From Rome 1957 to the Present Day: a Symbol of Faith and Resistance in the Hautes Fagnes Plateau (Belgium)

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As part of the celebrations for the 100th anniversary of the YCW, a ceremony was held in the Hautes Fagnes Plateau (High Fens), in the Walloon Region of Belgium, on June 24, 2025. The event commemorated both the centenary of the YCW and, more specifically, the pilgrimage of local YCW members to Rome in 1957. On that historic occasion marking the creation of the International YCW Coordination, a cross was erected in the Fagnes.

A message commemorating the participation of young people in the great pilgrimage to Rome is engraved on the monument. The cross is located in a strategic spot in the Hautes Fagnes National Park, where it naturally attracts the attention of hikers. It symbolizes hope and faith in working youth as a force for change and development, as well as solidarity and interdependence in the struggles of workers for a just, egalitarian, and sustainable world.

Organized by a group of former YCW members and CDMO (Diocesan Commission for the Worker Movement) members, the ceremony attracted the attention of the local press, as well as that of leaders of social, religious, and trade union movements.

The return of the restored cross—which has been restored several times in the course of history—was a convivial and symbolic moment. It allowed social movement leaders, former YCW members and the International YCW to share their vision of social commitment and to highlight the importance of youth organization in social transformation. A historical overview of the YCW movement was presented, and interviews were conducted by the print and television media.

It was also an opportunity to mark a region where the YCW had a strong influence during the first decades of the last century, and where it continues to organize today through local grassroots groups and at the national level.

Whether it be the struggle for immigrants' rights, the right to decent housing, mobilization around queer issues, or more broadly the rights of young workers within the YCW, both at the regional and national levels, leaders clearly affirm that they are not standing by as spectators: “We are mobilizing, demanding and acting collectively for a more just, solidarity-based and democratic society.”

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About the International Cardijn Association

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The International Cardijn Association (ICA) is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to serve the present and future generations of young workers throughout the world.

Officially created in September 1998 on the initiative of the International YCW, the ICA mission is to provide financial support to the projects implemented by young workers in order to improve their capacities to take responsibilities and to change their living and working conditions. In this direction those young people can find the place they deserve in society and the dignity inherent in all human beings.

Throughout his life, Cardijn, who founded the International YCW in 1957, never ceased to disseminate his message that “Each young worker is worth more than all the gold in the world.” Convinced that this message is still true today, the ICA wants to help young people – apprentices or unemployed, domestic workers, workers in the informal economy, casual workers, those exploited in export-processing zones, those excluded from society – to carry out projects which will allow them to live with dignity.

 For its functioning, the ICA relies on a team of volunteers who are involved in raising funds. Those funds come from donations by people or movements wishing to support a just cause: that of young workers. The capital is invested ethically and the interests are used to fund projects which are initiated by movements or groups of young workers who struggle to change their living and working conditions. Decent jobs, reasonable working hours, adequate salaries, weekly day-offs, the eradication of sexual and moral harassment, social protection for all … are the focus of the struggle to be carried out in a globalized world, where human beings often feel powerless when faced with walls of injustice.
 
By providing financial support to young workers’ projects, the ICA simply wants to contribute to building a society with more justice and a world with more solidarity.

 

 

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