November 2025
COP 30 in Brazil - Black Catholic History - Leo from Chicago - Pact of the Catacombs - Chenu's Theology for a changing world - Parish as centre of social action - The AI revolution
Friends
In this month’s news, the Laudato Si’ movement is meeting in Belém, Brazil this month for the COP30 meeting on climate action while the Catholic Labor Network is standing in solidarity with workers at Loyola Marymount University.
It’s also the USCCB Black Catholics History Month and we recall the seven Catholic leaders of African descent who are on the path to canonization.
The Vatican has just released a new video biography “Leo from Chicago” on the life of our new pope while Mary Kate Holman from Fairfield University has published a new book on the theology of the remarkable French Dominican Marie-Dominique Chenu.
This month we celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Pact of the Catacombs for a Church in solidarity with the poor by forty Vatican II bishops as well as the anniversary of the Vatican II Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity, Apostolicam Actuositatem, the first ever document by an ecumenical council of the Catholic Church on the role of lay people.
We also share Joseph Cardijn’s pioneering article on the Catholic parish as a centre of social action while Richard Pütz brings his usual insights into the emerging issue of artificial intelligence.
The Cardijn Associates Team
Laudato Si’ Movement at Belém for COP30
From the heart of the Amazon, the Laudato Si’ Movement is joining world leaders, faith communities, and climate advocates at COP30 in Belém, Brazil—a place where creation speaks powerfully of both beauty and urgency.
The movement organised several events during the event including a forum entitled Raising Hope: A Decade of Pope Francis’ Encyclical Laudato Si’ and the Paris Agreement on to reflect on the legacy of Laudato Si’, the Paris Agreement, and the path forward.
Pope Leo also sent a video message to the churches of the Global South warning that “creation is crying out in floods, droughts, storms and relentless heat.”
“As stewards of God’s creation, we are called to act swiftly, with faith and prophecy, to protect the gift He entrusted to us,” he said.
READ MORE
Catholic Labor Network calls for solidarity
The Catholic Labor Network is calling on faithful Catholics and allies to “stand with the non-tenure track faculty at Loyola Marymount University” and to resume negotiations with employees and recognize the union.
“We stand in solidarity with LMU’s faculty, with SEIU, and with all workers striving to exercise their God-given right to organize for the common good,” CLN says in a statement.
“We urge LMU’s President, Board of Trustees, and Jesuit leaders to return to the bargaining table in good faith—so that justice, dialogue, and Catholic identity may prevail.”
READ MORE AND SIGN THE PETITION
Petition: Stand with LMU Faculty for Faith and Justice
Sainthood path for Catholic leaders of African descent
This month is Black Catholic History Month and the USCCB is promoting a series of resources to make more widely known the stories of seven Catholics of African descent who are on the sainthood.
The six are Venerable Pierre Toussaint (1776-1853), Venerable Mother Mary Elizabeth Lange (1784-1882), Venerable Henriette Delille (1813-1862), Venerable Fr. Augustus Tolton (1854-1897), Servant of God Julia Greeley (1833 and 1848-1918), Servant of God Sr. Thea Bowman, FSPA (1937-1990) and Servant of God Friar Martin Maria de Porres Ward. Pictured above: Mary Elizabeth Lange, Harriet Delille, Pierre Toussaint.
READ MORE
The Saintly Seven (USCCB)
Renew with Vatican II: Cardinal Christophe Pierre
Calling the Second Vatican Council the “Map for the Journey Ahead,” Apostolic Nuncio Cardinal Christophe Pierre urged the U.S. bishops gathered in Baltimore for their Fall General Assembly to walk in a synodal spirit, in continuity with Vatican II, Where Peter Is reports.
Unlike many other councils in the Church’s history, the documents and vision of Vatican II were not meant primarily to address issues simply of the time in which the Council was called, Cardinal Pierre said.
Rather, “the vision of the Council was a vision for the future — a prophetic orientation toward a world that was only beginning to take shape,” since “many of the realities that the Council intuited had not yet manifested themselves in the life of the world or of the Church.”
READ MORE
Pierre Calls U.S. Bishops to Renew the Vision of Vatican II (Where Peter Is)
Leo from Chicago: The documentary
The Vatican Dicastery for Communication has produced this new documentary “Leo from Chicago,” including interviews with his brothers Louis and John Prevost, footage, and images that trace the history and explore the roots of Robert Francis Prevost.
A production by journalists Deborah Castellano Lubov, Salvatore Cernuzio, and Felipe Herrera-Espaliat.
60th Anniversary of the Pact of the Catacombs
This year we will again celebrate a special commemorative Mass at the Domitilla Catacombs on Saturday 29 November 2025 to mark the 60th anniversary of the Pact of the Catacombs.
For more information, please contact Stefan Gigacz: aci@australiancardijninstitute.org
MORE DETAILS
Book: Marie-Dominique Chenu’s theology for a changing world
French Dominican theologian, Marie-Dominique Chenu, was a great admirer and close collaborator of Cardijn and the YCW for many years. Mary Kate Holman’s new book Marie-Dominique Chenu demonstrates how this once condemned theologian influenced the major shifts of twentieth-century Catholicism and reveals the relevance of his thought for contemporary theology.
Drawing upon extensive new archival research, Mary Kate Holman provides a captivating account of Chenu’s life and how his theology contributed to the church’s opening to the modern world, shaped the next generation of theologians and remains relevant to twenty-first century ecclesiology.
BUY THE BOOK
Mary Kate Holman, Catholic Theology for a Changing World (Notre Dame Press)
Finding Our Way: Faith and Action in the Digital Age
Here’s what stands out most about Thomas Merton, writes Richard Pütz. Back in the 1960s, he wrote something that could have been written yesterday in Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander.
“Making great progress is pointless if we don’t learn to live with it... our technology becomes just a costly, complex path to cultural breakdown.”
Think about this for a moment. He saw it coming—this world where we have smartphones that can do everything except help us genuinely connect with each other.
And Joseph Cardijn also understood something important. Speaking about the industrial revolution of his time, he said:
“When we remember that humans have existed for 10,000 years, the modern working class appears relatively new. This revolution is crucial from social, religious, and human perspectives.”
He was talking about factories then. We’re talking about artificial intelligence now. But the question remains the same: What happens to human dignity when everything becomes automated?
READ MORE
Richard Pütz, Finding Our Way: Faith and Action in the Digital Age (Cardijn Reflections)
Reading: The parish as a centre of social action
One hundred years ago in August 1925, Cardijn published one of his most seminal articles entitled “The YCW in the parish.”
In this remarkable article, he presents his vision of the parish as a centre of formation for social and community action.
READ MORE
Joseph Cardijn, The YCW and the parish (Joseph Cardijn Digital Library)
News briefs and social media
Notre Dame honors theological legacy of Gustavo Gutierrez
Celebrating the launch of a 50-year digital archive of Gutiérrez’s theological conferences and the posthumous publication of his book, Vivir y pensar el Dios de los pobres.
READ MORE
https://www.library.nd.edu/event/reasons-for-our-hope-legacy-of-gustavo-gutirrez/
Cardijn Associates USA
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