Jeunesse Etudiante Chrétienne

Jeunesse Étudiante Chrétienne (JEC) is a worldwide group of young Christian students. The movement also goes by the name YCS (Young Christian Students) in English or JEC (Juventud Estudiantil Catolica) in Spanish.

Created 1929 in France, as part of the Catholic social movement, the JEC was formed by students from the ACJF (Association Catholique de la Jeunesse Française) wishing to minister to other catholic students. The movement organised specialist branches. In 1935 the JEC, opposed Nazism and grew rapidly, in 1936, their first national convention had 4000 participants.

JEC movement grew in the spirit of the Specialized Catholic Action movements that were inspired by Joseph Cardijn (the founder of the Young Christian Workers) with the methodology of See-Judge-Act.

The JEC was a significant operator in the French resistance during World War II and continued to play a role in French political life until the 1960s. JEC members included numerous members of the resistance, politicians, media and university people, among them: Jacques Delors, Pascal Lamy, Joseph Fontanet, Gilbert Dru, Pierre Alviset, René Rémond, André de Péretti, Patrick Viveret, Pierre Rosanvallon, Geneviève Latreille, Antoine Spire, Jean-Pierre Sueur, Georges Montaron, Christophe Hondelatte, Claude-François Jullien, Roger-Henri Guerrand, Renaud Sainsaulieu, Jean-Marie Vincent, Jean-Yves Le Drian, and Jacques Bugnicourt.

In the 1960s the JEC denounced torture and the French government's fighting against Algerian independence; this caused tensions with the bishops of the Roman Catholic Church in France. As a result, in 1965, the Church removed its mandate from the association. This engagement with the church lead to schism within the JEC, which lasted until the reconstruction in the 1980s.

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