Category: Australia

Remembering Bernie Docherty, extension worker in India

Former YCW India leader, Joseph Arokyasamy, has penned this tribute to the late Bernard James Docherty, an extension worker from Australia, who helped launch the YCW in several Indian dioceses.

Greetings in the Name of Jesus our Lord.

I am sending a very short background, my experiences with Mr Bernie Docherty and Miss Betty King and their hard work to organising the YCW in Bangalore and Madras Archdiocese, Poona and Allepey Dioceses. I travelled with him to three Diocesan meetings.

Bernie and Betty came to India at the end of 1960 and stayed till end of 1963.

Bernie use to cycle to contact workers in various areas in the city and he used to walk to places close by. He was so simple, honest and humble person, very hard working, very sincere in his work and his words. His behaviour attracted many including myself.
I first joined the group during Christmas 1960, learning to know all about YCW. In 1961 I formally joined the group due to Bernie’s persuasion.

I was not good in English and he encouraged me every time I made mistakes. In Sacred Heart Parish there were seven members in the YCW.

Bernie used to visit my simple home and have black coffee from my mother. She was very much fond of him. He encouraged me to study and I joined a tutorial college for Matriculation in 1961.

Bernie organised a central committee with Fr Rajekaiar as Diocesan chaplain from St Francis Xavier church, St Joseph church, St Mary’s, St Patrick’s and Sacred Heart Church. Mr Joe Bastian was President.

YCW Girls Group

In the middle of July 191 along with Fr Thomas Joseph of Madras, he organised three days study at Coimbatore. Forty members from Madras, Mangalore, Bangalore, Allepy, Trichy along with seven priests also participated. Fr Thomas Joseph explained the methodology of YCW, what it stands for etc. All the workers were very happy to learn See, Judge and Act technique.

In 1962 he and Fr Thomas organised a seminar for seminarians at the Bishop’s House in Allepey.

I was invited to give a talk on contacts. It was my first experience on stage and I was very nervous but Fr Thomas helped me to complete my talk.

After a year and half Helen and Peter visited India and Peter found that there were many Joseph in the group. So they called Joe Bastian Big Joe and me Little Joe. Till today everyone calls me Little Joe.

Bernie and Betty organised three working women’s group with help of Cynthia Joneson. I was the one who introduced Cynthia to Betty when she was in my office.

Bernie organized five groups.

In the year 1963 Bernie married Philomena Dubiar from the Madras YCW girls. I was his best man. He left India in 1963.
Today there are more than 15000 men and women involved in YCW, CWM and CCI in more than 65 Dioceses in India.

Joseph Arokyasamy

READ MORE

Bernie Docherty, YCW extension worker in India (Australian Cardijn Institute)

Betty King (Joseph Cardijn Digital Library)

Joseph Arokyasamy

Archbishop Len, a jocist bishop

Former Adelaide YCW chaplain, Archbishop Len Faulkner, emeritus of Adelaide Archdiocese and of Townsville diocese died on Sunday 6 May, 2018 at the age of 91.

“Archbishop Len, as he liked to be called was a tremendous supporter of the YCW,” said Stefan Gigacz from the Cardijn Institute in Melbourne.

“He was proud to say that his episcopal ring was made of the YCW logo.”

“When the Australian bishops had doubts about the YCW during the 1970s, he did not hesitate to back the movement, telling his colleagues that it was a ‘prophetic movement’.”

“Later in 1991, he gave his full backing to the hosting of the International YCW World Council in Adelaide, despite the fact that the Holy See had derecognised the movement only two years before.

“Although he did not always agree with the movement’s decisions, he never wavered in his support,” Stefan Gigacz recalled.

The eldest of 10 children, Archbishop Len was born in Booleroo Centre in the southern Flinders Ranges on December 5, 1926, and after entering the seminary at Rostrevor was ordained a priest on January 1, 1950, in Rome, The Southern Cross reports.

He was appointed Bishop of Townsville on November 28, 1967, and on June 19, 1985, he was installed as the seventh Archbishop of Adelaide where he continued his commitment to, and support of, the lay people as a critical part of the life of the Church.

Archbishop Len established Adelaide’s Diocesan Pastoral Team which gave lay women a role in governance, and pioneered a unique model of neighbourhood communities based on the Second Vatican Council’s challenge that the Church be one that looks outward to the community.

He was passionately involved in ecumenical and interfaith initiatives, support for migrants and refugees, Aboriginal communities, the YCW particularly as well as all the Cardijn movements.

During the AIDS epidemic, he demonstrated his bold and compassionate leadership by establishing the Diocesan AIDS Council and an extensive volunteer program to support those affected.

FULL STORY

Catholics mourn the death of Archbishop Faulkner  (The Southern Cross)

RELATED COVERAGE

Retired Adelaide Archbishop Leonard Faulkner dies at 91 (The Advertiser)

Catholics mourn the death of Archbishop Faulkner (Adelaide Archdiocese)

VIDEO

Interview with Archbishop Len Faulkner 2014 (Stefan Gigacz)

More flowers for Teresa

Fifteen-year-old Catholic Regional College St Albans student Teresa Ho was killed on Monday at Ginifer station in Melbourne’s north-west when she strayed into the path of a full-tilt V-Line train.

Now, I know the Ginifer railway station very well having worked for two years at Holy Eucharist parish which is located just a few hundred metres away.

Passing several times daily through the same flimsy pedestrian boom gate where Teresa died, I witnessed many instances in which people would race across in a bid to catch the train that had just gone through.

I still shudder to recall one young Sudanese boy who leaped across totally oblivious to the possibility of another train coming from the opposite direction. Unlike Teresa, the boy fortunately stayed safe on that occasion.

But I was so upset that I started asking among local community leaders to see what could be done about the crossing which has been rated as the fifth most dangerous in Melbourne. The inevitable response was a resigned kind of look that simply said yes, we have been complaining about it for years.

So I decided to write a letter. But to whom? The local MP? Connex (the previous operator)? Metlink Melbourne? And so it didn’t take long for inertia to set in and I never did do it before I finished work in the parish in 2008.

I don’t delude myself that it would have made any difference. After all, many locals have indeed been trying for decades to get action on both the Ginifer and St Albans crossings.

Thirty years ago, Tom Rigg, a now retired former station master, even came up with a plan to finance construction by developing the St Albans station into a commercial centre. To no avail.

Even though Ginifer station was somewhat ironically named after a well-regarded state Labor MP Jack Ginifer, many locals claim that the former Labor state government ignored their demands because it was one of the party’s safest seats.

Nor has the current Liberal government shown the least interest in the problem, evidently preferring to favour its own seats.

What to do in the face of such naked political indifference?

I thought hard about that as I looked at a photo of Teresa’s mum Tien Nguyen and her distressed school mates praying at the site of the terrible accident.

And it reminded of another incident in the late 1960s when a young YCW leader was killed in a car accident in Melbourne’s suburbs, possibly at another level crossing.

I never knew the name of the guy but I do know the impact that his death had on his fellow YCW leaders who brought up the issue in one of their local meetings and decided that they had to act.

It was the start of a YCW Road Safety Campaign in the early 1970s that contributed significantly to the introduction of compulsory seat belts and the 0.05 alcohol limit in Victoria.

Could we launch a similar campaign today? Well, to quote a famous Catholic activist, Cesar Chavez, yes, we can! (Did anyone think Obama invented the line?)

True, the Melbourne YCW, which during the 1960s was the largest YCW movement that ever existed in any city in the world, was able to make it happen because it was organised and structured to do so.

Sadly, the sociological foundations of that YCW evaporated soon after sending the movement into a decline that lasted many years. Happily, the movement did not disappear and indeed the Melbourne YCW has just celebrated its 70th anniversary with a promising resurgence.

Moreover, the method that made it successful – Cardijn’s famous See Judge Act method – has now passed into official Catholic social teaching. This year in fact also marks the 50th anniversary of Pope John XXIII’s encyclical Mater et Magistra, which formally recognised the method (Para 236).

What’s more the baby boomers who made the Melbourne YCW successful in the 1960s are mostly still around, albeit somewhat greyer. A few even still go to Mass on Sundays!

So what’s to stop some of those well trained boomers from getting together with a few of their peers to begin to address the issues that afflict local communities today? Actually, some have already started to do so, e.g. a Cardijn Community team led by Kevin Vaughan is now tackling the issue of single fathers.

Moreover, what’s to stop many other parishes and schools from taking the initiative to bring together new groups of young people to act on the issues that concern them?

The required tools are easily accessible. Each Friday, CathNews Perspectives publishes the Sunday Gospel that could be the basis of a weekly Gospel enquiry. Many easy guides to the See Judge Act are available on the web.

Seeing the flowers that mark the spot where Teresa Ho died, I was also reminded that Pope Pius XI once named St Theresa of Lisieux as the patron of the YCW.

Let every parish plant the seeds for many more flowers to grow. Yes, we can. We owe it to Teresa and her family.

– Stefan Gigacz

SOURCE

CathBlog – More flowers for Teresa (CathNews)

Supporting single fathers

Cardijn Community Australia founder, Kevin Vaughan, is raising awareness of of the importance of fatherhood and supporting men separated from their children.

Kevin says the fact that so many children in our community are raised without their dad is a tragedy not only for the children, but also for their fathers, since, “there is a natural love between a father and his children”, Kairos magazine reports.

Three years ago Kevin started a Cardijn group in his parish at St Anne’s, Seaford in Melbourne’s south.

The group became interested in tackling the issue of fatherless families when parish priest Fr John Madden alerted members to the fact that 42 children from single-parent families within the parish were getting breakfast only three times a week.

The group attempted several initiatives, including setting up a scheme whereby men could become male role models for fatherless children in the parish.

Kevin says: “We came to the conclusion that the best male role model for a child is the child’s father.”

The group then began to focus on why separation happens and ways to support those who want to remain part of their children’s lives or reconnect
with estranged children.

Kevin also started working with Fr Peter Carrucan at St Augustine’s Church in the city centre of Melbourne where he has started a drop-in centre fro separated dads.

“One guy told me he hadn’t seen his children for 11 years,” Fr Peter said. “Then, out of nowhere comes a letter from his daughter, who was 10 when he last saw her, inviting him to her 21st birthday so he is delighted. I think some men listen to the wrong voices. They put off contacting their children.

“Maybe it is fear that they might be rejected.”

FULL STORY

Supporting separated dads (Kairos, August 2011)
fr Carrucan (left) and Kevin Vaughan with a picture of Cardinal Cardijn. Kevin belongs to a Cardijn group in his parish
of St Anne’s, Seaford.

See, judge, act ‘a formidable method’: Perth Archbishop

In an address to the University of Notre Dame Australia, Archbishop Barry Hickey of Perth has called for a renewal of the see, judge, act based small group methodology.

“A formidable formation programme struggles but still exists in this Archdiocese that I want to put to you,” he said.

“It is based on a review of daily life. Small groups critique unjust situations in the light of the Gospel and make a commitment to action.

“The steps are summed up in three words – SEE, JUDGE and ACT.

“It has already produced strong leaders in public life and needs to be revived again if laypeople are to fulfill their special task in the world, as the Church has asked them to do.

“In brief, make the Gospels your study text.

“Read about others who have gone before you. Find a group of like-minded friends to talk about all this together.

“Live a good life, free of sin, and, most important of all, pray. Speak to Christ as your friend, and then listen.

“Carry Him in your heart after Holy Communion, then carry Him into the world.

“In your family life, cultivate an awareness of the world around you and help your children to understand that they too are called to make a difference in the world, when they grow to maturity, in order to build up the sort of world that Jesus wants,” says Archbishop Hickey.

READ THE FULL TEXT HERE

Go where I cannot go, transform the world and bring it to Christ: Hickey(The Record)