The main objective of the Co-ordination is to help existing movements to grow and develop by remaining faithful to the fundamental objectives of the YCW and its founder. Furthermore, the ICYCW seeks:

·    to promote the YCW in countries where it is not present and offer help and support to new Movements;
·    to facilitate youth exchanges between countries and cultures;
·    to build up the self sufficiency and autonomy of each national movement;

The ICYCW is recognised by the Holy See as an International Catholic Organisation since 1989.At the present time the ICYCW coordinates 60 national movements around the world. The main objective of the Co-ordination is to help existing movements to grow and develop by remaining faithful to the fundamental objectives of the YCW and its founder.

The countries where the YCW is present:

Africa: Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Guinea Conakry, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Nigeria, Togo, Cameroon, Burundi, Centrafrique, Congo Brazzaville, Congo Kinshassa, Gabon, Rwanda, Tchad, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, Madagascar, Mauritius Islands, Reunion Island and Rodrigues Island

Latin America and Caribbean: Argentina, Ecuador, Guadaloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, Paraguay, Peru and Domenican Republic

Asia: Cambodia, Hong Kong, India, South Korea, Pakistan and Phillipinnes

Middle East: Dubai, Holy Land, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

Europe: France, England and Wales, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain and Hungary

As cited from the ICYCW website, 5.9.08:

The ICYCW has an international secretariat composed of 4 members and an international chaplain.

International President: Hyo Jung (Seraphine) Park from  Korea, Asia.

General Secretary: Jules Adanchede Hounkponou from Benin, Africa

International Treasurer: Lisa Vaccarino from Italy, Europe

International coordinator: Arniel Iway from Phillipinnes, Asia

International Chaplian: Fr. Josep Maria from Spain, Europe

ICYCW address: Via dei Barbieri, 22, 00186, Roma, Italy

Website: http://www.cijoc.org/

Joseph Cardijn was born on the 13th of November 1882 in Brussels, Belgium. His parents were Henry and Louise Cardijn who involved themselves in a small coal business. Louise was a woman of deep faith and lived her life giving witness to God because of this she was of great inspiration to Joseph.

Cardijn lived in a time where poverty and suffering were the norm of the day. Factory workers, including their children worked 12 to 14 hours a day for few cents. Moreover, they found no help from politician or church authorities so they continued to bear several injustices. Even at very young age Cardijn was already sensitive to this harsh reality.

When he turned 14 Cardijn informed his parents of his decision to become as a priest. This was not an easy decision because it meant he would not be able to contribute financially to the family in order to continue his studies and therefore added more pressure on his parents. In 1897 Joseph entered the seminary but on his return to home he discovered that his old friends rejected him. They felt betrayed because Cardijn had joined the Church; an institution from which the workers felt oppressed from. Joseph recalls this experience as "a knife through my heart". He was even more concerned when he realized that factory life had dulled his friends, stained their morals and wiped out their sense of personal dignity. Joseph vowed to dedicate his life serving the working class.

Cardinal Mercier made Cardijn a priest in 1906 and sent him to study social doctrine under the wing of Professor Brants. The latter encouraged Joseph to travel and make experiences among the workers. It was from these experiences that Joseph realized that youth were the key to resolve Europe's social problems.

Cardijn was then assigned to the parish of Our Lady of Laeken in Brussels. It was a district populated with the working class who lived in substandard apartments. Where others dreaded to step in, Joseph had enough courage to approach these workers and enquire about their life. He was not allowed to enter the factories but he still intended to disseminate the Gospel within the factory walls. He made plans that the workers themselves will be his apostles. Eventually, he became in charge of the Leaken girls' Youth Club and from then on he focussed his energy to the formation of this group through the See, Judge and Act method. This was the first humble beginnings of the YCW until its official recognition by the Church in 1925.

During World War II Cardijn together with other militants of the YCW worked hard to oppose the Nazi forces that occupied Belgium. They smuggled to freedom allied soldiers and Jews and rescued workers from deportation to German factories. For these reasons, the Nazi arrested many YCW members including Cardijn himself. Hundreds of militants died during this time. However, Cardijn managed to survive and eventually he was appointed Cardinal in 1965. However, two years after he was afflicted with a kidney ailment from which he never really recuperated and so he died peacefully at the age of 84. In his dead bed he frequently said:

"We are at the beginning. We are always at the beginning"

Reference: A Boy from Flanders: The Life of Joseph Cardijn by Fr. Hanley, Fr. Fink and Fr. Manning.

ZHN is the Maltese branch of the International Co-ordination of Young Christian Workers (ICYCW), based in Rome and founded by Josef Cardijn. The Maltese branch started in 1945 and is currently quite active with a growing number of sections.

The movement started in 1945 by the late Jesuit father Fr. Michael Galea SJ. At the time, it was organized as a small group; the first members being workers at HM Admiralty Dockyard. They used to meet at the Jesuits’ Sarria House in Floriana. Till the mid 1950’s all chaplains were Jesuits fathers. By the late 50’s Rev Fr. Renato Cirrillo, professor of economics at the University of Malta was appointed the first diocesan national chaplain.

Between the late 50s and the mid 60s the movement expanded very rapidly opening a section in almost every Maltese village/town. The Maltese YCW became so strong that it was the only youth organization to be consulted by British commission, under the leadership of Sir. Hilary Blood, about a new constitution for Malta back in 1961. Around this time Mons. Joseph Cardijn visited our island and addressed a mass national relay at Malta’s largest square which was utterly full of people. He also inaugurated the new building of a section in Zejtun. The movement organized various open air activities for both members and non members including corner meeting, mass meetings and so on. One mass meeting held in Paola tackled the Encilcial Mater Magistra, honoured by the presence of the Archbishop and the leaders of all political parties with the exemption of the MLP which in those years was "at a quarrel" with the Maltese Church hierarchy.

With the end of the MLP conflict and the new philosophy among certain members of the clergy of doing apostolate with the so called unattached youth, the number of the members of the movement started going down. The number of the clergy interested in accompanying the movement diminished drastically and most parish sections had to close down. This not withstanding the Maltese movement always returned close contacts with the ICYCW. As a matter of fact when the split in the international movement took place the Maltese movement became a founder member of the ICYCW (CIJOC).

The down ward trend continued till 2003 when the movements consisted only of 1 national section. Then, in 2004 a group of young people led by Albert Debono and Malcolm Bonnici joined the movement on tentative grounds until it eventually decided to officially join the Maltese YCW. Since then the movement has grown both in numbers and in sections. Today the Maltese movement consists of 5 sections and approximately 50 members. In 2008 the movement also introduced the first two lay adult companions in the person of Br. Saviour Mifsud SJ and Mr. Debono. The present national council is made of the following members, Ms. Vanessa Caruana (social worker-president), Mr. Danny debono (Draughtsmen-Secretary), Ms. Roberta Galea (MEPA officer-Treasurer), Mr. Kurt Zammit (IT-Administrator), Keith Attard (University Student), Cynthia Bonello (Physiotherapist) and Justine Bugeja (University student).