October 2024

Domitilla Declaration – Rome – Synodality – Palestine – Lebanon – Cardijn Rediscovered

Jul 15, 2025

Lay movements challenge Synod to prioritise lay apostolate

Dear Friends,

This month, we begin with the very successful Lay Mission and Vocation Conference in Rome co-sponsored by ACI together with ten international lay apostolate movements from 9-13 October 2024.

It's hard to tell whether the conference will have any impact on the Synod on Synodality but we certainly seem to have made an impact in the Catholic media with a whole series of published reports.

The conference concluded with a special declaration addressed to participants in the Synod, calling for greater priority to be given to the promotion of the lay apostolate. The statement was endorsed at a moving Martyrs' Mass at the Domitilla Catacombs where the original 1965 Pact of the Catacombs was adopted.

The conference also included what may have been the first Mass in over 60 years remembering Cardijn in his titular parish of St Michael Archangel at Pietralata, a working class suburb of Rome.

This edition of our newsletter also includes the videos from our online conversation with Vatican nuncio to the US, Cardinal Christophe Pierre, and with US journalist, Nate Tinner-Williams on synodality.

I'm also happy to report that a special Synod edition of my new book, Rediscovering Joseph Cardijn, was launched during the conference.

In another article based on her presentation in Rome, English academic, Dr Pat Jones, recalls the 60th anniversary of Pat Keegan's 1964 address to the Second Vatican Council, the first ever by a lay person.

This month we also mark the World Day for Decent Work with an article by German Fr Stefan Eirich, chaplain to the World Movement of Christian Workers.

As usual, we feature reflections by Pat Branson and Richard Pütz.

We end by highlighting the solidarity and relief actions launched by the Lebanese YCS in the face of a devastating war. And we present our forthcoming webinar on the human rights situation in Palestine, with Chris Sidoti.

Finally, I'd like to take the opportunity to specially thank all those who donated to make the Lay Mission and Vocation conference possible and the success that it was. We certainly could not have achieved this without you.

Stefan Gigacz

Secretary

Australian Cardijn Institute

Leaders re-affirm importance of lay apostolate

Fifty lay leaders from thirty countries working with ten international lay apostolate movements and the Cardijn Community met in Rome from 9-13 October 2024 to study the theme “Lay Mission and Vocation.”

On Saturday 12 October, participants celebrated a Mass of Martyrs at the Domitilla Catacombs, recalling the many lay leaders and chaplains of the movements, who have been martyred over the course of the last century.

There they adopted a message addressed to lay leaders at the Second Session of Synod on Synodality, which is currently under way, reaffirming the original 1965 Pact of the Catacombs for a servant Church of the Poor.

In their message, they also called on the Synod to clearly affirm the primacy of the baptismal vocation and the need to work to ensure that all lay people will become protagonists of a synodal Church that promotes the formation of responsible citizens active in the world.

Lay leaders re-affirm primacy of baptismal vocation (ACI)

DOWNLOAD THE STATEMENT

Protagonists of synodality

MORE CONFERENCE REPORTS

Michael Centore, October 11: An Apostolate of Like to Like (Today's American Catholic)

Nate Tinner-Williams, Catholic Action reps renew 'Pact of the Catacombs' in Rome, marking solidarity with the poor (Black Catholic Messenger)

Camillo Barone, Worldwide Catholic lay leaders call for inclusive church at Rome conference (National Catholic Reporter)

Stefan Gigacz, Lay leaders re-affirm primacy of baptismal vocation (Australian Cardijn Institute)

Stefan Gigacz, Lay movements challenge Synod to prioritise lay apostolate (Synodal Reflections)

Lay leaders re-affirm primacy of baptismal vocation (CathNews)

Video: Being a synodal missionary church

Last month, Cardijn Associates USA and the Australian Cardijn Institute hosted Nate Tinner-Williams, co-founder and editor of the Black Catholic Messenger, for a webinar on “Being a Synodal Missionary Church”on Saturday 28 September, 2024.

Nate travelled to Rome to report on the Second Assembly of the Synod on Synodality, which will take place during the month of October 2024.

READ NATE'S REPORT FROM ROME

Catholic Action reps renew 'Pact of the Catacombs' in Rome, marking solidarity with the poor (Black Catholic Messenger)

WATCH THE VIDEO

Access to decent work essential

The promotion of social justice and an economy for life to which our movement is committed for the next 4 years is only possible if every man and woman has access to decent work, i.e. a job, appropriate remuneration (in cash or in kind), safety at work and healthy working conditions, writes Fr Stefan Eirich, chaplain to the World Movement of Christian Workers.

Unfortunately, trends in the current global political situation seem intent on wiping out the few gains and small steps made so far in terms of personal rights and freedoms. The spectacular rise to power of extreme right-wing parties poses an unprecedented threat to the values of democracy, the rule of law, equality and fairness.

On the celebration of the World Day for Decent Work on October 7, 2024, we join the movements of Europe in their declaration against the rise to power of extreme right-wing parties and their effects on the enjoyment of personal rights and decent work.

Message from the World Movement of Christian Workers (WMCW) on the World Day for Decent Work 2024 (World Movement of Christian Workers)

From precarious work to just work and dignified life (International Young Christian Workers)

Book: Joseph Cardijn Rediscovered

ACI is pleased to announce the publication of Stefan Gigacz’s new book entitled Joseph Cardijn Rediscovered, which was launched with a special Synod edition during the Lay Mission and Vocation Conference in Rome on 11 October 2024.

Subtitled “Mission, Method, Method,” the book traces the origins and sources of Cardijn’s thought and methods.

An Australian edition of the book is expected to be available in early 2025 at $29.95 plus postage.

Joseph Cardijn Rediscovered

Video: Conversation with Cardinal Pierre

Cardinal Christophe Pierre, Holy See Nuncio to the United States joined participants at the Lay Mission and Vocation Conference in Rome for an online conversation on 9 October 2024.

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE

Webinar: The human rights situation in Palestine

Australian international human rights consultant, Chris Sidoti, who is a member of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, will present our next ACI webinar on 23 October 2024.

Chris, who previously worked for the Australian Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace, will share his experience with the Commission.

Please join us for this important opportunity to learn more about the situation in Gaza, Palestine and the Middle East more generally.

Details

7pm AEST, Wednesday 23 October 2024

Zoom registration

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEscu2tpz8qEtS-OXNIklXt9aVNkTg8LIxc

History: Pat Keegan's historic speech to Vatican II

On 13 October 1964, Patrick Keegan took the floor to speak to the bishops of the Second Vatican Council, the first lay person to speak in a General Congregation, writes Pat Jones in The Tablet.

It was the final day of the debate on the draft decree on the lay apostolate. Fr John Fitzsimons, an English national chaplain to the Young Christian Workers (YCW), recalled in his eulogy at Keegan’s funeral that there was “a murmur of anticipation around the assembly as Archbishop Krol led a layman to the microphone."

It was a long way from the beginning of the Council, when the preparatory commission working on the lay apostolate had met without any lay people present

Pat Keegan, first lay person to address Vatican II

Gospel: Anxious to see Jesus?

Why would Herod be anxious to see Jesus? asks Pat Branson in this month's Gospel Enquiry.

The man we meet in the Gospels lusted for power. Being so focused on himself and the satisfaction of his own wants, Herod ruled by fear and ridicule with no regard for human life or for the culture of the people of his land.

He built the city of Tiberius, in honor of the Roman emperor, on the western shore of Lake Galilee. He unwisely chose land that was a Jewish cemetery and was incensed when none of his fellow Jews would live in the city he built.

Anxious to see Jesus? (Gospel Enquiries)

Reflection: Discipleship, freedom and grace

Through our work in this world, we often find ourselves at the intersection of civic life and faith; we often encounter a Church and world grappling with deep divisions and profound questions about what it means to be disciples of Jesus Christ, writes Richard Pütz.

This is similar to the times and experiences of Joseph Cardijn, or for that matter, the life and times of Deitrich Bonhoeffer or Thomas Merton.

These three men, Cardijn, Bonhoeffer, and Merton, lived at a time when the world was divided and often on fire, much like our world today. Their lives were simultaneously in the world, just as ours are.

Though their lives never really crossed each other's paths, they were all focused on what it meant to live in the Kingdom of God here and now. Each was prophetic and spoke to a suffering world, their message resonating across time and space, connecting us to a larger narrative.

Discipleship, freedom, and grace (Cardijn Reflections)

Lebanon YCS solidarity action

YCS leaders in Lebanon are organising the distribution of relief in the war torn south of the country.

DONATE HERE

https://www.helloasso.com/associations/jec/formulaires/3/en

Editorial Note: The purpose of the ACI Newsletter is to share information and promote discussion. Citing or linking to articles does not imply any endorsement by ACI of the authors' views.

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