See - Judge - Act: Caroline Chisholm's Lay Apostolate - Rodney Stinson (Paperback)

This book begins by reviewing the See, Judge, Act method formulated by Father Joseph Cardijn early in the twentieth century. This method was the defining feature of the Young Christian Workers (YCW) movement, providing lucidity, cohesion, and relevance to the member's participation in the lay apostolate of the Catholic Church. The author recommends practice of the method to individuals, pairs and groups, with the objective of Christianizing society or otherwise transforming it.

What might appear to be a novel extension of the 'See; Judge; Act' method had an historical precedent in the life an work of Caroline Chisholm. Although she died decades before the method's formulation, the author argues she implemented "something very like the 'see, judge, act' principles and did so implicitly. There are seven chapters with extracts from Mrs Chisholm's own writing and comments and questions that are directed at illustrating and understanding that use. These chapters and the one dealing with the parable of the Good Samaritan, whose service and purity of motive she ardently desired and imitated, are suitable for learning or revitalizing this perennially new, yet ever old, practice.

As Professor John Molony writes in the foreword: "To Caroline Chisholm and Joseph Cardijn, we owe much. Our debt is simply repaid. Let us begin to See, Judge, Act in our daily lives".