Card Joseph Cardijn’s ‘review of life’ remembered in Bangkok
by Melani Manel Perera
The Cardijn Community International (CCI), a movement inspired by the method of the Belgian prelate, celebrated its 10th anniversary at a three-day conference (23-25 July). It also marked the 44th anniversary of the death of Card Joseph Cardijn, founder of the Young Christian Workers (YCW) movement.
Colombo (AsiaNews) – The Cardijn Community International (CCI), an international movement inspired by the message of Card Joseph Cardijn, recently celebrated its 10th anniversary. For three days (23-25 July), CCI members held meetings and seminars during which they also marked the 44th anniversary of the death of the Belgian prelate, who had founded the Young Christian Workers (YCW) movement and promoted the principle of the “review of life”. Fr Reid Shelton Fernando, YCW archdiocesan chaplain in Colombo, presided over the ceremony honouring the late cardinal.

“The CCI is an international movement created in 2001 in Bangkok by a group of activists inspired by the notion of the ‘review of life’,” Fr Fernando told AsiaNews. “These people wanted to show that Card Cardijn’s method could be applied to all situations in life.”

The notion of ‘review of life’ emerged in the late 1940s as a new form of evangelisation, especially among young blue-collar workers in the cardinal’s case. It is a lay form of spirituality based on three principles, namely seeing-evaluating-acting, which for the prelate represented a new and original method, hence, a different way to maintain a Christian presence in the world.

The Cardijn Community International wants, among other things, to spread the ideas and writings of Card Joseph Cardijn as well as of all those who are inspired by his mission.