December 2025
New NY archbishop volunteered in El Salvador - New Argentine Blessed knew Msgr Hillenbrand - YCW & YCS martyrs beatified -
Friends
In this Christmas edition, we begin with news of the coming beatification of Argentine businessman, Enrique Ernesto Shaw, who knew and was greatly influenced by both Cardijn and Msgr Reynold Hillenbrand.
We welcome the appointment of Bishop Ron Hicks, who worked as a volunteer with orphaned children in El Salvador.
We share the story of the French YCW and YCS martyrs beatified earlier this month at Notre Dame Cathedral Paris.
Pilgrims from the Dorothy Dorothy Guild, who were in Rome for a special symposium at the Gregorian University, also joined a commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the Pact of the Catacombs for a Servant Church of the Poor. Let us also remember the message (above) of the groundbreaking Decree on Lay Apostolate, Apostolicam Actuositatem, adopted by Vatican II on November 18, 1965, one day after the Pact.
We also remember José Serapio “Pepe” Palacio, an Argentine former YCW leader, Christian Worker movement leader and trade unionist, who was killed in 1975 under Operation Condor.
As Christmas approaches, we remember their commitment and their sacrifices while Richard Pütz reminds us of the “radical humility of the Incarnation.”
The Cardijn Associates Team
New York’s new archbishop volunteered in Mexico
Pope Leo has appointed Chicago-born Bishop Ron Hicks of Joliet, Illinois, to become the new archbishop of New York.
In July 2005, with permission from Cardinal Francis E. George, then archbishop of Chicago, young Fr. Hicks moved from Chicago to El Salvador to begin a five-year term as regional director of Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos, or NPH, in Central America. NPH is a home dedicated to caring for more than 3,400 orphaned and abandoned children in nine Latin American and Caribbean countries.
Earlier this year, he issued a pastoral letter entitled “Make” focusing on how to develop active discipleship (see above video) that aims to connect catechesis and evangelisation with turning faith into action.
READ MORE
5 things to know about Bishop Ronald A. Hicks (National Catholic Reporter)
Hillenbrand told Enrique Shaw he could make a difference in business
Pope Leo XIV has authorised the promulgation of a decree for the beatification of Argentine Cardijn apostle and entrepreneur, Enrique Ernesto Shaw.
Visiting Chicago in 1945, Shaw met with Msgr. Reynold Hillenbrand, who convinced him that he would never be “just another worker,” but could make a difference as a businessman, OSV News reports.
Under Hillenbrand’s guidance, Shaw left the Navy and entered the business world, convinced that economic life was not separate from the Gospel, but one of its most demanding arenas.
That connection has drawn the attention of Pope Leo XIV, himself from Chicago. In a message to Argentina’s XXXI Industrial Conference, the pope wrote that Shaw’s life demonstrates it is “possible to be both a businessman and a saint, that economic efficiency and fidelity to the Gospel are not mutually exclusive, and that charity can penetrate even industrial and financial structures.”
He married Cecilia Bunge, with whom he had nine children; he joined Catholic Action and the Christian Family Movement, promoting various other associations related to the world of work and publishing conferences, articles and essays. In 1961, he was appointed president of Hombres de Acción Católica. He died of cancer on 27 August 1961.
READ MORE
With Enrique Shaw on path to sainthood, Vatican confirms you can be a holy businessman (OSV News)
Argentine Cardijn apostle to be beatified
Enrique Ernesto Shaw (Joseph Cardijn Digital Library)
YCW and YCS martyrs beatified at Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris
Twenty YCW and YCS leaders, chaplains and seminarians were beatified alongside a group of Scouts and Catholic Action chaplains at Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris, on Saturday 13 December 2025 (video above).
READ MORE
YCW and YCS martyrs beatified at Notre Dame (Cardijn.info)
Martyrs of the YCW and YCS (Joseph Cardijn Digital Library)
Homily by Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich
Papal legate Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg presided over the beatification ceremony and delivered the homily. Recalling the heroic sacrifices of the French martyrs, Cardinal Hollerich said “faith is never private; it must find expression in the concrete service of our sisters and brothers”.
“Let me make an appeal to the young people of France,” he continued. “You who call yourselves young Catholics, you are devoted to the adoration of Our Lord, and that is as it should be: may this love of Christ impel you to become missionary apostles.
“And all of you young people, perhaps not attending church, from France and Europe, you who no longer see meaning in your lives, you are searching for an identity that gives you purpose, look to Christ, Prince of Peace, Prince of love and not of hate, learn from him as your elder brothers, martyrs, beatified today, learn from him to commit yourselves to the good of your brothers and sisters! Your life can be so beautiful, and you will see this beauty in your life by following Christ.”
READ MORE
Cardinal Hollerich’s homily (English)
Dorothy Day Symposium in Rome
The Dorothy Day Guild partnered with the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome for a symposium on the life and work of the founder of the Catholic Worker on November 26 2025.
A group of American pilgrims, including Dorothy’s granddaughters Kate and Martha Hennessy, joined approximately one hundred graduate students, professors, Vatican workers and officials, and members of the public to take part in the symposium.
READ MORE
Pact of the Catacombs Memorial
Several Dorothy Day Guild pilgrims also joined a special event hosted by the Australian Cardijn Institute to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Pact of the Catacombs at the Domitilla Catacombs near Rome on Saturday 29 November 2025.
ACI secretary, Stefan Gigacz, explained the history of the Pact which originated with Helder Camara’s proposal for two masses for the poor and for workers and that participating bishops take a vow inspired by Cardijn’s own personal consecration of his life to young workers and the working class.
As a result, 39 bishops met to celebrate Mass at the Domitilla Catacombs on 16 November 1965 where they adopted a commitment to a church of the poor that has become known as the Pact of the Catacombs.
READ MORE
Pact of the Catacombs Memorial III (Australian Cardijn Institute)
Pepe and Amalia Palacio
Born on 25 October 1923, José Serapio “Pepe” Palacio co-founded the YCW in the Argentinian Diocese of Corboda together with (Blessed) Enrique Angelelli.
During the 1950s, Pepe was a member of the International YCW’s embryonic Executive Committee. Later, he became a trade union leader and a leader of the Christian Worker Movement.
In April 1975, he was appointed as the first lay collaborator of the IYCW. His first assignment was to take part in an IYCW Workers Meeting in Bogota, Colombia in September-October 1975.
Shortly after his return he was abducted from outside his office, becoming one of the many “desaparecidos” of that time. Twenty five years later, research by his son, José Luis, found that he was killed on 13 December 1975 as part of the Pinochet-led CIA-backed Operation Condor to eliminate labour and community leaders and activists in South America.
Let us also remember the living martyrdom of Pepe’s wife, Amalia, who was left alone to struggle and raise their three sons.
READ MORE
Pepe and Amalia Palacio (Joseph Cardijn Digital Library)
Enrique Angelelli (Joseph Cardijn Digital Library)
Bethlehem to your backyard: The radical humility of the Incarnation
In December 1223, Francis, disappointed by changes in his order and suffering from illness, traveled to Greccio after Pope Honorius III approved the Franciscan rule, feeling his vision of simplicity had become complicated, writes Richard Pütz.
In Greccio, Francis asked Giovanni Velita to prepare a simple cave scene with a manger and live animals. His biographer wrote that Francis wanted people to see, with their own eyes, Christ’s poverty at birth.
On Christmas Eve 1223, something extraordinary happened. People flocked to witness the simple scene during Christmas Mass, as fires lit the darkness as crowds arrived carrying candles and torches. Francis, who was a deacon, proclaimed the Gospel and preached. An eyewitness, Giovanni Velita himself, reported seeing a real infant appear in the manger, and Francis embracing the child.
READ MORE
From Bethlehem to Your Backyard: Living the Radical Humility of the Incarnation (Cardijn Reflections)