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From Father Chuck's Desk
Politicians and media personalities have the means by which to turn human emotions toward their specific agenda or put a "spin" on events. We each must carefully study the whole story, actively informing ourselves about what is being articulated on both sides of important issues. Protection against child labor, benefits for the family of people killed at work, and limits to the hours of a work week, for example, are all the result of interested individuals working for advocacy in the realm of the dignity of the human person. When many man-made disasters occur in communities and workplaces, too frequently and repeatedly, details emerge about safety measures that were not undertaken. I don’t believe we are showing that we learn from our mistakes very well. We can do much better as Catholic Christians than just to look with pity at those we see in the media who suffer. We are called by God to be a part of what builds up the length and quality of all human life. The people who force their employees to work regularly on Sundays and holidays are not away from their family and friends on those days. Aside from special public services, few businesses would open their doors on Sundays and holidays if Christians in America weren’t shopping on those days. We are a powerful force in augmenting the quality of our own lives and the lives of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Labor Day weekend is a wonderful opportunity to re-evaluate our priorities and to look critically at how we are either building up the value of human labor or selfishly eroding it.
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The nature of human labor seems to reflect our values and the state of our culture in a very clear way. Because
of the pace at which demands on people change and because of the power differential that exists between workers and
employers, the Church has been promulgating teachings on social justice since the 19th century. When I was visiting
the new library dedicated to Pope John Paul II at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., I purchased a
copy of a compilation of Pope John Paul II’s social justice encyclicals. All of the Church’s teachings on social
justice call us to expand our conscience beyond our own daily life and to recommit ourselves to living as brothers and
sisters in Christ.
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