A worker's movement within the Catholic church: Three personal stories from across the world

Friday, 1 May 2026 - 10:00am to 11:00am

For this May Day special, Jacques talks with Stefan Gigacz and Jorge Jorquera about the history of the Young Christian Workers (YCW), a workers' movement that emerged within the Catholic church starting in Belgium over 100 years ago and rapidly spreading worldwide.

All three of us have been involved in the movement and have been influenced in various ways, Stefan starting in St Alban's in Melbourne's NorthWest and researching the life of Joseph Cardijn, YCW's founder, Jorge from Chile arriving as a refugee in Brisbane and immersed in the thinking and activism of Liberation Theology and Jacques in his native Belgium studying in a Catholic Wokers Movement School of Social Work and later involved in several Catholic movements and events in Congo and Germany. All three offer their personal accounts from their own experience.

References

https://australiancardijninstitute.org/ 

https://australiancardijninstitute.org/cross-disrupts-imperialist-occupa...

 

Friday 10:00am to 10:30am
Think Again offers weekly conversations and reflections about current events, trends and public pronouncements on contemporary and emerging issues. The show moves beyond what we read and hear via the public and ‘social’ media, to invite alternative possibilities to guide our thinking, living and organising.

Presenter

Jennifer Borrell & Jacques Boulet

Topic