A.U.C.A.M. (ASSOCIATIO UNIVERSITARIA CATHOLICA ADIUVANS MISSIONES). — It arose in Louvain in 1925 through the work of professors and students, on the initiative of the Jesuit Fr. Charles, with the aim of engaging the educated laity in the theoretical and practical missionary problem. Centres and committees with the most varied activities were soon established in nearly all the cities of Belgium and beyond, making the A. “the strongest and most flourishing student organization in support of the missions” (Guida delle missioni, p. 519).
The activities steadily increased in importance, giving rise to institutions of broader scope and great social interest. Thus there arose the Fondazione medica dell'Università di Lovanio al Congo, with hospitals at Kisantu (1926) and Katana (1930), to which a school for the training of qualified indigenous medical assistants is attached; the agricultural centres of Kisantu (1932) and Kamponde (1938), for the training of indigenous assistants, lecturers, and agricultural advisers; and the Foyer Social indigène d'Elisabethville (1933), for the formation of healthy families in healthy environments. The A. has already held two congresses (1930, 1935), with particular reference to the problem of the races; indeed, it founded an association for understanding among them, whose principal activity consists in introducing students from Asia and Africa into Catholic families. The A. also has its own periodicals: the Carnets de l'A., begun in 1926, took the title Revue de l'A. in 1931 and is now published four times a year; Réponse, begun in 1946, aims to keep the committees united with their members.