Sixty years with the YCW: Fr Pierre Perrard

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.

On the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the YCW House in Tokyo, in October 2024, here is a message from a nun, Sister Kimiko de L’Enfant Jésus-Nicolas Barré: “For us adults, a year will always be a year, as it is for any infant. But the growth of a baby in a year is such that anyone who observes it cannot help but think: it’s incredible how much it has grown!” At first glance, this baby is only crying and sucking at its mother’s breast, but it eventually crawls and waddles using both hands.

What changes!
It has now been fifty years since the Young Workers’ House, run by the Tokyo YCW, was established. I don’t know what the landscape was like when young people began organizing this “house”; it must have resembled the first tentative steps of a baby discovering life. I am certain that a large number of young people celebrated the birth of this space, learning to walk together, to organize themselves, and to grow.

Recently, seven members of the current YCW came to spend time in our community. They shared with us their challenges and discoveries, and what was important to them. For them, their treasures to be gained were “friendship, the good relationships they have built among themselves, as well as their desire to share with the growing number of young Vietnamese, Burmese, and Filipinos who come to work in Japan.” Through their testimony, we understood that the YCW strives to help young workers achieve their deepest desires: to live in dignity and build a new society. A society where mutual aid and fraternity replace mere competitiveness.

I wish to pray that “Jesus, who is the way, the truth, and the life,” may accompany each of you on the next stage of your journey; that your deepest desires may be fulfilled, and that the strength needed to build this new society may arise among you. On behalf of my entire religious community, I share your joy today and will support you in prayer.

With the young people of the JOC, Tokyo
With the young people of the JOC, Tokyo

Congratulations !
The second anniversary I am talking about is that of my ordination in 1965 by Father Jean Vilnet, Bishop of Saint-Dié in the Vosges.

It’s been sixty years now. Shortly after, I left for Japan, the mission station entrusted to me. After a year and a half of Japanese language school in Tokyo, I set off for my final destination: Hakodate, a city of 250,000 people in the far north of Japan, on the island of Hokkaido.

During my language training, I had the pleasure of spending time with a mountain group made up of some YCW members from the parish of Tokuden (Tokyo), whose priest, Constant Louis, was himself a fervent YCW chaplain. These young people helped me express myself with the little Japanese I knew. They were attentive to my experiences and eager to help me take my first steps in this new world that is Japan. It was an unforgettable experience, one that founded my life as a missionary. I understood that a missionary is someone who listens to what others are trying to express. Little by little, they become friends with those to whom they are sent. These young people quickly called me by my name, and not by my position, which is often the norm here.

Life in the YCW was the daily routine of my mission, first in Hakodate, then in Sapporo with Father Jules Raud. After a seven-year stint with the International YCW in Brussels, I returned to Sapporo again, before finally going to Tokyo, at the request of former YCW members who wanted to relaunch a group in the capital. The YCW had indeed disappeared due to a lack of motivated leaders and chaplains.

My life as a Christian and a missionary, or simply, my life as a disciple of this Jesus whom I love above all else, is inextricably linked to these sixty years of presence in Japan. The young people helped me discover the true meaning of “being a missionary.” It has been a life of happiness, lived with passion.

The third anniversary marks the centenary of the recognition of the YCW by the episcopate of the Church in Belgium in 1925 and by Pope Pius XI. Founded in 1912 by Joseph Cardijn, then a young curate at the parish of Leaken, Brussels, the movement has spread across five continents. It has endured many challenges, testifying to the ups and downs of growth, as well as the internal and external difficulties that any vibrant movement must face. Cardijn, who became a bishop, greatly influenced the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council with his “See, Judge, Act ” method of working, which was less emphasized during the pontificates of John Paul II and Benedict XVI, but which has been reinstated by the current Pope, Francis.

Delegations from around the world will gather in Brussels to celebrate this hundredth anniversary, from May 1 to 7, 2025. This event will be a moment of sharing, joy, and the starting point of a new era. The Japanese delegation will include thirty young workers.

However, not everyone has the means to fully finance their plane ticket or accommodation in Brussels. To support this great gathering, which is intended to be a celebration rich in memories and celebrations, as well as a moment of renewal in their commitment to building a new world, that of the kingdom of God, local religious congregations, parishes, individual donations, MEP confreres, and the Paris Foreign Missions will provide assistance.

P. Pierre Perrard, MEP

SOURCE

Pierre Perrard, Soixante ans de vie missionaire (Missions Etrangères de Paris)