Author: Pat Branson

Cardinal Joseph Cardijn gave the world the See, Judge, Act method used by the Young Christian Workers Movement and many other groups and organisations. He knew and appreciated the power of sociological inquiry and analysis in the task of transforming society and people’s lives. 

The apostle James wrote in his letter  that “faith without works is dead” (James 2:14-26). For this Enquiry, or any Enquiry, to be of value, action must follow reflection and the action has to be motivated by and grounded in faith. 

Did Fr Joseph Cardijn develop the See, Judge, Act method for use by individuals? In an article he wrote, which was first published in 1951, he emphasised the “the necessity of setting the apostolic life of laypeople in a communal frame-work, illumined by a communal vision.” 

Almost ninety years ago, Fr Joseph Cardijn addressed the delegates of the first International Congress of the Young Christian Workers, which took place in Brussels. In his address, he described the three truths, which he named as the Truth of Faith, the Truth of Experience and the Truth of Method. 

The Church has been celebrating the Jubilee of Youth. Recently, Pope Leo XIV addressed a gathering of French scouts and guides. He said, “You are young, you are full of ideas and enthusiasm. You want to conquer the world not to subdue it, but to serve the life that comes from God,”

The year 2025 is being celebrated around the world as the centenary of the Young Christian Workers Movement (YCW). What is this YCW thing? Very few people are aware of its existence today, yet its impact on the world has been profound and it continues its apostolic endeavour quietly and humbly. 

Fr Joseph Cardijn encouraged the young leaders of the Young Christian Workers Movement (YCW) to think of themselves as apostles and to act as apostles. He delivered his Godinne Lectures on The Young Worker Faces Life in 1949 and in his third lecture, which was about the mystery of vocation, he commented on the apostolic…

As I worked on this Gospel Enquiry, I found myself wondering if Cardinal Joseph Cardijn ever wrote about the place of doubt in the faith life of the young worker. When I did a search in Challenge to Action, this is what I found:

As I prepared this Gospel Enquiry, I found myself wondering again about the purpose of the Gospel. Why has the Church given the scriptures a prominent, pre-eminent place in its life and structure?  My search for answers led me to the Catechism of the Catholic Church. In summary, the Church describes the scriptures as a…

being Road to Hell. The song is about a man who has strayed onto the motorway to Hell. This Gospel passage reminded me of Rea’s composition and its scriptural allusions:  On your journey cross the wilderness  / From the desert to the well / You have strayed upon the motorway to hell.

I offer the following reflection, having been led to it by the realisation that one’s neighbour is not just the person nearby, but especially, the one who is far away, the one towards whom we must turn and walk towards in the company of Jesus and Mary and the saints, in company with God. It…

Jesus lived by two laws: love God and love your neighbour. The religious sensibility that dominated Israel’s culture presented those closest to them as neighbours. Jesus challenged the prevailing view: our neighbour is not close to us, but far away, even diametrically opposed to us. Jesus chose a Samaritan as the ideal neighbour.

Jesus is the heart and soul of each Gospel Enquiry, and our relationship with him the reason for reflecting on the Gospel. Cardinal Joseph Cardijn (1882-1967) provides an explanation of the part the Gospel plays in the life of the young worker. The following statement comes from the first of three lectures on person, family…

Easter brings with it a heightened awareness of Jesus’ promise of eternal life to all who follow him. The promise seems to be everywhere in the Gospel; in John’s Gospel, it occurs sixteen times. In reality, it is the Church, through its liturgy, reminding us of what is central to our faith: that Jesus suffered…

We are in Mystagogia time and at our last RCIA meeting, one of our “new” Catholics asked if we could look at the role of Mary in the faith we share. 

Somewhere in the past, the word “encounter” became a popular term for describing the type of meeting that initiates deep and lasting change in a person’s life and being. Curtis Martin, the founder of FOCUS (the Fellowship of Catholic University Students), wrote in his book Making Missionary Disciples (2018): “Encounters are those experiences where people…

Fr Juan Luis Segundo (1925-1996), a Jesuit priest from Uruguay, describes John’s Gospel as an attempt to explore more deeply than the other gospel writings, what it means to be a Christian. Some scholars refer to the Gospel as a “book of new beginnings” and Segundo directs his readers to the first four chapters of…

I have had a long association with the Young Christian Students Movement (YCS) in Australia, but I am still unsure of the place of the Gospel in the life of the YCS.