Aug 29, 2010

Access to jobs and labor, the dignity of workers, health care, and unemployment have all been critical issues in our country this past year.  These are complex issues all heightened in this time of economic downturn.  The Catholic Church has called for employers to do what they can to make living wage jobs available, to view health care not as a privilege but a basic right as an extension of the healing ministry of Jesus, and to properly compensate workers for a just day’s labor.  Faith in the marketplace has been a core issue for the Church especially since the industrial revolution.  We can never simply be identified by the work we do or our success in gainful employment, but it is a primary factor in our ability to sustain ourselves and our families as well as contributing to the dignity of each person. 

This Labor Day, let us especially work for and pray that the unemployed and the under-employed may gain access to ennobling work at just and livable wages.

Blessings,

Fr. Dave Rogerson