It is impossible to introduce the Review of Life and See Judge Act method of the MCW without reference to Joseph Cardijn (Belgium, 1982-1967). He was ordained a priest in the Catholic Church in 1906 and became a Cardinal in 1965. He was the founder of the Young Christian Workers and he devoted his life to this movement. What is significant about his life and work is that he left a legacy that has been used by millions of people around the world and is still being used widely today. Sometimes known as Cardijn’s Three Truths Dialectic, he came up with the See, Judge, Act method as a basic tool for young workers to use to review their lives together and to challenge them to action. It wasn’t something that he thought up off the top of his head but rather something he studied and worked on after reading the works of philosophers such as Hegel and Marx. He provided a method of analysis that was accessible to working people.....
Little did he know that his method would not only be used by young workers but that it would be used and developed to suit different situations, by adults, industrialists and educationists around the world. Thanks to the internet you can easily read the fascinating story of Joseph Cardijn’s life on several platforms.
Below is a simple explanation of how the method is applied in our MCW groups.
Review of Life Method
See
The objective of the See stage is to arrive at a fuller understanding of the reality lived by members of the group and the people they meet in their everyday lives.
It is not a general discussion of a hypothetical subject but an enquiry into everyday reality. At the 'See' part of the enquiry experiences are shared, usually focusing on one aspect of life from the perspective of one member of the group - "My experience of this situation is ..."
Judge
The objective of the Judge stage is to analyse the causes and consequences of the situation. It is not an occasion to make moral judgments but rather an opportunity to begin to make sense of what is happening in the world around us. During this stage we try to help the group to link what is happening today with the challenges of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
When making analysis MCW groups are sensitive to Christ's commitment to the poor and those on the margins of society who are excluded from sharing in the fruits and wealth of the world.
Act
The objective of the Act stage is to help the group share with each other the various steps of action that spring from the enquiry. Often, we can be frightened off by the prospect of taking action. This can be due to a misunderstanding of the term. Our actions can be very small, or they can involve a more complicated but achievable set of tasks. It will depend on what comes out of the enquiries. The thing to remember is that even small actions can have important outcomes.
