about it.
Young Christian Workers was political, since it challenged the effect of economic power on its members. But it was wary of the political movements which, it believed, wanted workers to act in ways which advanced the movements’ interests but not their own. It was able to maintain this stance because, in contrast to much of the rest of the country, the political organisations were not active in Oukasie.
Its attitude was identical to that of a section of the trade union movement which happened to be strongly represented in Brits. Its vehicle was the union which became the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa). Young Christian Workers’s members gravitated to it and it developed a strong presence in Oukasie. The resistance to removal relied on the same stress on grassroots participation and careful strategy which Young Christian Workers and Numsa adopted in the workplace.
The Oukasie resistance became, therefore, a test for an approach which relied on the efforts of grassroots people rather than high profile political leaders to change the world.
In one sense, this route to change worked. Oukasie was reprieved, and this was followed by a period of development. The Brits transitional local government which was elected in the mid-1990s was led by Levy Mamobolo, a unionist and anti-removal leader who, until his untimely death, led the area effectively and honestly. The first few years seemed to show that democratic local organisation could also produce political leadership which serves the people rather than itself.
But, as Forrest shows, the Oukasie story does not end happily. Leaders committed to public service were forced out of the local government; public services declined and corruption increased.
Forrest therefore frames her book not as a story of the triumph of a particular way of fighting for change but as evidence of what is possible if people organise themselves in the way Oukasie did. The author of an important book on Numsa, she is an advocate of the approach followed by Young Christian Workers, Numsa and the Oukasie resisters. She contrasts this with the selfish elitism which gained control of Brits.
But she leaves unanswered the key question: is the grassroots organisation which saved Oukasie a realistic route to change, or is it doomed to give way to the top-down leadership to which Brits succumbed?
What does the ultimate defeat mean?
Given the importance of this question, it is a pity that Forrest does not analyse the defeat of grassroots democracy in Oukasie. We are left wondering how and why control passed from the “good guys” to the “bad guys”.
One reason may well have been that the governing African National Congress’s (ANC’s) politics turned out to be more powerful than those who supported the Oukasie resistance hoped. Forrest records that key figures in the resistance to removal joined the ANC and served in its committees once it was unbanned. This suggests that Oukasie’s ability to maintain an independent path was purely a result of happenstance (the lack of a political presence in the area).
Despite these limitations, the book makes an important contribution. Forrest’s sympathy for the Oukasie campaign does not prevent her from highlighting weaknesses. She acknowledges that the campaign failed to prevent thousands leaving Oukasie, and she documents the defeat of the politics she champions as Oukasie moved from resistance to local governance. This makes the book a highly credible account of the events it describes.
The book should, therefore, be read by anyone concerned with democracy’s future in South Africa, but in other contexts too. It should also trigger a debate on whether the political approach it describes is feasible.
Anglican worker priest, Rev. Paul Nicolson, died at the age of 87 on March 5. A married man with five children, who once worked in the champagne trade, he read about the French worker priest movement while studying at Cuddesdon Theological College from 1966-8, The Tablet reports.
He wanted to be like them – outside the parish system, self-supporting, working alongside the poor, but Cuddesdon only trained parish clergy.
Two bishops refused ordination. His College Principal, Robert Runcie, who later became Bishop of St Albans and eventually Archbishop of Canterbury, ordained him.
As a “Minister in Secular Employment,” he worked for the chemical company, ICI, where he became increasingly disenchanted with the company’s employment policy, before himself being made “redundant”.
In 1982, he “discovered” Liberation Theology, which became his guiding light in trying “to apply the gratuitous love that we learn from the example of Jesus. [And t]hat gratuitous love is both personal and structural.” Archbishop Oscar Romero became one of his heroes.
From the beginning, he was also committed to the Cardijn “see-judge-act” method.
He helped established the “Taxpayers against Poverty” movement and founded the “Zaccheus 2000 Trust.” His family have established a fundraiser to continue his work through the trust.
“We would like all children to leave here having experienced the ‘see- judge-act’ approach where they look at an issue e.g. plastic pollution, make a judgement about what it is doing to our planet and then act on it,” teachers at Corpus Christi Catholic School in Bournemouth, UK, say.
“As a Catholic school, we have taken inspiration from Oscar Romero who spoke out against the problems in the world and encouraged everyone to take the ‘See, Judge and Act’ approach to problems in our world. Our children haue also taken inspiration from Greta Thunberg and have ‘seen’ the issues with pollution, have talked about it and have therefore decided to take action.
“Our Year 4 classes have decided to take action through their words. In English lessons, our children haue been writing poems about pollution, our enuironment, deforestation and climate change. We have created this poetry book to raise awareness to the current environmental issues our world is facing. We are so proud of their passion and their work, that it is only right this is shared within the local community too.
“We are hoping that as many people haue the chance to read their poems, in the hope that they will be inspired to make small changes in their day to day liues, to make a difference in saving our planet. The children would also like to showcase their passion of making a difference to their families, the school and local community and the general public.
“We hope this inspires you to make a difference,” the teachers, Ms Davis and Ms Whiting and the children write in the introduction to their e-book, which is now available online.
Pope Francis has recognized the martyrdom of the Servants of God Rutilio Grande García, a Jesuit priest, and his 2 lay companions, who were killed in hatred of the faith in El Salvador on March 12, 1977, Vatican News reports.
Murdered before the start of the Salvadoran civil war, Father Grande, who was a close friend of fellow Salvadoran and martyr, Saint Oscar Romero.
Known for his vigorous defence of poor, Fr Grande died on 12 March, 1977, near his hometown of El Paisnal in rural El Salvador after being shot a dozen times or more along with elderly parishioner Manuel Solorzano and teenager Nelson Rutilio Lemus, who were accompanying him to a novena for the feast of St Joseph, Crux says.
The horror that the assassination of Fr Grande generated led Archbishop Oscar Romero of San Salvador to take up the Jesuit’s mantle as a defender of the poor leading to his own martyrdom three years later.
Prior to beginning his community organising work, Fr Rutilio had studied at the Lumen Vitae Institute in Brussels, where he learned the Cardijn see-judge-act method.
Retired Cardinal Thomas Williams of Wellington, who credits his priestly vocation to YCW formationn has celebrated his diamond and ruby jubilees with the theme of thanksgiving and repentance, NZ Catholic reports.
The cardinal had an early celebration for his friends and families from Auckland and Hamilton on December 17 at the Carmelite Monastery in Royal Oak, Auckland and a later celebration in Waikanae, where he currently resides. December 20 marked his 40th anniversary as bishop and 60 as a priest.
“Above all, I thank God for giving me a share in the priesthood of his Son, Jesus Christ,” he said at his jubilee homily in Auckland, “as I thank God for those in earlier years who formed me, and prepared me to respond to his call to priestly ministry”.
Cardinal Williams also expressed hope that the formation methods of the Young Christian Workers movement, founded by Belgian Cardinal Joseph Cadijn, are brought back to youth ministry.
“It gave me my vocation. I wouldn’t have become a priest if had I not had the background in the formation in the Catholic youth movement. The basic aim of the movement was the formation of leaders for the mission of the Church. So, formation, leadership, mission,” he said.
Asked how he would like to be remembered, Cardinal Williams hesitated before saying, “I don’t expect to be greatly remembered but . . . [I would like to be remembered as] a dedicated servant”.
Born in Valleyfield, Ontario, Canada, on 23 July 1928, Fr Jean Ménard was the son of Joseph-Maximilien Ménard and Juliette L’Arche.
He completed his secondary school studies at the Valleyfield Seminary followed by theology studies at the National University of Ottawa and the Major Seminary of the Missions Etrangères at Pont-Viau.
While at high school, he became a member of the Jeunesse Etudiante Catholique (JEC or YCS), where he learnt the methods of the movement.
“In the YCS, the “see, judge, act” method provided me with an initial start in the capacity to analyse,” he recalled.
As diocesan leader, he went on school visits where he met with school principals.
“They gave me 15-20 minutes to speak to the students, explain what the YCS was, sell the Jeunesse étudiante (Student Youth) and François magazines.
“Seeing was easy enough. In my parish, there was a textile factory where the people were exploited. As for judging, we did so on the basis of social class, the reality of which was quite clear even though no one spoke of it.
“And we added a dimension that came from the Gospel, the Bible. We said that if the boss acted like that, what he did deserved to be criticised.”
“Later we discovered that the Gospel also had something about that, namely that the people had the right to fight and that it was not a sin to go on strike.”
“Because of the YCS, it meant we did it for Jesus and that meant that when there was injustrice, it was necessary to fight and condemn, announce as well as denounce. I also liked that, criticising the authorities and the bosses still more.”
The YCS thus represented “my first step towards mission,” he later said.
“Arriving in a school where you don’t know anyone, talk to the principal, convince him to give you 15-20 minutes and see a bit who the leaders in the school were, bring them together over a beer or something else to pass on the message.”
“I said to myself, if I can do something that resembles the JEC, I would love to do that and that’s how I decided on the missions but not necessarily a confessional mission, simply a liking to visit a place and to pass on a message to someone there.”
Jean Ménard was ordained on 4 July 1954. He then worked as a teacher in Moncton, New Brunswick from 1956-59.
He left for Cuba on 10 September 1959 and worked as a missionary there until 1961.
He was a missionary in Chile from 1962-73 and later in Nicaragua from 1981-82.
In between these two posts he taught at Valleyfield from 1977-79.
Fr Ménard was involved in many groups including the following: Solidarité Québec-Amérique-Latine et Québec-Chili (1973-79), CISO (1976-2009), CECM (1976), CPMO (1979-80 et 1985-91), GTCQ (1980-2009), Amitié-Chine (1983-93), RAM (1984), Entraide Missionnaire (1990-2000), RML (1990-2009), OPDS (1991-2001), Développement et Paix (1991-2000), Alerte Centre-Sud (1991-95) and Attac-Québec.
He also worked as an animator with the Société des Missions-Étrangères from 1983-2009.
He died in Laval on 26 January 2020 at the age of 91.
Ménard, Tout le monde va au ciel, Blogue de Eloy Roy
Catherine LeGrand, L’axe missionnaire catholique entre le Québec et l’Amérique latine. Une exploration préliminaire / The North-South Missionary Nexus between Quebec and Latin America: A Preliminary Exploration
Globe, Revue internationale d’études québécoises, Coopération et missonnariat, Volume 12, numéro 1, 2009.
M. l’abbé Jean Ménard, prêtre des Missions-Étrangères, est décédé à Laval, le dimanche 26 janvier 2020 à l’âge de 91 ans et 6 mois. Né à Valleyfield le 23 juillet 1928, il était le fils de Joseph-Maximilien Ménard et de Juliette L’Arche.
Il a fait ses études secondaires au Séminaire de Valleyfield, puis ses études théologiques au Séminaire Universitaire d’Ottawa et au Grand Séminaire des Missions-Étrangères de Pont-Viau. Ordonné prêtre le 4 juillet 1954, il est parti le 10 septembre 1959 pour Cuba, où il a travaillé comme missionnaire jusqu’en 1961. Il fut missionnaire aussi au Chili (1962-73) et au Nicaragua (1981-82).
Au Canada, il a travaillé comme professeur à Moncton, N.B. (1956-59) et à Valleyfield (1977-79) et s’est impliqué dans divers secteurs de Montréal: Solidarité Québec-Amérique-Latine et Québec-Chili (1973-79), CISO (1976-2009), CECM (1976), CPMO (1979-80 et 1985-91), GTCQ (1980-2009), Amitié-Chine (1983-93), RAM (1984), Entraide Missionnaire (1990-2000), RML (1990-2009), OPDS (1991-2001), Développement et Paix (1991-2000), Alerte Centre-Sud (1991-95) et Attac-Québec. Il a travaillé aussi à l’Animation missionnaire de la Société des Missions-Étrangères (1983-2009).
Au moment de son décès, il vivait retraité à Laval. Il laisse dans le deuil, outre ses confrères missionnaires, ses belles-sœurs Monique Carrier et Jeanne Haineault, ainsi que des neveux, des nièces et de nombreux autres parents et amis.
On 27
January this year, the world will commemorate the liberation by Soviet troops of
the infamous camp at Auschwitz, where so many people perished during the
Second World War.
Sadly,
this was not the end for all camps. Many others would continue to die in other
camps over the next few months.
Among
these were Fernand Tonnet and Paul Garcet (1901-1945), two
members of the “founder trio” of the Belgian JOC, who died at the Nazi death
camp at Dachau in January and February 1945.
Fernand Tonnet
Born
in 1894, Fernand Tonnet met young Fr Joseph Cardijn within weeks of the
latter’s appointment as a curate in the parish of Our Lady of Laeken near
Brussels at Easter 1912. Having already learned the Sillon’s methods of
formation from another priest, Fernand began immediately to work with his new
mentor.
The
outbreak of the First World War in August 1914 interrupted this work when
Fernand was called to arms after Germany’s invasion of Belgium. Fortunately,
Fernand survived the trenches although he did suffer lasting damage from the
effects of gas.
Finally
in 1919 he was able to return to Laeken where he soon teamed up again with
Cardijn and two other young men, Paul Garcet and Jacques Meert, to launch
the Jeunesse Syndicaliste (Young
Trade Unionists), the forerunner of the Jeunesse Ouvrière Chrétienne (JOC)
or Young Christian Workers (YCW).
For
the next six years the dynamic group worked together to develop the emerging
movement, eventually gaining the approval of Pope Pius XI for their initiative.
This in turn led to an explosion of growth of the YCW with 400 new teams
launched in 1925 alone.
Elected
as national president at the first national congress in 1925, Tonnet continued
to play a leading role. In 1927, he travelled to France to assist in the launch
of the movement in Paris and Lille, where he was welcomed as the first
“international president” of the emerging movement.
As
the movement continued to grow, he helped organise many of its major events,
including the first pilgrimage to Rome in 1929. He also had a particular talent
and interest in publishing and was instrumental in the launch of the movement’s
colour magazine, JOC.
Even
more importantly, he played a key role in forming a whole generation of young
leaders of the 1920s and 1930s, a period that has come to be recognised as a
Golden Age of the JOC.
In
1934, now aged 40, he relinquished his post as president and went to work with
the CSC Christian Trade Union in the Charleroi region, where he developed a
formidable reputation as an organiser and advocate for worker rights.
In
1938, he changed tack to join the Action Catholique des Hommes (Men’s Catholic
Action) movement, where he again made excellent use of his talent in developing
publications and resources for local teams and leaders. There he remained until
his arrest in 1943.
Paul Garcet
Born
in 1901, Paul Garcet first came into contact with Cardijn around 1915 via the
Pius X Eucharistic League in the parish. Soon after he also joined the local
“patronage” or parish youth club, where he got to know Tonnet albeit, given
their age difference, from afar.
By
1919, the war was over and Paul was eighteen. He now teamed up with the
recently returned Tonnet and the young metalworker, Jacques Meert, to work on
establishing the Young Trade Unionists.
Soon
after, Cardijn found him a job as an accountant with the Christian Trade Union
Federation in Brussels, enabling him to devote much energy and time to the
promotion of the new movement.
At
the first JOC congress in 1925, Garcet was elected national treasurer. Soon
after, together with Tonnet and Meert, he became a fulltime worker for the
movement. Later, Cardijn would describe them as the “founder trio” of the
movement with “Fernand, the head, Paul, the heart and Jacques, the hands.”
Others added Cardijn’s name to the list as the “fire” or the “soul” of the
team.
As
treasurer, Paul successfully tackled the difficult challenge of ensuring that
the movement met its budget needs, always a challenge but particularly in those
early years of rapid growth. Indeed, the growth of the movement’s assets and
resources during this period witnesses to the effectiveness of his work.
During
this period, he was also responsible for JOC’s vocational orientation program
for young people. Finally, in 1933, he took leave of the movement to marry
Jeanne Partous, another pioneer and co-founder of the JOCF in the Brussels
region. Together they had three children.
In 1935, he became administrative director of La Cité Nouvelle, a progressive Christian magazine while he also worked to develop a successor movement to the JOC, the Ligue Ouvrière Chrétienne (LOC) or Christian Worker League.
Meanwhile,
he continued to collaborate with Tonnet on the development of a network of
former YCW leaders.
Sadly,
much of this work was interrupted by the outbreak of World War II in September
1939.
Arrest and imprisonment
In
1940, Belgium was once again occupied by invading German forces. Yet despite
dangers, Tonnet and Garcet continued their apostolic work.
Although
they were not formal members of the underground resistance, they nevertheless
took many risks to provide aid to those in need. Inevitably, their actions came
under scrutiny.
Paul
Garcet was the first to be arrested at the beginning of June 1943 for allegedly
helping to provide lodging for a parachutist member of the Resistance. Fernand,
who had telephoned Paul to ask his assistance for the task, was quick to blame
himself for the arrest.
Several
days later, Fernand was himself interrogated by the German Secret Police (Geheime Feldpolizei or Gestapo) and accused of
having failed to report the location of the parachutist. At the beginning of
August, the secret police returned again on several occasions, seeking to
arrest him. Fortunately, he was absent each time but it was clear that his days
of freedom were numbered.
At
this point, Fernand could have himself sought to take refuge. However, fearing
that others would be blamed if he disappeared, Tonnet refused to leave, despite
the entreaties of his friends and colleagues.
Finally,
on 10 August, the police returned and were able to arrest and imprison him at
the Saint Gilles prison, where Cardijn had also been interned and where Paul
Garcet along with other of their colleagues were also being held.
At the end of August 1943, both Fernand and Paul were transferred to the “death camp” at Esterwegen in north-west Germany. Here the task of dehumanising them began. They had their heads shaved, their clothes taken and they were given numbers by which they would be identified.
1944 sketch of Tonnet by M. Derimont made at Esterwegen
They
were both classified among the most dangerous prisoners with the initials
“N.N”, which stood for “Nacht und Nebel”,
literally “Night and Fog”, signalling that all trace of their existence was to
disappear. As Marguerite Fiévez wrote in her biography of Tonnet, it was a kind
of “death sentence without the name,” turning them into “living dead.” Together
with them were a number of other former jocist leaders and chaplains.
Here
they were put to work sorting cartridges and recycling materials for use by the
Nazi war machine. In response, they both looked for ways to slow down and
impede the work.
Doing
the least work possible, they both sought to come to the aid of other
prisoners, offering them spiritual and emotional support in their distress.
Esterwegen Concentration Camp
Tonnet
and Garcet remained at Esterwegen for seven months until 20 March 1944
when they and others were moved to another death camp at Bayreuth (known as
the Flossenbürg camp), where they forced to do hard labour.
In these conditions, their health slowly began to decline. On 21 May, Tonnet
recorded that he now weighed a mere 51.5 kg.
At
the end of summer 1944, this labour ended and they were both henceforth
confined to their cells. Now Fernand and Paul were again separated from one
another. Nevertheless, they both continued to provide moral and spiritual
support to their fellow prisoners.
Finally,
on 29 November 1944, the Bayreuth camp was emptied and many prisoners transferred
to the sinister camp at Dachau in Upper Bavaria. By now, the temperature
had fallen below freezing as low as 15°, 18° and 22° degrees below zero on
occasion.
Here
around 40 men were lodged together in three rooms. By now, most were already
too feeble to work and spent the days in bed. Fernand was in a greatly weakened
state. Nevertheless, he continued to gain the admiration of his colleagues.
“The
impression I had of Fernand Tonnet at Dachau perfectly confirmed the impression
I already had of him,” one former JOC chaplain, Fr Mauroy, who survived the
camp, later wrote. “He was a layman extremely close to God, with a great
delicacy of conscience. He was truly a fervent devotee of sanctity.”
“However,
you had to discover this from the inside without looking at the outside of a
man who had already lost all the dash and dynamism he once had,” Fr Mauroy
concluded.
Dachau Concentration Camp
“I
saw him,” recalled the Jesuit theologian, Fr Léon de Coninck, who later wrote
of his experience in a book, Dachau, bagne pour prêtres(Dachau:
Prison for priests). (See also Guillaume Zeller, The Priest Barracks: Dachau, 1938-1945). “He was
in a terrible state, lacking clothes, worn out with fatigue and dying of
hunger.”
But
when food packages arrived from the Red Cross and there was one too few for the
number of prisoners, Tonnet gave up his own parcel in favour of another
prisoner. And when other parcels arrived later, he shared this with others.
Together
again for the last time, Fernand and Paul continued to help organise prayer and
even covert Mass services within the camp.
Death
But
this did not last long. The month of January was extremely cold. Paul had come
to the end. By 20 January, he was already in a close to comatose state. On 23
January, he finally succumbed with Fernand at his side.
Tonnet’s
own demise was also now only a week away as he continued to weaken to the point
he could no longer eat.
“That’s
it!” he told his companions on 1 February. “I can’t continue. I no longer need
anything!”
By
the morning of 2 February 1945, he too was dead. Less than three months later,
Dachau too was liberated, this time by American forces. But it was too late to
save the JOC founders.
Cardijn’s tribute
Cardijn
of course never forgot Fernand Tonnet’s and Paul Garcet’s contribution. In
1965, just after he had become a cardinal and as Vatican II neared its
conclusion, he gave his backing to calls for their beatification.
“It
was not primarily their arrest, stay and martyrdom in the Dachau camp that set
them apart for the heroism of holiness,” Cardijn said at the time. “Many others
have displayed a similar sublime heroism.”
“No,
their whole adolescence and youth was marked by the faith and an apostolic
mission, by daily recourse to the most authentic sources of holiness and
apostolate, by an unparalleled charity and renouncement, by goodness,
gentleness and perseverance in the service of the humblest and most abandoned,”
he continued.
The
Second Vatican Council had addressed “the great issue of the apostolate of the laity,” Cardijn noted, in which a
number of Council Fathers had “emphasised that lay people in the Church should
and could achieve the highest levels of holiness,” Cardijn noted. However, “we
can and must pray for this with the sole intention of serving the glory of God,
which manifests itself in his saints.”
“And
let us hope that it will be displayed more and more in the heroism of lay
saints,” Cardijn concluded.
Conclusion
As we
approach the 75th anniversary of their deaths, it is illuminating and moving to
recall the commitment and sacrifice of Fernand Tonnet and Paul Garcet.
The fact that Vatican II endorsed the lay vocation in the world that they modelled and embodied is perhaps the greatest tribute to their example, which deserves and needs to be recognised.
Author
Stefan Gigacz is the Secretary of the Australian Cardijn Institute and treasurer of the Cardijn Community International.
Father Niphote Thienviharn is the founder of the RTRC Centre in Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. A long time collaborator with MIJARC, FIMARC and CCI, he has had a long standing concern with ecological issues.
He recently addressed the Federation of Asian Bishops Conferences (FABC) on ways of awakening climate concern among seminarians.
Celebration of Mass at St Domitalla Catacombs, Sunday 20 October 2019
Led by Brazilian Cardinal Claudio Hummes, bishops from the Pan-Amazon Synod gathered on Sunday to adopt a new “Pact of the Catacombs for the Common Home”.
Modelled on the original Pact of the Catacombs for a Poor and Servant Church, the signatories of the new pact commit themselves to defend the Amazon jungle in the face of global warming and the depletion of natural resources.
They recognise that they “are not the owners of Mother Earth but rather the sons and daughters formed from the dust of the ground” as the biblical text of Genesis implies. They call for a renewal of God’s covenant with all of creation.
They also call for a renewal of the Church’s preferential option for the poor, especially for native peoples. In particular, they call for the abandonment of a “colonist mentality” and denounce aggression against indigenous communities.
The bishops insist on welcoming “the other”, namely those who are different and call on Catholics “to walk ecumenically with other Christian communities in the inculturation and liberating proclamation of the Gospel.”
Within the Church, the bishops call for “a synodal lifestyle where representatives of original peoples, missionaries, lay people, because of their baptism and in communion with their pastors, have voice and vote in the diocesan assemblies, in pastoral and parish councils and, ultimately, everything that concerns the governance of the communities.” And they call for urgent recognition of ” the ecclesial ministries that already exist in the communities, exercised by pastoral agents, indigenous catechists, ministers of the Word.”
The bishops also call for recognition of ” the services and real diakonia of a great number of women who today direct communities in the Amazon and seek to consolidate them with an adequate ministry of women leaders of the community.”
The bishops also call for “new paths of pastoral action in the cities where we operate, with the prominence of the laity, with attention to the peripheries and migrants, workers and the unemployed, students, educators, researchers and the world of culture and communication.”
In the face of a consumeristic society, they also call for ” a happily sober lifestyle, simple and in solidarity with those who have little or nothing; to reduce the production of garbage and the use of plastics, favoring the production and commercialization of agro-ecological products, and using public transport whenever possible.”
Finally, the Amazon bishops insist on placing themselves on the side of those who are persecuted for their prophetic service of d”enouncing and repaying injustices, of defending the earth and the rights of the poor, of welcoming and supporting migrants and refugees.”
In this context, it is worth remembering the original Pact of the Catacombs proposed by Archbishop Helder Camara at the end of Vatican II. This was in turn inspired by Cardijn’s own 1903 consecration of his life to the working class on the deathbed of his father.
Jocelyn Franklin, who died on 3 October aged 93, helped found the Young Christian Students (YCS) movement in Aotearoa-New Zealand.
Bishop Patrick Dunn of Auckland with Jocelyn Franklin
After she converted to Catholicism at the age of 20, Bishop (later Cardinal) Reginal Delargey chose her for the role.
With the encouragement of Bishop Delargey and inspired by the writings and activities of Cardinal Joseph Cardijn’s principles for the lay apostolate – “See, Judge, Act” – Jocelyn became heavily involved in the establishment and training of the emerging lay apostolate movement.
She also co-founded and was instrumental in the work of the Catholic Overseas Volunteers Service (COVS) as well as Justice and Peace activities.
Encouraged by Bishops Delargey and Mackey, she established the Lay Training Centre over a period of several years in two houses, where young people flatted together and studied at night and weekends after work, focusing particularly on social justice work.
In 1916 Jocelyn published a collection of poems and reflections on her long life of faith and her journey through her later years of failing health, called “Faith and Reflection”. In a foreword to this book the late Bishop John Mackey wrote “Jocelyn has been an icon for those who rejoice in the layperson’s work … Now in these poems she reveals the depths and richness of her faith.“
In recent years Jocelyn has been a resident at the Little Sisters of the Poor St Joseph’s Home, in Herne Bay in Auckland.
“We owe a great debt of thanks and gratitude to Jocelyn for her dedication, vision and missionary zeal. Well done thou good and faithful servant,” said the bishop of Auckland Patrick Dunn in a Facebook post.
Her Requiem Mass will be celebrated at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Auckland on Saturday 12 October.
