YCW Centenary History Project

Call for Contributors

The YCW Centenary 2025

Perspectives from Oceania

Thirteen years after Joseph Cardijn and his collaborators launched their first experimental study circles with teenage girl needleworkers in the Brussels suburb of Laeken, the Young Christian Worker Movement was founded formally in 1925. It spread quickly across the globe. The method of ‘see-judge-act’ enabled a lay apostolate that saw faith as inextricably and powerfully connected to the whole of life. By 1966 the outward and public focus of YCW formation involved 4 million young people in 100 countries with a dozen allied movements, each committed to transforming the social context through shared reflection. The method impacted 10 of the 16 major documents of the Second Vatican Council and resourced ‘liberation theologies’ globally, not least through countless ‘mundane’ actions in the daily lives of members.

To mark the centenary of the foundation of the YCW, we aim to workshop and publish an edited collection of academic contributions on the YCW in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific. We are interested to hear from writers across the academic disciplines (including, but not limited to business and labour history, education, gender studies, history, law, literature, sociology, theology and religious studies) to explore the variety of the YCW movement across time and the in diverse locations of Oceania in chapters of 4,000 – 7,000 words.

Topics to be explored include but, again, are not limited to:

Foundation stories of the YCW / NCGM in different regions
Contextual studies by decade and era: e.g. post-Second World War, into the 1960s, post Vatican II, through Vietnam War, into the 1980s
Sporting competitions
Migration initiatives
Colonial and post-colonial realities
Biographies
Trajectories of members after the movement
Co-operatives, credit unions and housing initiatives
Changes in the theological climate
Accounts of major actions – (e.g. Springbok tour, Adelaide’s freeway campaign, Walton’s campaign, Fitzroy Legal Service, apprentices)
YCW Extension Workers
YCW Chaplains
Formation programmes and conceptions of leadership
Transnational collaborations

For an overview of original sources, biographical material and existing studies, please see:

Joseph Cardijn Digital Library: https://www.josephcardijn.com

History of the Cardijn Movements in Australia: http://history.australiancardijninstitute.org/

Trove Timeline Cardijn Movements in the Media: https://timeline.austtaliancardijninstitute.org/

Please send a short abstract of up to 250 words and a biographical statement of up to 100 words to Anthony O’Donnell odonnellanthony21@gmail.com by 15 May 2023.

Acceptance will be advised by 31 May 2023.

Presentation at a hybrid workshop 27 October 2023

Revision of manuscripts for publication by 31 March 2024.

About the project team:

Anthony O’Donnell is an adjunct senior lecturer in the School of Law, La Trobe University. He researches and publishes in labour law, labour history and social policy. His most recent books are a biography of Moss Cass and a history of Australian unemployment policy. He was a member of TYCS in the 1980s.

Stefan Gigacz is an honorary post-doctoral researcher with Yarra Theological Union within the University of Divinity and secretary of the Australian Cardijn Institute. Previously, he worked for the YCW in Australia and internationally. His doctorate, and forthcoming book, The Leaven in the Council identifies the key role of Joseph Cardijn at the Second Vatican Council.

Katharine Massam is professor of history at Pilgrim Theological College within the University of Divinity. She has published extensively on the history of Catholicism in Australia, most recently A Bridge Between: Spanish Benedictine Missionary Women in Australia, with a particular interest in the spirituality of work.. She is a member of the board of the Australian Cardijn Institute.

Download the Call for Papers here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FBlSlkadmW_gHoMVTTuf6P81Jh0CYfF6/view?usp=sharing

November 30, 2022November 30, 2022

Jocist Women Leaders Seminar, Leuven

Featuring speakers from Belgium, France, the UK, Uruguay, Australia and the US and hosted by the Catholic Documentation Centre (KADOC) and the Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven), the Jocist Women Leaders Seminar took place at Leuven, Belgium on 27-28 October 2022.

Reflecting the range of papers presented, the theme of the workshop was “To make daily life vast and beautiful: Jocist Women Leaders.”

Women leaders highlighted included Marguerite Fiévez, a key figure in the development of the International YCW and a close collaborator of Cardijn, trade union pioneer, Victoire Cappe, and Malaysian YCW leader, Irene Fernandez.

The workshop understood the term “jocist” in its broad sense, including not just those from a JOC (YCW) background but from the various lay apostolate/Specialised Catholic Action movements, including the YCS (JEC), JIC (Young professionals), JAC (young farmers) and others.

It is planned to publish select papers in an academic journal.

In another major initiative, an online biographical dictionary of jocist women leaders will be developed.

Immense thanks to the various project sponsors: American Academy of Religion; University of Divinity, Melbourne; King’s College, London; KADOC – KU Leuven; Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies; Dondeynefonds, KU Leuven; LACIIR (Latin American and the Caribbean Interdisciplinary Initiative on Religion), Florida International University, Miami, Fl, USA; Australian Cardijn Institute, Australia.

Seminar Papers (Jocist Women Leaders Project)

April 28, 2022September 8, 2022

Jocist Women Leaders Seminar – Call for Papers

The Jocist Women Leaders Project team is organising an international seminar on the theme “Making Daily Life Vast and Beautiful” at Leuven, Belgium on 27-28 October this year.

It will be a hybrid workshop co-sponsored by the American Academy of Religion, University of Divinity, Melbourne, King’s College, London; KADOC – KU, Leuven and the Australian Cardijn Institute, Perth.

As part of a wider project, this international workshop will explore whether and how Joseph Cardijn’s theological method, (“See-Judge-Act”) including its emphasis on the truth of experience, enabled significant contributions by women. With a focus on the leaders and members of specialised Catholic Action and other movements inspired by the spirituality and methods of the Jeunesse Ouvrière Chrétienne (JOC), or in English YCW, we are asking:

Whether and how the Jocist emphasis on quotidian and apparently mundane experience shapes religious engagement for social change among Jocist women?
What enables and what constrains contributions to leadership by women in Jocist movements in diverse global contexts?
Whether and how the Jocist theological method broadens and subverts traditional gender assumptions?

We invite proposals of 200 words for

Individual papers of 15-20 minutes
Research reports of 10 minutes

Please include a short biographical note (100 words) indicating how this work relates to your wider interests and whether you are likely to attend in person or online.

Accepted presentations will be pre-recorded, submitted by 12 October, and viewed by the participants in the week before the workshop. The working language of the workshop is English.

Publication outcomes will include contributions to the historical dictionary of Jocist women, and a themed issue of a journal.

Proposals should be submitted to

Katharine Massam, University of Divinity, Melbourne

Katharine.Massam@pilgrim.edu.au by 17 June 2022.

Acceptance will be advised by 30 June 2022.

Registration at the workshop is free but participants will need to fund travel and accommodation.

FULL DETAILS OF THE PROJECT

Call for papers – Jocist Women Leaders Project