The Catholic - Labor Network

Documents & Articles which concern Catholic and Labor Issues Papal Social Encyclicals Other Catholic Social Teachings Catholic Hospitals & Labor Catholic Schools & Labor Msgr. George Higgins Catholic Worker Connection General Articles of Interest  Home Page  The Catholic-Labor Network E-Mail List  The Catholic-Labor Network is dependent on interested persons sharing their activities struggles, victories and prayers with other like minded men and women of faith. We strongly invite all those who visit this page, and who share  a common interest in issues effecting the Catholic Church and the Labor Movement to subscribe.  Occasionally, notices will be sent when this page is updated.  When important events happen, we will pass on the information through the e-mail list, and most of all, the e-mail list is a means by which we can pray and support each other. Some Catholic and Labor Links The Holy See  The National Conference of Catholic Bishops  Human Rights for Workers  The Catholic Social Doctrine Page  The Houston Catholic Worker  Catholic Online  National Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice  The Seamless Garment Network  The International Labour Organization  The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations  The International Transport Workers Federation Union Web

The Crumbling Wall Between Church and State By Msgr. George G. Higgins The Yardstick March 13, 2000  Recently, in one two-week period, three leading liberal magazines -- The American Prospect, The New York Times Magazine, and Commentary, which is published by the American Jewish Committee -- featured lead articles which concluded, coincidentally but in different contexts, that the wall of separation between church and state is crumbling or, in the more pointed wording of the Times article, that "the era of strict separation is over." The Times article also pointed out, and the others seemed to agree, that this is "part of a broader religious realignment involving the rise and fall of anti-Catholicism." As one who a generation ago tangled in print with the late freelance author Paul Blanshard and with Harold Fey of The Christian Century, Leo Pfeffer of the American Jewish Congress and other church-state polemicists who argued insistently that Catholicism is incompatible with democracy, I find these three articles refreshing. It would be naive, of course, to suppose that this will put an end to spirited debate over specific church-state issues or about the public role of religion in our pluralistic society. It does suggest, however, that the debate can now be carried on more amicably and with greater civility. Paul Blanshard, lionized in his heyday by many Protestant and Jewish leaders who deep down must have disagreed as a matter of principle with his extreme secularism, would have a hard time getting a hearing today in sophisticated Protestant and Jewish circles. I say that with respect for the memory of a man I came to know and like as a person and who, as chance ironically would have it, died in a Catholic hospital ministered to by nuns who had dedicated their lives to the service of the church he relentlessly attacked as the enemy of democracy. On the Catholic side, Vatican Council II played a role, of course, in effecting the change for the better highlighted in the articles I've mentioned. Before the council, few American Catholics fit Blanshard's negative and hostile stereotype of them as enemies of political freedom. To the contrary, Catholics overwhelmingly supported American-style political democracy. Yet they failed to make themselves fully understood on this issue in responding to their Protestant and Jewish critics.   Post-Vatican II Catholic-Protestant dialogue and the dramatic improvement in Catholic-Jewish relations have done much to improve the situation. And the council's historic document on religious liberty -- often referred to as Vatican II's "American" document -- also helped clear the air and convince all but the most unenlightened Protestants and Jews that their Catholic neighbors are firmly committed to freedom and democracy. For this happy development we owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to the late Jesuit Father John Courtney Murray, principle author of the council document. Would that he were still with us to continue to show us how to dialogue on the role of religion in American public life. He would have welcomed and blossomed in the more civil church-state atmosphere. This is not to say that, were he still alive, he would be an uncritical observer of American culture. To the contrary, the Father Murray I knew (I lived next door to him all during Vatican II) would undoubtedly find much to criticize in contemporary American society. But I think he would also find it congenial to be able to express his criticism in an atmosphere marked by greater civility than he was accustomed to in the Blanshard era.     Papal Social Encyclicals   Other Catholic Social Teachings General Articles of Interest  Catholic Worker Connection Msgr. George Higgins  Home Page E-Mail: Fr. Sinclair Oubre