“There was a man of God whose name was John.” So goes the first line of Brian Boniwell’s Advent song Prepare the Way. In the Advent I experience this year, I have changed the line to “There was a man of God whose name was Joe.” I refer to Joseph Cardijn, the Belgian Cardinal who passed away in 1967. I confess to spending a significant amount of my time with him and with those who promote his writings and his teachings.
There was a time in Australia when thousands of Catholic secondary school students belonged to the Young Christian Students movement (YCS), and thousands of young workers participated in the Young Christian Workers movement (YCW). Sadly, today, what remains in Australia is a poor and feeble reflection of once-vibrant movements.
I spend one day each week seated in an office at the Catholic Pastoral Centre (commonly referred to as “Mary Street,” which is where the centre is situated in Highgate, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia). I am a YCW volunteer and mentor, and I was asked to clean up the mess left by past workers in a storeroom in Mary Street. Along with a pile of broken computers and laptops, I found a treasure of documents telling the YCW and YCS stories.
Rather than throwing nearly 30 boxes of papers in the recycling bin, I have undertaken to document the records of meetings and actions spanning about sixty years. The researcher and writer long for the day when the work is done, and the testing of hypotheses can commence.
But what does this have to do with Advent? I recall my time as a religious education teacher working through an article about the Exodus and how faithful Jews live the Exodus every year. Well, for Catholics (and other Christians), Advent is part of the liturgical year. We spend time during Advent, longing for the coming and the return (the eschatological dimension of our faith) of Jesus. I spend part of my time at Mary Street, searching for signs of Jesus’ presence in YCW and YCS, both in the past and in the present.
Jesus has come and gone and will come again. Between going and coming again, his Spirit lives within us and in the world. I celebrate his presence and power in the work of those who continue to promote Cardijn’s vision of transforming society and people. Part of my celebration can be found in Substack, where I post Gospel Enquiries in Cardijn Reflections, an initiative of the Australian Cardijn Institute (ACI) and my virtual pilgrimage through Mark’s Gospel.
Making the way straight is the task of intentional faith and is no easy matter. This becomes clear to me every week when I spend time in the Joseph Cardijn Library, located in the St Joseph Room of the Infant Jesus Parish Centre in Morley, Western Australia. The library has been established as a centre for the development of study circles, as understood and taught by Cardijn himself.
As I wait for Jesus to reveal himself here, I open Fievez and Meert’s biography of Cardijn (translated into English by Edward Mitchinson) and find the following statement from Fr Joseph Cardijn himself about the nature and purpose of the study circle:
A study-circle should be a real ‘production cooperative’ to which all the members bring their findings, their ideas, values, their judgments and above all, their convictions, zeal, enthusiasm and their will to be apostles. (p.34)
So the study circle is not about the books in the library, although a book can take the place of its author in a study circle. For example, Fr Wally Dethlefs, a priest of the Archdiocese of Brisbane, published his memoirs with the title Just Compassion: A Priest’s Quest for Human Rights in 2017. Through his book, he shares with his readers his attempts to address the issue of juvenile justice in Queensland. There are five copies of his book in the library. I have been working on a presentation based on his book, which I will refine by sharing it with others who are familiar with his work. Next year, I will look for some “apostles” who will use the presentation and the copies of Fr. Wally’s memoir as a launch pad for creating study circles in their parishes.
We pray in the Eucharist celebrated today (Thursday of the Third Week of Advent, Year A) “that we may merit for all eternity to be the companions of Christ”. This is an apt expression of Fr. Joseph Cardijn’s hope for all people, especially young workers. And even though I am no longer a young worker, I unite my efforts and my prayers with his and long for the time when Jesus will be born again in the minds and hearts and the lives of all people.
Come, Lord Jesus!
Pat Branson, aka Mr B or Dr Branson, one-time RE teacher and Director of Ministry, is now happily repurposed as a gardener, dishwasher and Gospel Enquiry writer for the Australian Cardijn Institute, and a member of Cardijn Community Australia. When time permits, he enjoys making music and creating musical instruments, and he longs for the opportunity to engage in educational research projects.