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| Remarks by Tom ShellabargerSocial Development OfficeUnited States Conference of Catholic BishopsFebruary 13, 2003This workshop – just to make sure you found the right room – is Labor and the Church. I am Thom Shellabarger; I work at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops as a Policy Advisor on Urban and Economic issues. One of the issues I cover is worker rights. And I will be moderating this workshop. With me this morning is Mary Priniski, a Dominican Sister, who will tell you more about who she is and what she does a bit later in the program. We also have Ms. Kristi Sanford who is with the National Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice, who will also discribe who and what she does later in the Program. Here is what we propose to do: First, I’ll do a very brief—a cursary review of Catholic Teaching on Work. Then Sister will discuss how the Catholic Church, including all of you here, has worked with workers, their unions, and their families. Then Kristi will talk about bringing our work into the larger community. Final, we would like to dialogue with you on issues that are important to you that we haven’t addressed. When the topic is "Human Work in Catholic Social Teaching" it is very hard to decide where to begin. A few years back, the U.S. Conference of Bishops was invited to Germany by our German counterpart to discuss the German and American perspectives on overcoming poverty viewed through Catholic Social teaching. It was an auspices gathering and I was honored to be a part of the U.S. delegation. It became quite obvious on the first day that we had very different perspectives on the topic: every German speech began "In the beginning God created Germany...." Well, we Americans weren’t much better—we began every speech "yesterday...." Too often we Americans are just so anxious to get on with today--without due appreciation of what came before us, what has shaped our yesterday, shaped our today, and what shapes our tomorrow. Now that doesn't mean that in our discussion of Catholic Social Teaching we have to trace our history back to Adam and Eve like we thought the Germans were doing. Nor do we have to proceed through the 46 books of the Old Testament, the Four Gospels, the 24 letters to the early Church that comprise the New American Bible, nor the letters and commentaries of the 260 popes. I do think it is wise however, to begin any discussion on Catholic Social Teaching by finding some common ground--to center ourselves on what makes us "catholic." We are people of the "book" and profess a belief in the "Word made flesh." Our starting point must be the Scriptures. Catholic social teaching is rooted in the Scriptures. The principles of this teaching are at the heart and soul of who we are and what we believe. The prophets of the Old Testament continually reminded ancient Israel that their fidelity to God was measured by how they treated those on the margins of society, the widows, the orphans, and the aliens. In the Gospels, we learn our love for the poor and powerless is a reflection of our love for Jesus Himself. While many faith traditions share some or all of these Scriptural roots, the Catholic tradition has a unique resource in its social teaching. The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes Catholic social teaching as "a body of doctrine, which is articulated as the Church interprets events in the course of human history, with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, in the light of the whole of what has been revealed by Jesus Christ" (No.2422). This body of doctrine has been developed and articulated over many years. It provides a lens through which Catholics can view and react to the choices, issues, and challenges we confront in society every day. The bishops of the United States in 1998 released Sharing Catholic Social Teaching: Challenges and Directions. This document identifies seven key themes from Catholic social teaching in a very easy format. I am not going to review these themes, as they should be familiar to all of us here. This is the "Cliff Notes" version of Catholic social teaching. While it's important to point out that Catholic social teaching is much more sophisticated than these seven themes suggest, the bishops have given us these themes as a tool to begin the process of sharing Catholic social doctrine. The purpose of today’s workshop is to explore one of the themes raised by the bishops, the one on "work." This particular theme is a very important one. It was the topic of the first modern social encyclical, Rerum Novarum issued by Pope Leo XIII in 1891. In the Catholic tradition, the economy is intended to serve people, not the other way around. While work is at one level a way to make a living, and as such it should provide a living wage, it is more than that in Catholic social thought. It is a key way that we realize our human potential, that we contribute to the common good, and that we participate in God's ongoing act of creation. If the dignity of work is to be protected, the rights of workers must be respected. Therefore, we believe that workers have the right to productive work, to safe conditions, to a living wage and to form associations and join unions if they choose. We also believe workers have responsibilities. These include providing a fair day's work for a fair day's pay, treating their co-workers and employers with respect and kindness, and contributing to a safe and pleasant workplace. The topic of Work has been addressed by every pope since Leo XIII; even the Second Vatican Council of Bishops wrote about the place of human work in our age. This principle is so important that Pope John Paul II devoted his third encyclical to the topic entitled "On Human Work." Listen to the Holy Father explain why he returns, like his predecessors, to the topic of work: "It is ... the fact that human work is a key, probably the essential key, to the whole social question, if we try to see that question from the point of view of mans good." He goes on to say: "And if the solution or the gradual solution of the social question, which keeps coming up and becomes ever more complex, must be sought in the direction of "making life more human," then the key, namely human work, acquires fundamental and decisive importance." "Fundamental and decisive importance." The church's teaching on work, on labor issues, is not static. It has developed over 150-200 years, and arose as a pastoral response to the impact of industrialization upon workers in their work, family, and spiritual lives in Western Europe. Rerum Novarum (1891) did not emerge from a vacuum, but must be seen in the context of European and American bishops who, in their writings and actions, had been addressing issues created by industrialization since the 1830s. The Church views work as an essential element of an individual's humanity. A person has the responsibility to share in the work of creation by sharing in the work of society. Labor has great dignity, so great that all who are able to work are obligated to do so. This duty to work derives both from God's command to Fill the earth and subdue it (Gn 1:28); as well as from a responsibility to one's own humanity and to the common good. We contribute to the common good in a very real way by seeking excellence in production and service. Work is not just for ourselves, It is for family, for nation, indeed for the benefit of the entire human family. Human hands and human minds built our nation's economy. Its future will be forged by the ways we direct our work toward greater justice. Through our daily work, we are both the subjects and creators of the economic life of the nation. It is primarily through our daily labor that we make the most important contributions to economic justice. Because work is so important, people have a right to employment. In return for their labor, workers have a right to wages and other benefits sufficient to sustain life in dignity. Justice, not charity, demands certain minimum guarantees. The provision of wages and other benefits sufficient to support a family in dignity is a basic necessity. The dignity of workers also requires adequate health care, security for old age or disability, unemployment compensation, healthful working conditions, weekly rest, periodic holidays for recreation and leisure, and reasonable security against arbitrary dismissal. These provisions are all essential if workers are to be treated as persons rather than simply as a "factor of production." Yet, most often employers have much greater bargaining power than employees in the negotiation of labor contracts. Such unequal power may press workers into a choice between an inadequate wage and no wage at all; between participating in society or not participating in society. According to Catholic social thought, workers must be able to participate in the decisions made in the workplace that affect their lives and their livelihood. While the principle of participation is central to Catholic social teaching, achieving it is complex. There are a wide variety of ways workers can participate in the workplaceby their service itself; their skills, training, and experience; their work with others; their input into policies and planning, evaluation and compensation processes; as well as their support of and participation in the charitable and community service activities in the workplace. Even when these conditions are being met, as a means of further participation, workers may choose to join with others to advance their own legitimate interests and pursue the common good. Historically the Church has stood with workers as they struggled to form and join unions to overcome adverse working conditions in the face of many obstacles. Church teaching affirms the right of workers to form and join unions or other associations. In the words of Pope John Paul II, "The experience of history teaches that organizations of this type are an indispensable element of social life, especially in modern industrialized societies." The Catholic doctrine on work and workers' rights cannot be reduced to a simple question or single answer. Our tradition is much richer than sound bytes or footnotes. It is a large body of thought that offers principles for reflection, provides criteria for judgement, and suggests guidelines as we seek to pursue our own legitimate objectives and to build the common good. Catholic social teaching is a distinct body of church doctrine. The Catechism of the Catholic Church weaves it through the entire text because it is related to other church teaching on God, liturgy, sacraments, personal morality, and prayer. Specific social issues like work (2426 - 2436) and trade unions (2430) are found in the Catechism's exploration of morality in the third part, Life in Christ. Being Catholic doesn't mean abandoning the world, but a call to help shape it. Catholics are everywhere in our society. We are corporate executives and migrant farm workers, senators and welfare recipients, university presidents and day care workers, tradesmen and farmers, office and factory workers, union leaders and small business owners. The countless decisions and choices we make, day in and day out, build up--or tear down the common good. Our pursuit of justice is not simply an individual task, it is a call to work with others to humanize and shape our institutions. As members of a community, we are called to be the "leaven" of the Gospel. Other Catholic Social Teachings General Articles of Interest |