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| Labor Leaders, Bishops honor Msgr. HigginsBy Jerry FilteauCatholic News ServiceNovember 12, 2001 WASHINGTON (CNS) -- About 150 bishops, union
leaders and friends of many faiths turned out Nov. 10 to pay tribute
to Msgr. George G. Higgins as America's foremost labor priest. The
tribute, co-sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the AFL-CIO, also was used to raise funds for the National Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice, which Msgr. Higgins called a "marvelous and effective organization" building bridges between religion and the labor movement. "If there is a more respected priest in this country than George Higgins, I have not heard of him," said Bishop Joseph A. Fiorenza of Galveston-Houston, USCCB president and co-host of the evening's ceremonies. Msgr. Higgins, 85, became internationally known for his labor and social justice work during his 36 years at the bishops' conference, most of them as head of social action. After his 1980 retirement there he taught at The Catholic University of America and continued his work with labor. He only recently ended a 56-year stint as writer of "The Yardstick," a regular column in the Catholic press that focused chiefly on labor and social justice issues. "Msgr. Higgins has no peers in this country today who can match his contribution to the Catholic Church's involvement in social justice for the workers," Bishop Fiorenza said. The labor priest's weekly column and other writings and lectures around the country since the 1940s "are really the foundation and a major reason why the rights and dignity of workers are known today in this country as very integral to Catholic teaching," he said. "George Higgins has helped us to realize, perhaps better than anyone I know, that the social teaching of the church is not just an addendum, an appendix to what we believe as Catholics, but is something that rises right out of the heart of the Gospel," he added. AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney, the other co-host, called Msgr. Higgins a "friend, brother and teacher" and "a signal influence on my life, as he has been on the lives of thousands of labor leaders and hundreds of thousands of workers." Sweeney introduced a flight attendant and a poultry worker who flanked him at the podium, both involved in labor struggles, as personal symbols of the millions of everyday workers Msgr. Higgins worked for all his life. "These workers are the objects of Msgr. Higgins' love and they are the beneficiaries of his work," Sweeney said. "His advocacy on their behalf has always been outspoken and direct, even blunt. ... He has always used his voice and standing to speak out against injustice -- as a social activist, as an academic, as a labor priest. It is a voice needed now, just as it was 60 years ago" when Msgr. Higgins first entered the field. "He has been an irresistible force in bringing labor and church together. ... We respect him for his strength, we revere him for his conscience, we stand in awe of his intellect and we thank him for his love,"' Sweeney added. Former U.S. Labor Secretary Alexis Hermann said, "For me growing up in Mobile, Ala., and beginning my early days as a social worker with Catholic Charities and believing passionately in an activist Gospel, I always followed the writings and teachings of Msgr. Higgins." While everyone believes in peace and justice, she said, the "really tough part is translating all of that into action. ... Monsignor, you have really been helping all of us do the work to translate those values into action. You have helped all of us stand taller and stronger on the front lines for American workers." The Nov. 10 celebration, held in the auditorium of the AFL-CIO headquarters, was a belated and simplified version of what was originally slated as a $200-a-plate benefit dinner with 400 attendees at a downtown Washington hotel. The event was to have taken place the evening of Sept 11. The terrorist attacks earlier that day forced its postponement. Proceeds from the dinner went to the National Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice, a Chicago-based organization linking religious leadership and workers that Kim Bobo founded in 1996 with strong support and encouragement from Msgr. Higgins and his lifelong friend and fellow Chicago pri est, the late Msgr. Jack Egan. Msgr. Higgins said he consented to a celebration in his honor only because it was a benefit for the committee. "During my 61 years in Washington," he said, "I've been involved as part of my job in several experimental church-labor coalitions. For avariety of reasons, with the notable exception of Kim Bobo' s organization, all of these coalitions failed in their purpose and before very long they quietly w ent out of existence -- fortunately so, in my opinion. Kim's organization, to the contrary, has not only survived the winnowing process, but has proved to be the most effective organization of its kind -- certainly in my lifetime and arguably in the entire history of church-labor relations in the history of the United States." Introducing the evening's program was John Carr, executive director of the U.S. bishops' Department of Social Welfare and World Peace, basically the successor to Msgr.Higgins' old post as the bishops' social action director. Recalling the terrorist actions that forced postponement of the tribute, Carr said that in trying to find a way to respond to terrorism, "service to others, a commitment to interreligious dialogue, a passion for justice and a pursuit of peace show us the way forward." "Without excusing terrorism in any way, it's clear that our progress in rooting out terrorism, in denying terrorists resources, recruits, supporters and sympathy, will be enhanced by the kind of in terreligious understanding and dialogue and the work for justice and pursuit of peace reflected in the man and the ministry we honor tonight," he said. "One of the things I admire most about Msgr. Higgins is, he's not trendy," Carr said. "He doesn't shift with the winds. He doesn't trade one boss for another. He has been a defender of working peop le throughout his priesthood. He has been both loyal to and a challenger of his church. He has been a great advocate for and a challenging friend to the labor movement. He has built bridges. And he has told the truth." |