Joseph Cardijn
Leon Joseph Cardinal Cardijn ( born November 13, 1882 in Schaerbeek / Schaerbeek in Brussels; † July 25, 1967 in Leuven ) was a Roman Catholic priest and the founder of the International Christian Workers (YCW ).
Life
The need and the problems of working youth, he observed around him, led him to become a priest. Therefore he received after the study of Catholic theology, sociology and political science in 1906, the sacrament of Holy Orders and began in 1912 as a chaplain in Laeken with the construction of the CAJ. Many failures and difficulties accompanied these first attempts. In 1924 the National Federation of the Belgian CAJ be justified. 1925, Pope Pius XI. Cardijn in audience and told him, " I not only bless the CAJ, I make it to my concerns ."
With this support, began the growing development of the International CAJ. Within 40 years, it is spreading in over 100 countries around the world. Cardijn himself stood in the forefront of this development and oversaw it personally in many different states. On the Diözesantag 1961 in the Diocese of Münster, which he often visited, he was enthusiastically acclaimed by 13,000 young people.
Pope Paul VI. appointed Cardijn February 15, 1965 Titular Archbishop of Tusuros and took him on 22 February of the same year as cardinal deacon with the title Diakonia San Michele Arcangelo in the College of Cardinals on after him the Archbishop of Mechelen -Brussels, Léon- Joseph Cardinal Suenens, a day previously consecrated bishop had donated. At the Second Vatican Council, Cardinal Cardijn opened the debate in the Council Hall of the Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes in September and October 1965 Gaudium et Spes follows because the factors relevant to the CAJ method of the three- step. "See - Judge - Act ".
Shortly before his death in July 1967 he said the last words: " We need to start ... We are only at the beginning." He was in the Church of Our Lady in Laeken, Brussels, buried.
The Archbishop of Brussels, André- Joseph Léonard, has announced a beatification process for the priest.