YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION (Y.M.C.A.)

YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION (Y.M.C.A.). – A youth association founded in London in 1844 by Georges Williams, a fellow of King's College, Cambridge, who was deeply committed to the idea of bringing the Churches together, with the aim of addressing social issues and indicating solutions to them; he believed, in fact, that social problems constituted a point of convergence and therefore of unity.
YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION - YUCATAN

of all Christian denominations. The Y.M.C.A. may therefore be regarded as the beginning of what, since 1910, has been called ecumenism (v.).

I. DIFFUSION

The association first spread among the young apprentices of the Hitchcock and Co. factory in London, with the aim of Christianizing and improving the working environment through friendly gatherings and religious associations with the other workers. In 1851 it expanded to the United States, establishing groups in Boston and subsequently in Montréal. At present, the members of the Y.M.C.A. number approximately 2,000,000, belonging to 85 different associations or denominations. Two-thirds of the members are under 25 years of age. In the French-speaking countries—France, French-speaking Switzerland, and Belgium—the Y.M.C.A. has taken the name Union chrétienne de jeunes gens and, together with the Scout and student federations, forms part of the Conseil protestant de la jeunesse (C.P.J.), headquartered in Paris.

II. CURRENT ACTIVITY

The Y.M.C.A. exerts a considerable influence, especially in the United States, with the following principal aims: to promote the democratic principles of freedom and mutual understanding among people; to employ the influence of Christianity as a means of the moral development of character, international rapprochement and, consequently, peace among peoples. To achieve these aims, the groups make use of educational and cultural means: grants are provided to poor university students; well-equipped and properly organized sports and physical-education centers are established; educational programs are disseminated in schools and in workers’ and sports centers to guide young people in choosing a profession and in their reading. During the Second World War, the Y.M.C.A. contributed greatly to maintaining the soldiers’ morale and to organizing assistance for the wounded and prisoners by joining with the National Catholic Community Service, the National Jewish Welfare Board, the Salvation Army, and the National Travellers Aid Association, and by forming the United Service Organization.

III. ATTITUDE OF CATHOLICS

In the United States the Catholic Church has recently had to take a position regarding the activity of the Y.M.C.A., establishing the following points: a) most of the association’s aims do not differ from those pursued by Catholics; b) nevertheless, the manner in which it seeks to achieve them does not have the Church’s approval. The association in fact professes religious indifferentism, which the Church absolutely rejects. The way in which its members speak, write, and act leads one to believe that all forms of Christianity are good, and that it is sufficient to practise charity, in whatever manner, in order to consider oneself sufficiently Christian, independently of the creed to which one adheres; in this way dogma has no importance, provided that Christian morality is respected, even when considered from a merely human point of view. The Y.M.C.A. is therefore in formal opposition to the Catholic Church with regard to the absolute respect due to revealed doctrine and to the necessity of faith in order to be saved. Everything done to alleviate human suffering is undoubtedly praiseworthy, but one must not forget that Jesus Christ came to redeem mankind and to open for them the gates of eternal life. The practice of charity cannot truly be called Christian unless it corresponds to Christ’s primary desire, which is to lead those redeemed by his blood to the kingdom of heaven, that is, to the eternal possession of God. Catholics therefore cannot collaborate with the Y.M.C.A., because this would mean forgetting or abandoning these essential truths. This does not, however, preclude limited collaboration, for specific and immediate purposes, with all those who devote themselves to the good of humanity, provided that the Catholic faith remains intact and that the temporal goods one seeks to attain do not cause the eternal ones to be forgotten (v. YOUNG WOMEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION).