March 2025

Informal work - International Women's Day - Cardijn & Pius XI - Henri & Michèle Détrez

Mar 15, 2025

Informal work and International Women's Day

Dear Friends,

This month we celebrate International Women's Day, as YCS leaders from Burkina Faso remind us with the beautiful Facebook post above.

But sadly as the World Movement of Christian Workers notes in their latest newsletter, in many countries women are over-represented among workers in the informal sector.

In this month's CIC newsletter, we also highlight the work of Fr Pierre Perrard, the French Foreign Missions priest, who has devoted sixty years of his life and priesthood to young workers and the YCW.

We also remember the extraordinary witness of Henri and Michelle Détrez, French extension workers for the YCW in Cameroon. And we have sad news of the death of Nathalie Willemetz in Lille.

Stefan Gigacz recalls Cardijn's famous meeting with Pope Pius XI in March 1925.

Pat Branson shares a Lenten Gospel reflection while Richard Pütz asks what Cardijn and Fr Louis Putz would have thought of rising Christian nationalism.

The Centre International Cardijn Team

Informal work in caring for children and the elderly

The ILO estimates that 606 million women of working age are outside the labor market́ due to their care and "social reproduction" responsibilities, the World Movement of Christian Workers reports.

As the International Labor Organization reminds us in its report "Decent Work and the Care Economy" (112th Session, 2024): "Societies and economies depend on paid́ and unpaid́ care work to function and pursue their human, social and economic development. The provision of care depends on care workers."

Within our movements, we see the same overrepresentation of women in these professions. Through their presence and action, they play a significant role in reducing the isolation of people and in combating individualism.

Let us make sure they are recognized. It is also a question of dignity». The articles in this issue reflect the necessary struggle for rights, the difficulty of having a decent income in retirement without recognition of this unrecognized work.

Informal work in caring for children and the elderly (Infor)

Sixty years with the YCW

Former IYCW and Japanese YCW chaplain, Fr Pierre Perrard, is celebrating sixty years of life as a Paris Foreigns Mission priest while the Japanese YCW is celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of its Worker House in Tokyo.

Pierre tells his story in the latest issue of the MEP Fathers news:

In 2024-2025, I am celebrating three milestones: the fiftieth anniversary of the Young Workers’ House in Tokyo with the Young Christian Workers (YCW), the sixtieth anniversary of my ordination and assignment to Japan, and the sixty years of chaplaincy at the YCW in Japan. It will also be the centenary of the birth of the International YCW, founded in the suburb of Laeken, Brussels, by Father Cardijn and three young Belgian workers.

Sixty years with the YCW: Fr Pierre Perrard

Remembering French extension workers, Henri & Michèle Détrez

Former French JOC leaders and fulltime workers, Henri and Michèle Détrez have both died recently, Henri on 3 March 2025 and Michelle on 5 October 2024.

Henri was most well known for his work as an extension worker in Cameroons, where he arrived in 1951, and ended up working until his retirement.

On behalf of the Centre International Cardijn, we express our condolences to their son, Hervé Drouin-Détrez, his wife, Sophie, and their children, Louise, Victor and Félix.

RIP Henri and Michèle Détrez

Video: A prophetic encounter: Cardijn, Pope Pius XI and the YCW

Stefan Gigacz presented the March ACI webinar with a talk entitled "From the periphery to the centre: Cardijn, Pius XI and the YCW: A prophetic encounter."

It commemorated the centenary of Cardijn’s landmark first meeting with Pope Pius XI when the pontiff gave his enthusiastic approval to the emerging movement of the Young Christian Workers (YCW).

WATCH THE VIDEO

Gospel: Lent 2025

It is Lent, writes Pat Branson, and I am sitting here reflecting on the Gospel for the First Sunday of Lent.

During this season of Lent, I will post edited versions of the Gospel Enquiries that I have previously written for the five Sundays of Lent.

We pray in the Our Father “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” because the common human experience is to be tempted to replace God’s will with our own will. Jesus knew this well and he battled with that temptation throughout his life. We begin this season of Lent with a reflection on Jesus’ experience of being tempted to put himself before his Father. He shows us that we have to be uncompromising in our response to temptation.

Pat Branson, First Sunday of Lent, Year C (Gospel Enquiries)

Reflection: What would Cardijn and Louis Putz say about Christian Nationalism?

I have often wondered what Joseph Cardijn or Louis Putz CSC would say today as we see the rise of Christian Nationalism in the US and other Western Nations, asks Richard Pûtz. The version of Christian Nationalism they would have been most familiar with was in the 1930s, and the "flavor" was fascism of a German style.

Both men strongly advocated Catholic Social Teaching, which is becoming increasingly the best-kept secret in the Church.

Despite some superficial similarities, Catholic Social Teaching and Christian Nationalism represent fundamentally different approaches to the relationship between Christianity and the state.

Ever wonder what Joseph Cardijn and Louis Putz would say about Christian Nationalism? (Cardijn Reflections)

History: More Cardijn movement centenaries coming up

The fact that this year is celebrated as the centenary of the foundation of the JOC raises the question: When were the other Specialised Catholic Action movements for young people founded?

In fact, someone asked me just this week when the Jeunesse Etudiante Catholique (JEC) or Young Christian Students (YCS) was founded.

To answer this, we need to look at two events that took place in Belgium in August 1927. Historian Roger Aubert explained the story in his 1972 article entitled “Organisation et caractère des mouvements de jeunesse catholique en Belgique” (Organisation and character of Catholic youth movements in Belgium).

Stefan Gigacz, Centenaries, centenaries: JOC, JEC, JAC, JUC, JIC… (Cardijn Research)