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 Labor Issues Guide National Association of Catholic School Teachers  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

Farewell Tribute to the Premier "Commonweal Catholic" By Msgr. George G. Higgins The Yard Stick September 11, 2000  Edward Skillin, editor of Commonweal magazine from 1938 to 1967 and its publisher from 1967 until he retired for reasons of health in 1998, died Aug. 14. The psalmist, anticipating with uncanny accuracy the current actuarial tables of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, says that "70 is the sum of our years, or 80, if we are strong," adding in a melancholy tone that most of our allotted years are "fruitless toil." Thanks be to God, Edward, as all his friends and associates normally addressed him, confounded the psalmist on both scores.  He exceeded his allotted span of 80 years by 16, and his 96 years, by the grace of God, bore fruit beyond measure for the good of all the church.  In the homily I delivered at his 90th birthday Mass in 1994, I chose as my text a reading from Chapter 3 of Colossians: "Because you are God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with heartfelt mercy, with kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another; forgive whatever grievances you have against one another.... Over all these virtues put on love, which binds the rest together and makes them perfect."  For fear of embarrassing Skillin, I refrained in my homily from applying this text, verse by verse, to him, but I am sure everyone in the congregation that day shared my view that the reading fit him to a "T." The New York Times obituary also captured the spirit of this great and good man. After noting that Skillin led Commonweal through a succession of heated controversies in the religious and political realms, the obituary said, "Over the years, Mr. Skillin managed to sustain a reflective, civil level of discourse in the magazine's coverage of controversial subjects, including some that sharply divided American Catholics."  I know that Skillin would want me in this farewell tribute to say less about him as a person and more about his beloved Commonweal, to which he dedicated almost his entire adult life and to which he contributed more than 3,000 articles, reviews and editorials. Had it not been for him, Commonweal might have folded long ago. As one historian of the magazine aptly noted, Skillin was Commonweal's corporate conscience and the guardian of its historical memory.  Commonweal, which recently celebrated its 75th birthday, anticipated the teaching of Vatican Council II on the role of the laity by many decades. Indeed, as one who attended the council, I would be hard put to think of any major subject on which Commonweal did not anticipate the council. The magazine was and is a Catholic periodical, but Catholic in inspiration, not by denomination. It never has claimed to engage the church, but consistently and ecumenically has drawn its inspiration from Christian wisdom. Thanks in no small part to Skillin's example and influence, it has done so with extraordinary civility. As an avid reader of a wide variety of both secular and religious journals across the ideological spectrum, I would say that this civility always has been one of Commonweal's most distinctive characteristics.  The term "Commonweal Catholic," as bandied about by some of its critics, has a pejorative connotation. I, for my part, consider the term a high compliment. I have felt this way ever since my working-class father introduced me to the magazine when I was a high school freshman. For this reason I am honored to be able to speak for countless other Commonweal Catholics in paying tribute to the premier Commonweal Catholic, Mr. Commonweal himself, our good friend Edward Skillin.   Papal Social Encyclicals   Other Catholic Social Teachings General Articles of Interest  Catholic Worker Connection Msgr. George Higgins  Home Page E-Mail: Fr. Sinclair Oubre