The Call to serve, the opportunity to learn, the motivation from the master (Jesus), vitality from the scriptures (Bible) helps the young man Joseph Cardijn, to see the situation around and make the life commitment for the upliftment of the downtrodden
The background that moved him to organize the laborers, farmers into the YCW (Young Christian Workers) poses a question… is this lasting solution?
A great dreamer dreamt of a new society where the young teenagers grow as matured adults taking up leadership and committing to build a “new society”. He saw the teenagers guided in the right direction with the spiritual motivation could analyze the situation, animate a new order and become “agents of change”.
The dream strengthened with values and spirituality, motivated Joseph Cardijn into action of organizing students into groups, this is the beginning of YCS (Young Christian Students).
Reflecting on his own life, reviewing it so closely with help of the scriptures Joseph Cardijn helps these groups YCW and later on YCS to have the methodology i.e; Awareness- Reflection- Action later the experience included the evaluation. This methodology becomes the “Review of Life”. It is the small groups; going together; sharing the life concerns, supporting, encouraging one another with commitment and love for truth, equality and justice. The agent of Change for a new order (society) is called cell life.
• Where the priority is training leaders with variety of skills
• Where the 1st Priority is helping the budding youngsters to acquire organizational skills
• Where the top priority is for talents search in the young building teenager
• Where all the time for talents, skills, ability of performance competition… A New Society of brotherhood/ sisterhood with equality, respect and concern is not built.
• There is no new order but the existing order is made better or sophisticated and more result oriented in the competitive world. The result could be more exploitation, more giving up the values of selfish growth, would result in more leadership, which may not hesitate to tear down the others.
• Should we need YCS/YSM for this kind of leadership?
• Don’t we have enough such selfish leaders?
• Don’t we have a cutthroat competition world order?
• Aren’t people, Movements, cultures, sacrificed for one’s selfishness or ego?
• It is YCS/ YSM only when the Movement aims at helping the young mind to realize the goodness, the enormous power to change and effect change on a fuller ‘growth’ of the self and the ‘others’ on values of love and equality. It is a movement when it make the young leader to grow in commitment based on the spiritual strength, motivates him/her to realize bundle of talents, skills which can become the tools in this young leader to be a “change agent” for a “better society”/
• It is the cell that becomes the accepted environment for the growth. It is here one is able to relate, support and grow together. The cell life is an experience, a process and not a technique. The cell helps to analyze , clarify and go deeper in reflection. It is here actually the YCS/YSM Movement is found in the true sense.
We should be warned about a classroom style group. A group of students may
do lot of activities but no real movement there. Then there cannot be real growth. Do we have more and more group of students involved in variety of social activities..?
The activities are interesting for sometime but slowly one will realize that there is no life experience, no growth. For the action (act) is the response to the analyzed situation prompted by strong commitment & faith.
So YCS/YSM is
• An awareness movement
• A cell based movement
• A spirituality based movement
• An action oriented movement
The growth will be stunted or the Movement will stagnate
• Where we have lot of activities – no reflections
• Where we don’t have clear orientation
• Where there is no “cell life”
• Where Animators/ Chaplains/Leaders have no cell experience and the experience of the “Review of Life”.
• Where the reflections do not clarify values and deepen the spirituality.
Without all these we can still have the groups, lot of fun, lot of activities, lot of attraction- lot of adventures but remember there is NO MOVEMENT in the true sense of term.
Fr. Vincent Monteiro
Former National Chaplain