Bishop Angelelli's canonisation no longer a distant dream

CCI has welcomed the news that the canonization process of the late Bishop Enrique Angelelli is moving forward, coordinator MJ Ruben said today.

Bishop Angelelli, a pioneer chaplain of the JOC (YCW) and JUC (University YCS) in Argentina was assassinated on August 4, 1976 during the Dirty War for his involvement with social issues defending the rights of workers and farmers and standing up for his own priests.

With Pope Francis greenlighting the cause of canonization in early 2015, the Diocesan process in the Diocese of La Rioja, Argentina commenced on October 13, 2015. Now, Archbishop Marcelo Colombo has announced that the Diocese of La Rioja will complete the diocesan level process on September 15 and will send all materials to the Holy See for the next stage.

"We recall the words of Jorge Bergoglio (now Pope Francis) at the 30th anniversary mass for Bishop Angelelli in the Cathedral of La Rioja," Ruben noted, "when he said that 'Angelelli had stones thrown at him because he preached the Gospel, and he shed his blood for it'."

"We also recall Cardijn’s words to Bishop Angelelli upon his appointment:

'The Argentine JOC is losing one of its most ardent chaplains, but it is gaining a bishop who was... (one) of the pioneers of the JOC in Argentina and Latin America'."

"CCI has been championing the cause of recognition by the Church for martyrs of Cardijn movements," Ruben said, "including Bishop Angelelli’s close collaborator, Jose Serapio “Pepe” Palacio, a JOC leader in Argentina and in the JOC Internationale (IYCW) as well as for the Christian Workers Movement.

"In this context, we look forward to further developments in the case of Bishop Angelelli and other JOC leaders as well as that of Cardinal Joseph Cardijn himself.

"We hope that the Diocesan process in the case of Cardijn initiated in the Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels in January 2014 as a result of the campaign by CCI will also be completed soon.

"We are doubly happy that the Church is recognizing ‘martyrs’ who fought for social justice. CCI seeks this recognition not for the sake of raising statues to our saints but to in order to motivate all future generations.

"Thanks to all those who were involved in this project and we look forward to Pope Francis taking up the cause at an even faster pace. Seeing Bishop Angelelli declared a Saint of the Holy Mother the Church is no longer a distant dream," Ruben concluded.

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http://priests.josephcardijn.com/bishop-enrique-angelelli

http://www.cardijn.info/2016/08/la-rioja-commemorates-martyrdom-of.html

https://diocesisdelarioja.wordpress.com/2016/09/07/conclusion-de-la-instruccion-diocesana-de-la-causa-de-canonizacion-de-mons-angelelli/

http://www.elindependiente.com.ar/pagina.php?id=118238

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Chennai floods wash out CCI conference

Devastating floodwaters in Chennai have caused the postponement of the CCI international conference originally scheduled for 5 - 8 December 2015.

CCI Secretary General MJ Ruben and Convenor Stefan Gigacz made the call at 3am Chennai time on 2 December as flood waters rose in the streets of the city, forcing the closure of the city's international airport and cancelling train and bus services.

The conference venue, Joe Beach, remained cut off for six days at the height of the floods stranding former Mauritius Minister of Social Security, Ms Joceline Minerve, who had arrived early at the venue.

Conference special guests, Jose Luis Palacio, his wife Stella Maris, and their daughter Belen, who had arrived in Delhi en route to Chennai, were also caught out by the storms. With the assistance of former IYCS leader, Manoj Mathew, former YCW India national chaplain, Fr Soosai Servatius, and YCW India leader AJ Simon Peter, an alternative program for our guests was quickly arranged, including a visit to the Kanyakumari region of India.

The homes of several CCI leaders in Chennai were affected by the floods. Others played an active role in flood relief in the coming days.

The CCI conference, Cardijn Today: Inequality, Ecology and Diversity will now take place from 6 - 8 May 2016.

PHOTO CREDIT

Chennai floods 2015 (Destination8infinity)

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Multi-pronged expansion for CCI India

CCI-India will launch a national study of internal migrant workers, a media training program and the creation of a Cardijn Media company, the National Team has announced following its meeting at Trichur, Kerala this week.

The 15-17 May meeting undertook an extensive review of the movement's activities in India and the steps taken since the National Council in November 2011.

CCI Secretary General MJ Ruben reports that the team adopted a multi-pronged approach to build CCI in India and to promote Cardijn, including the following:

1. A survey on the living and working conditions of internal migrant workers:

To be undertaken in 6 phases viz. (i) Finalisation of the objective and guidelines; (ii)data collection; (iii)analysis of data collected; (iv)consultation to discuss the outcome of the survey and to plan action with the field workers, experts, sociologists, organisations working on migrant issues and CCI leaders and animators; (v)publication of the survey and the last phase (vi) will be the action part (representation, lobbying and sensitization on the issue).

SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) tool will be used for formulating guideliens and analysing the data collected.

Two fulltime workers from CCI will be appointed for two to three months to conduct the survey in 6 major cities in India (Chennai, Mumbai, New Delhi, Pune, Bangalore and Hyderabad).

One hundred families/individuals will be contacted during the survey in each of the six cities. Besides the six cities, CCI members will also take up the survey in their own areas.

2. Media and Social Media Training

Two programs are to be held in Secunderabad from 7-11 July 2012.

3. Cardijn Media

It was also decided to register Cardijn Media as a company. Six people have already agreed to subscribe for 10,000 rupees of shares.

Under the proposed statutes, 50 per cent of any profits will be donated to CCI.

Among other decisions CCI - India formally decided to affiliate with the Cardijn Community International.

National Team member Jomon Cherussery was coopted as national treasurer following the resignation of Monica Mascarenhas.

It was also decided to open up for individual memberships with an undertaking by new members to endeavour to launch new CCI teams in their local areas within twelve months of their joining.

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CCI leaders meet Fr. R. V. Mathias, Former International Chaplain of IYCW

[caption id="attachment_165" align="alignnone" width="465" caption="L to R: Fr RV Mathias, Fr Thomas Joseph, CCI Convenor MJ Ruben"][/caption]

CCI International Convenor M. J. Ruben and CCI Asia-Pacific Coordination member from India Ms Glynis Joseph met Fr. R. V. Mathias, former International Chaplain of the IYCW on Thursday, March 31 in Chennai, India.

This interaction is part of the initiative of the Cardijn Community International (CCI) to reach out to as many former animators and leaders of Cardijn movements in order consolidate their experiences.

Fr. Thomas Joseph (92 yrs), YCW/CWM Chaplain in India from 1950 was also present during this meeting.

Recalling his days as International Chaplain, R. V. Mathias narrated his encounter with the Sisters of Charity (Mother Theresa’s order) in Egypt who lived along with and served the workers’ community who did scavenging jobs in gutters amidst piles of garbage dump. It is impossible for any ordinary person to stand that stench even for a minute, he said

“Pure love combined with dedication was the motivation for those sisters”, Mathias continued, “Which is very much needed in all spheres of life today”.

Expressing his deep anguish at the competition, greed and false values promoted among the people, particularly the youth, R. V. Mathias stressed the need to work with real commitment based on love as the driving force in whatever field we are placed.

Fr. Mathias appreciated the efforts of CCI to promote Cardijn’s spirituality, vision and methodology.

Fr. Thomas Joseph agreed with Fr. Mathias on the need to re-orient the formation of the clergy in seminaries by offering them real life challenges just as the lay people.

Fr. Mathias offered his services as a resource person for any training sessions CCI would organise for animators. After his services at the Arul Anandhar Theological College at Karumathur, Madurai in south India, Mathias is on a sabbatical for a year now and is engaged in research besides conducting awakening retreat sessions for seminarians.

CCI International Convenor M. J. Ruben briefed Mathias about the forthcoming General Assembly in Bangkok in July and the CCI initiative to float a global forum to commemorate the 50^th anniversary of Vatican II. Ruben requested R. V. Mathias to document his experiences as his testimony which he agreed to do.

M. J. Ruben

CCI International Convenor,
Chennai, India
March 31, 2011

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