The JOC Argentina is commemorating the 50th anniversary of the death of Argentine and International YCW leader and lay collaborator, José Serapio Palacio, who was killed on 13 December 1975.
In a twist of fate, his anniversary fell on the same day that the French Church celebrated the martyrdom of more than twenty YCW and YCS martyrs of World War II.
READ MORE ABOUT THE LIFE OF PEPE AND AMALIA PALACIO
Pepe and Amalia Palacio (Joseph Cardijn Digital Library)
We are sad to announce that former IYCW secretary-general, René Salanne, died of Covid on 16 April at the age of 94.
The son of Jean-Baptiste Salanne, a sharecropper, and Pascaline Candelé, the daughter of a local shoemaker, he was born in Bayonne in the south of France in 1927.
He began his career with an apprenticeship in woodworking before entering a local foundry.
By the age of sixteen, he was already the secretary of the JOC federation for the Basque region.
He joined the CGT union, a Communist trade union, believing it was the best to represent workers. However, he quickly became disillusioned when CGT leaders sought to give orders to their members. As a result, he and his jocist friends moved across to join the Christian trade union, the CFTC, where they joined in strike action in 1947.
In 1951, he became national vice-president of the French JOC. In 1957, he was elected secretary-general of the IYCW at its first International Council in Rome. He also represented the IYCW in various international conferences, particularly at UNESCO, which is based in Paris.
After completing his term with the IYCW, he became federal secretary for international relations for the CFTC. In 1965, while on a visit to Poland, he met Lech Walesa, the future leader of the Solidarnosc trade union, which played a key role in the downfall of communism.
In 1979, the CFTC changed its name to CFDT or Democratic French Confederation of Labor and René became international director of the new union, where he worked to develop a European trade union confederation.
On 4 August 1956, he married Maria Edwige Castiglioni, who was also a fulltime worker for the JOCF. They had four children together.
SOURCE
René Salanne (1927-2021), une pointure internationale à Saint-Esteben (Mediabask)
Salanne, René Jean (Maitron)
René Salanne (Joseph Cardijn Digital Library)
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”.
SOURCE
Two jubilees for Cardinal Williams (NZ Catholic)
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.
SOURCES
Avis de décès (Valleyfield Diocese)
Catherine Foisy, Au risque de la conversion, L’expérience québecoise de la mission au XXe siècle, MQUP, 2017.
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.
URI : https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1000769ar
DOI : https://doi.org/10.7202/1000769ar
Avis de décès
M. L’ABBÉ JEAN MÉNARD P.M.É.
1928 – 2020
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.
Jocelyn Franklin, who died on 3 October aged 93, helped found the Young Christian Students (YCS) movement in Aotearoa-New Zealand.
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.
SOURCES
Jocelyn Franklin served the church in New Zealand for 70 years (CathNews NZ)
Reflection and prayers from Auckland church ‘legend’ (New Zealand Catholic)
Faith and Reflection (Tui Motu Interislands)
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| Luc Cortebeeck / ILO / Flickr / CC 2.0 |
The Governing Body of the International Labour Organization (ILO) has elected former Belgian KAJ (JOC-YCW leader, Luc Cortebeeck, as its Chairperson for 2017-18.
He replaces Dr Ulrich Seidenberger, Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of Germany to the United Nations Office at Geneva, who served as Governing Body Chairperson since June 2016.
Luc Cortebeeck looks back at a long career within the trade union movement, both in Belgium and internationally. He is also Honorary President of the Confederation of Christian Trade Unions of Belgium (ACV-CSC).
The Governing Body is the Executive Body of the International Labour Office (the Office is the secretariat of the Organization). It meets three times a year, in March, June and November, and takes decisions on ILO policy, the agenda of the International Labour Conference, and the draft Programme and Budget of the Organization for submission to the Conference.
In September 2016, he addressed a gathering of alumni of the IYCW-JOCI at Aachen, Germany.
Addressing a U.S. Regional World Meeting of Popular Movements, San Diego Bishop Robert McElroy called on participants to “see, judge, act” in order “to disrupt and rebuild.”
Reproduced below is the full text of his speech.
For the past century, from the worker movements of Catholic action in France, Belgium and Italy to Pope John XXXIII’s call to re-structure the economies of the world in “Mater et Magistra,” to the piercing missionary message of the Latin American Church, the words “see,” “judge” and “act” have provided a powerful pathway for those who seek to renew the temporal order, in the light of the Gospel and justice.
As the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace described this pathway, it lies in “seeing clearly the situation, judging with principles that foster the integral development of people and acting in a way which implements these principles in the light of everyone’s unique situation.”
There is no greater charter for this gathering taking place here in Modesto in these days than the simple but rich architecture of these three words: “see,” “judge” and “act.” Yet these words — which carry with them such a powerful history of social transformation around the world in service to the dignity of the human person — must be renewed and re-examined at every age and seen against the background of those social, economic and political forces in each historical moment.
In the United States we stand at a pivotal moment as a people and a nation, in which bitter divisions cleave our country and pollute our national dialogue.
In our reflections in these days, here, we must identify the ways in which our very ability to see, judge and act on behalf of justice is being endangered by cultural currents which leave us isolated, embittered and angry. We must make the issues of jobs, housing, immigration, economic disparities and the environment, foundations for common efforts rather than of division. We must see prophetic words and prophetic actions which produce unity and cohesion and we must do so in the spirit of hope which is realistic. For as Pope Francis stated to the meeting in Bolivia: “You are sowers of change,” and sowers never lose hope.
First, “see clearly the situation.” One of the most striking elements of “Laudato Si” is his clear and bold analysis of the empirical realities that threaten the Earth which is our common home. “Seeing the situation clearly” is the whole foundation for that encyclical. It is the starting point for transformative justice. Pope Francis was unafraid to venture into this controversial set of questions about climate change and the environment despite the fact that massive social and economic forces, especially within our own country, have conspired to obscure the scientific realities of climate change and environmental degradation, in the very same way that the tobacco companies obscured for decades the medical science pertaining to smoking.
There is a lesson for us here, as agents of change and justice. Never be afraid to speak the truth. Always find your foundation for reflection and action in the fullness of empirical reality. Design strategies for change upon ever fuller dissemination of truths, even when they seem inconvenient to the cause.
This is an especially important anchor for us, in an age in which truth itself is under attack.
Pope Benedict lamented the diminishment of attention to the importance of objective truth in public life and discourse. Now we come to a time when alternate facts compete with real facts, and whole industries have arisen to shape public opinion in destructively isolated and dishonest patterns. The dictum “see clearly the situation” has seldom been more difficult in our society in the United States.
Yet the very realities which our speakers this morning have all pointed to in capturing the depth of marginalization in housing, work and economic equality within the United States point us toward the clarification and the humanization of truth, which leads to a deeper grasp of the realities of injustice and marginalization that confront our nation.
As Pope Francis underscored in his words to the Popular Movements in Bolivia, “When we look into the eyes of the suffering, when they see the faces of the endangered campesino, the poor laborer, the downtrodden native, the homeless family, the persecuted migrant, the unemployed young person and the exploited child, we have seen and heard not a cold statistic but the pain of a suffering humanity, our own pain, our own flesh.”
One of the most important elements of your work as agents of justice in our midst in this country in this day in this moment, is to help our society as a whole become more attuned to this reality of humanized truth, through narrative and witness, listening and solidarity. In this way, you not only witness to the truth through the lives and experiences of the marginalized, you help us all to see the most powerful realities of our world in greater depth.
Those realities embrace both scientific findings and stories of tragedy, economic analysis and the tears of the human heart. “See clearly the situation” is not merely a step in your work on behalf of justice, it shapes everything that you do to transform our world.
Secondly, “judging with principles to foster integral development.” The fundamental political question of our age is whether our economic structures and systems in the United States will enjoy ever greater freedom or whether they will be located effectively within a juridical structure which seeks to safeguard the dignity of the human person and the common good of our nation.
In that battle, the tradition of Catholic social teaching is unequivocally on the side of strong governmental and societal protections for the powerless, the worker, the homeless, the hungry, those without decent medical care, the unemployed. This stance of the Church’s teaching flows from the teaching of the Book of Genesis: The creation is the gift of God to all of humanity. Thus in the most fundamental way, there is a universal destination for all of the material goods that exist in this world. Wealth is a common heritage, not at its core a right of lineage or acquisition.
For this reason, free markets do not constitute a first principle of economic justice. Their moral worth is instrumental in nature and must be structured by government to accomplish the common good.
In Catholic teaching, the very rights which are being denied in our society to large numbers of those who live in our nation are intrinsic human rights in Catholic teaching: The right to medical care; to decent housing; to the protection of human life, from conception to natural death; of the right to food; of the right to work. Catholic teaching sees these rights not merely as points for negotiation, provided only if there is excess in society after the workings of the free market system accomplished their distribution of the nation’s wealth. Rather, these rights are basic claims which every man, woman and family has upon our nation as a whole.
These are the fundamental principles which the Church points to as the basis for judgement for every political and social program that structures economic life within the United States. And they are supplemented in Catholic teaching by a grave suspicion about enormous levels of economic inequality in society. Pope Francis made clear the depth of this suspicion two years ago. “Inequality,” he said, “is the root of social evil.”
In his encyclical “The Joy of the Gospel,” Francis unmasked inequality as the foundation for a process of exclusion that cuts immense segments of society off from meaningful participation in social, political and economic life, as we have all heard this morning. It gives rise to a financial system that rules rather than serves humanity and a capitalism that literally kills those who have no utility as consumers.
Now, when I quote the Pope that “this economy kills,” people very often say to me, “Oh come on, that’s just an exaggeration; it’s a form of speech.”
I want to do an experiment with you. I want you to sit back in your chair for a moment. And close your eyes, and I want you to think of someone you have known that our economy has killed: A senior who can’t afford medicine or rent; a mother or father who is dying, working two and three jobs, really dying because even then they can’t provide for their kids; young people who can’t find their way in the world in which there is no job for them, and they turn to drugs, and gangs and suicide. Think of one person you know that this economy has killed.
Now mourn them.
And now call out their name; let all the world know that this economy kills.
For Catholic social teaching, the surest pathway to economic justice is the provision of meaningful and sustainable work for all men and women capable of work. The “Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church” states, “Economic and social imbalances in the world of work must be addressed by restoring a just hierarchy of values and placing the dignity of workers before all else.”
In work, the Church proclaims, men and women find not only the most sustainable avenue to economic security but also become co-creators with God in the world in which we live. Work is thus profoundly a sacred reality. It protects human dignity even as it spiritually enriches that dignity. If we truly are in our work co-creators with God, don’t we think that deserves at least $15 an hour?
Number three: Acting. After the panel yesterday, when the panelists were asked in one word how they would summarize their message, I tried to think, what is the “act” that summarizes how we must act in this moment?
And I came up with two words. The first, sadly, has been provided by our past election. President Trump was the candidate of “disruption.” He was “the disruptor,” he said.
Well now, we must all become disruptors. We must disrupt those who would seek to send troops into our streets to deport the undocumented, to rip mothers and fathers from their families. We must disrupt those who portray refugees as enemies rather than our brothers and sisters in terrible need. We must disrupt those who train us to see Muslim men, women and children as forces of fear rather than as children of God. We must disrupt those who seek to rob our medical care, especially from the poor. We must disrupt those who would take even food stamps and nutrition assistance from the mouths of children.
But we, as people of faith, as disciples of Jesus Christ, as children of Abraham, as followers of the Prophet Muhammad, of people of all faiths and no faith, we cannot merely be disruptors, we also have to be rebuilders.
We have to rebuild this nation so that we place at its heart the service to the dignity of the human person and assert what that flag behinds us asserts is our heritage: Every man, woman and child is equal in this nation and called to be equal.
We must rebuild a nation in solidarity, what Catholic teaching calls the sense that all of us are the children of the one God, there are no children of a lesser god in our midst. That all of us are called to be cohesive and embrace one another and see ourselves as graced by God. We are called to rebuild our nation which does pay $15 an hour in wages, and provides decent housing, clothing and food for those who are poorest. And we need to rebuild our Earth, which is so much in danger by our own industries.
So let us see and judge and act.
Let us disrupt and rebuild.
And let us do God’s work.
Former French jocist leader, Fr Joseph Wresinski, founder of ATD Fourth World, was born 100 years ago today.
Wresinski had a deep empathy for families in poverty because he was born into an immigrant family in a poor neighbourhood. In the excerpt below he talks about the difficulties he experienced as a young boy, and how living and working as a priest in a homeless camp helped him finally understand his troubled parents.
The violence and scorn Wresinski experienced as a child gave him a keen insight into what people in impoverished communities need and want. A man of extraordinary determination and tenacity,
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| Photo: Prakaidao Prueksakasemsuk |
The Korean Jeon Tae-il Foundatoin has awarded its trade union solidarity award to former Thailand YCW fulltimer, Somyot Prueksakasemsuk for his long-term support for unions in the Asian region.
Somyot’s daughter, Prakaidao, traveled to Korea this month for the presentation ceremony at Masuk, north of Seoul.
Ms Prakaidao said she was touched by the show of solidarity towards her father. “They see how my father has strived for the betterment of workers and joined hands with workers in other countries,
especially here. But some Thais still see only one thing in him — committing a lese majeste offence,” said Ms Prakaidao.
“Unlike many other lèse majesté suspects who choose to plead guilty to end their trial and have their jail sentence reduced, Somyot has always stood firm and maintained his innocence,” the Prachatai website notes.
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| Photo: Korean Health and Medical Union |
Cardijn Community International (CCI) is organising the Cardijn Pilgrimage in August 2017 to commemorate the 50th death anniversary of Cardinal Cardijn and also the 60th anniversary of IYCW Rome pilgrimage 1957 in which more than 30,000 young people from around the world participated. Pope Pius XII participated in this historic event spearheaded by Cardijn.
It is proposed to have the 50th anniversary Memorial Service for Cardijn on Monday, 14 August 2017 at the Church of Our Lady of Laeken followed by an informal gathering. Current and former members and animators of Cardijn movements from Europe are expected to be present along with the pilgrims. [Inset: Our Lady of Laeken]
Places to be covered by the pilgrimage:
BRUSSELS – LEUVEN – CHARLEROI – HALLE – LILLE – PARIS – LOURDES – AVIGNON – MILAN – BERGAMO – PADUA – VENICE – ASSISI – ROME – VATICAN
The pilgrims will visit among other places, Halle, Cardijn’s birthplace and have a review of life session there. A ‘Cardijn Walk’ in Halle is also planned. 
The pilgrimage will also cover Bergamo, the birthplace of Cardijn’s friend Pope St. John XXIIIwho convened the historic Second Vatican Council in 1962.
Pope John XXIII’s encyclical Mater et magistra on Christianity and social progress was born out of a suggestion by Cardijn to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Rerum novarum
[Inset: Pope St. John XXIII]
Efforts are on to seek an audience with Pope Francis to appeal to the Holy Father to speed up the process of canonization of Joseph Cardinal Cardijn and also to thank him for his initiative in speeding up the process of canonization of Bishop Angelelli of Argentina, the former chaplain of JOC Argentina. We also plan to present to the Pope the need to recognize numerous martyrs of Cardijn movements including José Serapio Palacio of Argentina.
Another highlight of the pilgrimage will be an international symposium on ‘Cardijn 1967-2017: Cry of the Poor and Cry of the Earth’ to commemorate the 60thanniversary of IYCW Rome Pilgrimage 1957.
