Jeunesse Ouvrière Chrétienne
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The Young Christian Workers (YCW; ) is an international youth organization founded by the Catholic priest
Joseph Cardijn Joseph Leo Cardijn (; 13 November 1882 – 24 July 1967) was a Belgian Catholic cardinal and the founder of the movement of Young Christian Workers (''Jeunesse ouvrière chrétienne'', JOC). Cardijn was best known for his lifelong dedicati ...
in
Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
as the Young Trade Unionists. The organization adopted its present name in 1924. Is it regarded as the most influential wing of the
Catholic Action Catholic Action is a movement of Catholic laity, lay people within the Catholic Church which advocates for increased Catholic influence on society. Catholic Action groups were especially active in the nineteenth century in historically Catholic cou ...
movement. Its French acronym, JOC, gave rise to the then widely used terms ''Jocism'' and ''Jocist''. In 1925, the JOC received papal approbation, and in 1926 spread to France and eventually 48 other countries.


History

As a young man, Joseph Cardijn blamed the death of his father, a mineworker, on harsh labor conditions. Working-class Belgians of the era tended to see the Church as serving the interests of the aristocracy, and some old friends considered Cardijn a traitor; he thus decided to devote his career to "reconciling his Church with the industrial workers of the world." After entering seminary and being ordained, Cardijn was first made an assistant priest in the Brussels suburb Royal Laeken in 1912. There, he began to work with factory workers. In 1915, he became the director of the city's Catholic social work. In the years after the
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, he began to organize young
Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
workers in the
Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
area to evangelize their colleagues; the group was named ''Jeunesse Ouvrière Chrétienne''. Its teachings were based on labor encyclicals by Popes Leo XIII and
Pius XI Pope Pius XI (; born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, ; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939) was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 until his death in February 1939. He was also the first sovereign of the Vatican City State u ...
. JOC received approval from
Pius XI Pope Pius XI (; born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, ; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939) was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 until his death in February 1939. He was also the first sovereign of the Vatican City State u ...
in 1925. YCW is regarded as the most influential wing of the
Catholic Action Catholic Action is a movement of Catholic laity, lay people within the Catholic Church which advocates for increased Catholic influence on society. Catholic Action groups were especially active in the nineteenth century in historically Catholic cou ...
movement. ''
Time Magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps as ''TIME'') is an American news magazine based in New York City. It was published weekly for nearly a century. Starting in March 2020, it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York Cit ...
'', reporting on a Paris rally with 75,000 members in 1938, quoted Cardijn as telling his followers, "Every Jocist has a Divine mission from God, second only to that of the priest, to bring the whole world to Christ." Cardijn devoted the rest of his life to the movement, and in 1957 the JOC held its first world council in Rome. Cardijn served as an advisor to the
Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...
and was made a
cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...
in 1965. In England, the first section of the YCW was set up by Fr Gerrard Rimmer in February 1937 at St Joseph's Church in Wigan,
Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...
. Accompanied by parishioners Jim Tickle, Tommy Sullivan, Larry Sharkey, Pat Keegan, Jim O'Brien, and Frank Foster, Rimmer travelled to Belgium to visit Cardijn in the same year. Pat Keegan would go on to become the first International Young Christian Workers president in 1945, a post he held until 1957. He then took the role of Secretary General at the World Movement of Christian Workers. Keegan also addressed the assembly of bishops at Vatican II in Rome.


Modern era

Nowadays the YCW is organized in Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa and the Americas. The international headquarters are located in
Brussels, Belgium Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
. The International YCW (IYCW) is a Non Governmental International Movement actively present in over 51 countries with members between the ages of 15 and 35. Thanks to its work with young people, the England branch is a member of The National Council for Voluntary Youth Services (NCVYS). The IYCW has 4 official branches, the Panafrican YCW, YCW of the Americas, YCW Europe, and YCW Asia Pacific. IYCW adopted "Social Protection for all" as its International Campaign for the next four years in the 12th International Council held in Thanjavur, India, from 29 September to 12 October 2008. In 2020, at their National Council, the Australian movement distanced itself from an exclusively Christian definition of faith to accommodate common values and shared beliefs from the broader culture. Fr. Joseph's imperative, to "bring the whole world to Christ", is now interpreted as a call to "forge traditions and expressions of spirituality that speak to our multi-cultural and multi-faith identity and to engage in interfaith dialogue in all our communities".


References


External links


International Young Christian Workers

International Coordination of Young Christian Workers
{{Authority control Labor relations organizations Catholic youth organizations Catholic trade unions Youth organisations based in Belgium