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Catholic Labor Chief Slated for Labor Hall of Fame By Msgr. George G. Higgins The Yardstick January 17, 2000  Terence V. Powderly, first president of the long-defunct Knights of Labor, is being installed this January as the 1999 selection for the Labor Hall of Fame at the U.S. Department of Labor. In the latter part of the 19th century, the Knights of Labor was the dominant labor federation in the United States.   My interest in Powderly and the Knights of Labor dates back to a 1948 book by the late Henry Browne, "The Catholic Church and the Knights of Labor." Browne's book is still required reading for anyone interested in American Catholic Church history and, specifically, anyone wanting to understand why the relationship between church and labor in the United States, in contrast to the situation in Western Europe until recently, has been one of mutual respect and esteem.   Two men in particular -- Terence Powderly and the late Cardinal James Gibbons of Baltimore -- were responsible for this happy turn of events. The Knights of Labor was a "secret" society at a time when Rome and the American bishops were understandably concerned that some secret societies were anti-religious and posed a danger to the faith of immigrant workers. The leading Catholic prelate in French Canada prohibited membership in the Knights.   A few U.S. bishops thought this prohibition should be extended to the United States, but Cardinal Gibbons and several confreres -- notably Archbishop John Ireland of St. Paul and Archbishop John Keane, first rector of The Catholic University of America -- thought this would permanently harm the church in the United States.   Cardinal Gibbons and his confreres knew from experience that the Knights' "secrecy" was meant to protect the organization against anti-union forces and had nothing to do with religion. In close cooperation with Powderly, a practicing Catholic, they confirmed their understanding that this was so, therefore determining that membership in the Knights was not dangerous.   For fear that Rome might side with the French Canadians on this issue, Cardinal Gibbons and his confreres submitted to Rome a lengthy memorandum titled "The Question of the Knights of Labor," which Cardinal Gibbons personally presented to Vatican officials when in Rome to receive his red hat.   Msgr. John Tracy Ellis, respected dean of American Catholic historians during his lifetime, said more than once in my presence that this memorandum was the most important document in the history of the Catholic Church in the United States. Msgr. Ellis meant -- as European history tends to confirm -- that had Rome condemned the Knights of Labor in the United States, the church in our country would have lost the allegiance of many, perhaps the majority, of Catholic immigrant workers. The relationship of church and organized labor would have soured, resulting in a permanent rift.   The Cardinal Gibbons memorandum defended the Knights and told Rome in plain language that a condemnation would be disastrous. I've always felt this memorandum was a model of how bishops in a given country, speaking from pastoral experience, ought to address the Vatican: respectfully, of course, but plainly and frankly, without fear or favor. This isolated sentence from the Cardinal Gibbons memorandum can suggest its flavor and message: "Since it is acknowledged by all that the great questions of the future are ... the social questions, the questions which concern the improvement of the condition of the great masses of the people, and especially of the working people, it is evidently of supreme importance that the church should always be found on the side of humanity, of justice toward the multitudes who compose the body of the human family." Thank God the church in the United States, by and large, has lived up to this challenge.     Papal Social Encyclicals   Other Catholic Social Teachings General Articles of Interest  Catholic Worker Connection Msgr. George Higgins  Home Page E-Mail: Fr. Sinclair Oubre