Convening Small Groups & the ‘See Judge Act’ Method

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Cardijn Community Australia

Convening Small Groups, & the ‘See Judge Act’ Method.

A workshop on training convenors in leading small groups of adults in parish and other church settings.

When: Saturday 3rd March, 10 am – 3 pm.

Where: St Augustine’s Church Hall, Bourke Street Melbourne.

Cost: Donation for coffee; bring own lunch or buy at a nearby café.

Introduction. 10-11 am.

Our dreams for the church, and how to translate them into action.

Meeting Processes. 11.15 am – 12.30 pm

Including size of groups, writing an Inquiry, possibilities of blending with other ‘small group’ methods, etc.

Starting Small Groups. 1.30 – 3.00 pm

Including the role of convenor, recruiting new members, support of leaders, issues to engage, etc.

Cooperatives and Catholic Social Teaching

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“Why is the Church in the English speaking world so largely silent about the Mondragon cooperatives’ success,” writes Stefan Gigacz in CathNews, echoing a recent article in Eureka Street  by former federal and Victorian state MP Dr Race Mathews.

“It’s a relevant question for Catholics in the International Year of Cooperatives and it’s one that I have been asking myself since I first learned about the Basque worker cooperatives thanks to a  BBC documentary The Mondragon Experiment that screened on Four Corners during the early 1980s.

“In 1983, I travelled to Mondragon, which is known in Basque as Arrasate, and is located at the western end of the Pyrenees that divide France from Spain. I went with Bernadette McEvoy who was the Australian YCW president of the time and we were accompanied by two Korean YCW leaders.

“Founded in 1956 by the Catholic priest Father Jose Maria Arizmendiarrietta, Mondragon already comprised close to a hundred industrial worker cooperatives at that time although it had not yet taken on a genuine national let alone international dimension.

“The tour that we made of the Mondragon administrative complex quickly impressed on me the key role played by the Caja Laboral cooperative bank in funding the growth of the corporation. That lesson was reinforced soon after I returned to Australia and when a group of us tried to start a housing cooperative only to be refused a bank loan simply because we were planning to establish as a cooperative!

“However, I also remember thinking to myself that the real test of the Mondragon model would be how it survived the worldwide economic slowdown of the 1980s.

“The stunning answer of course was that the Mondragon Cooperative Corporation has since grown into one of Spain’s largest conglomerates, with over 80,000 workers, and over 75 subsidiaries in some 17 countries.”

Read the full article here!

Cooperatives and Catholic Social Teaching (CathNews Blog)

Mondragon cooperatives inspired by YCW See Judge Act method

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Mondragon cooperative founder Fr Josemaria Arizmendiarrietta was inspired in his work by the YCW and the See Judge Act method, writes Dr Race Mathews in an article in Eureka Street.

“Bruising industrial confrontations within Qantas and in Victorian hospitals during the latter half of last year pose pertinent questions as to whether alternative forms of ownership and control of workplaces might in some instances have more to offer than conventional wisdom may suppose.

“A case in point is the great complex of worker-owned manufacturing, retail, financial, agricultural, civil engineering and support cooperatives and associated entities headquartered at Mondragon in the Basque region of Spain.

“With Spanish unemployment levels following the global financial crisis standing at some 22 per cent, the Mondragon cooperatives have demonstrated impressive resilience, absorbing their share of economic hits and emerging largely unscathed.

“For example, Mondragon’s Eroski worker/consumer retail cooperative — hitherto Spain’s largest and fastest growing chain of supermarkets, hypermarkets and shopping malls — has over the last two years experienced for the first time since its inception in 1959 losses consequent on reduced consumer demand, and only in the current financial year anticipates a return to modest profitability.

“Fagor, Spain’s largest manufacturer of white goods, has successfully managed down production by 30 to 40 per cent in the face of a precipitous contraction of the consumer durables market.

“The cooperative group’s Caja Laboral credit union — effectively Spain’s ninth largest bank — is recovering from a 75 per cent reduction in its profitability, from 200 million to 50 million euros.

“And following a sharp reduction in the use by the cooperatives of temporary workers, overall employment has stabilised at around 83,800.

The cooperatives’ triumph is attributable overwhelmingly to key attributes that set them aside from comparable conventional enterprises.

“Not to be overlooked are the conceptual framework that underlies the cooperatives, as well as the enduring solidarity and subsidiarity values that enliven them. These are the legacy to the cooperatives of their founder, the Basque priest Don Jose Maria Arizmendiarrieta.

“Internalised and in part secularised as the values and framework have so largely become, they stem directly from the unswerving adherence by Arizmendiarrieta to formation in the ‘see, judge, act’ or ‘inquiry’ study circle mould, as developed within the Young Christian Workers unionist movement.

“As recalled by one of the five lay co-founders of the cooperative group, ‘Father Arizmendi organised specialist courses on sociology to which he invited economics professors … His ecclesiastical training led him towards being a practical apostle. He not only tried to give guidelines on what should be the model for the ideal enterprise, but he put that social enterprise to which he aspired into practice.’”

Read the full article here:

Race Mathews,Catholic social solutions to workplace fairness, Eureka Street, 31/01/201

Race Matthews January 31, 2012

Cardijn in Australia Conference

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‘CARDIJN IN AUSTRALIA: PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE’

Cardijn Community Australia is pleased to announce a Conference, to be held

Melbourne 4th – 6th November 2011.

The Conference

A conference to explore how the methods of Joseph Cardijn have been, are and can be used to deepen our faith and change our worlds.

Cardinal Joseph Cardijn’s exhortation – “You can make a difference!” – and his “See Judge Act” method empowered generations of youth around the world in the twentieth century. Melbourne once had the biggest Young Christian Worker movement in the world and, although their histories are not widely known, Cardijn youth movements made significant marks on Australian society.

At the same time Cardijn was also conscious of “the urgent need for an apostolate among adults without which, he said, “all the efforts of the young people will lead to a dead-end”. While Cardijn’s ideas were incorporated into some Vatican II documents, and continue to be incorporated in official church statements to the present time, there have been few attempts to form groups of adult lay Catholics to put his ideas into practice.

This conference will explore means by which Cardijn’s proven “See Judge Act” method might be developed among adults in parishes and elsewhere. Catholic parishes provide a strong platform for community leadership; a place to ask the question “Who is my neighbour?”

The conference will begin by looking back at the impressive achievements of the Young Christian Worker, Young Christian Student, and National Catholic Girls movements in Australia. This session will culminate with a presentation to Melbourne’s Archbishop Denis Hart of records of original YCW secretary Ted Long, a pioneer of Australia’s credit co-operative movement.

On Saturday our keynote address will be delivered (by video due to a late cancellation of his Qantas’ flight) by Bishop Eugene Hurley of Darwin. Panellists and speakers will tell of present-day experiences and initiatives, stimulating discussion and moving us on to our exercises in the Cardijn method.

Saturday and Sunday will mostly be given over to workshopping a Cardijn Training Manual, which has been specially drafted for the conference. We will see what a “Social Inquiry” looks like, find out how we can judge in the light of the gospel, and discover how common action can engage, empower and change. Together we will identify three issues at the heart of our local communities, and use the “See Judge Act” method to explore how these themes might become a part of our mission as church.

On Sunday we will conclude with a short review of the past few days, and look at ways by which we can go forward.

We hope you can join us.

The Place

Jump on a tram and you will find 2km east of Melbourne’s CBD, is the Thomas Carr Centre in East Melbourne. The central location makes it easy to get around and enjoy the sights of the city.

There are a number of accommodation options, ranging in price and ratings, nestled in the CBD, all within walking distance of public transport and the venue.

When

2.00 PM Friday 4th November – 3.00 PM Sunday 6th November 2011

Where

Friday 4th and Sunday 6th November:-
Cardinal Knox Centre (Diocesan Centre), Albert Street East Melbourne

(Note: The Cardinal Knox Centre  is situated on the south-west corner of Albert and Lansdowne Streets East Melbourne.  Entry via the carpark on Lansdowne Street.  Parking available in the carpark on Sunday.)

Saturday 5th November:-
Thomas Carr Centre (Catholic Theological College), Victoria Parade, East Melbourne.

(Note: The Thomas Carr Centre is situated on the south-west corner of Victoria Parade and Eades Street East Melbourne.  Entrance on Victoria Parade, parking available on surrounding streets.)

Map

Venue and accommodation options

We look forward to seeing you there!

Registration

Download forms here:

Registration

Conference Program

For more details, please write to us at: contact@cardijncommunityaustralia.org

Or contact

Ph: Miss Emma Jennings on 8392 9540
Email: conference@cardijn.catholic.edu.au

Accommodation

For those seeking budget priced and convenient accommodation during the conference, here are some possibilities:

  1. The Nunnery, 116 Nicholson Street Fitzroy, ph 1800 22 55 88.   Budget accommodation (about $30 per day, share rooms).  Opposite Exhibition Gardens, about 2 km from conference venue. http://www.nunnery.com.au/
  2. Melbourne Metro YHA, 78 Howard Street Melbourne, ph 03 9329 8599.  Budget, near Victoria Market, a tram trip from conference venue (about 3 km). http://www.yha.com.au/hostels/vic/melbourne/melbourne-metro/
  3. For locations and rates of other nearby hotels (upwards of $110 per night), search the web under “Hotel Club” (Melbourne).  The Metropole Hotel is about 400 metres from the venues.
  4. Mary MacKillop Heritage Centre, located about 150 metres from both of the venues, also has several well-appointed two-bedroom apartments available, with parking and self-serve breakfast provided: http://www.mmhc.org.au/

Further information on accommodation for a range of budgets is available on-line, at websites such as   www.check-in.com.au, or http://www.wotif.com/hotels/australia-melbourne-east-melbourne-hotels.html .  Areas to search for closest accommodation in are East Melbourne, Melbourne and Fitzroy.

Download this file for more info: Accommodation and maps

* Cardijn Community Australia is a national group instituted at a 2008 post ‘World Youth Day’ seminar in Melbourne, and which has since held a conference and also a workshop in Adelaide. CCA is supported by, but is entirely independent of, the Young Christian Worker and Young Christian Student organisations.

Supporting single fathers

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Cardijn Community Australia founder, Kevin Vaughan, is raising awareness of of the importance of fatherhood and supporting men separated from their children.

Kevin says the fact that so many children in our community are raised without their dad is a tragedy not only for the children, but also for their fathers, since, “there is a natural love between a father and his children”, Kairos magazine reports.

Three years ago Kevin started a Cardijn group in his parish at St Anne’s, Seaford in Melbourne’s south.

The group became interested in tackling the issue of fatherless families when parish priest Fr John Madden alerted members to the fact that 42 children from single-parent families within the parish were getting breakfast only three times a week.

The group attempted several initiatives, including setting up a scheme whereby men could become male role models for fatherless children in the parish.

Kevin says: “We came to the conclusion that the best male role model for a child is the child’s father.”

The group then began to focus on why separation happens and ways to support those who want to remain part of their children’s lives or reconnect
with estranged children.

Kevin also started working with Fr Peter Carrucan at St Augustine’s Church in the city centre of Melbourne where he has started a drop-in centre fro separated dads.

“One guy told me he hadn’t seen his children for 11 years,” Fr Peter said. “Then, out of nowhere comes a letter from his daughter, who was 10 when he last saw her, inviting him to her 21st birthday so he is delighted. I think some men listen to the wrong voices. They put off contacting their children.

“Maybe it is fear that they might be rejected.”

FULL STORY

Supporting separated dads (Kairos, August 2011)
Fr Carrucan (left) and Kevin Vaughan with a picture of Cardinal Cardijn. Kevin belongs to a Cardijn group in his parish of St Anne’s, Seaford.