This summer at the 2011 Social Action Summer Institute, Bishop Gabino Zavala offered the opening address on the Theological Foundations of the Dignity of Work. At long last, the video footage of his address has been posted so that you can listen to the presentation if you weren’t able to attend. His words both challenged and affirmed the social action directors present, while providing a theological, reflective rootedness for the training that took place during the duration of the institute. Enjoy!

(If you’re more of a visual learner, you can also read his address).

This week, the Clarion Herald published an article featuring the July 2011 Social Action Summer Institute evening plenary session with Abdulrahman Zeitoun, the protagonist of the bestselling book Zeitoun.

Read the article below, or see it originally on the Clarion Herald website.

Hero painter jailed after Katrina holds no grudges

By Peter Finney, Clarion Herald staff

Not that citizens of the Greater New Orleans area need any encouragement to reflect again on a life-changing event, but the sixth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina will arrive later this month – Aug. 29. The hope is it will arrive uneventfully and leave with little more than a whimper.

At the recent Social Action Summer Institute at Loyola University, Abdulrahman Zeitoun, a Syrian-born New Orleans house painter, transfixed his audience by relating his incredible odyssey in the days and months after Katrina.

As chronicled in “Zeitoun” by Dave Eggers – which now has been translated into 20 languages – Zeitoun had spent the days after Katrina rowing his canoe through flooded Uptown streets and rescuing stranded neighbors.
In a classic case of “no good deed going unpunished,” military personnel arrested Zeitoun a few days after Katrina while protecting his own home near Claiborne and Napoleon avenues.

Because he couldn’t produce ownership papers on the spot – even though his driver’s license backed up his claim he owned the home where he was staying – he was shuffled off to prison and spent weeks imprisoned, including time at Hunt Correctional Center in St. Gabriel, La. His pleas to make one phone call to clear up what should have been an open-and-shut case went unheeded for weeks.
“For three days we had no blankets – nothing,” Zeitoun recalled. “We were hanging on the overhead pipes like monkeys to take the pressure off our feet. I was being called ‘Al Qaeda’ and ‘Taliban.’”

Finally, Zeitoun’s wife Kathy, who had evacuated to Arizona with their children, was able to crawl back into their house through a window and find mortgage papers to prove her husband’s story. No, he was not a terrorist or a member of the Taliban, but an American citizen.

Zeitoun said he hoped telling his story through Eggers would prevent similar travesties of justice in the future. He said he would rescue people again if he has the chance. “Thank God I had a canoe, because one lady who was calling to me had a very soft voice,” Zeitoun said. “That’s the reason I could hear her. It was very quiet. The other boats were too noisy.”

Zeitoun holds no hard feelings.

“It is positive to let people know what happened because it should not happen again,” Zeitoun said. “I hope it doesn’t happen again in the future. If it happens, we should be prepared differently. I just did what each one of us should do.”

A portion of the proceeds of the book has been earmarked for the Zeitoun Foundation to aid in the rebuilding an ongoing health of the city of New Orleans and to ensure the human rights of all Americans. Thus far the foundation has distributed $200,000 in grants.

“I have wonderful neighbors, friends and customers,” Zeitoun said. “I look to America the same way my family looks to America. It’s a wonderful country. This was like a dream that never happened.”

At the 2011 Social Action Summer Institute, which offered the theme Focus on the Worker: “New Things” in Labor 120 years after Rerum Novarum, Bishop Gabino Zavala offered the opening address. His words both challenged and affirmed the social action directors present, while providing a theological, reflective rootedness for the training that took place during the duration of the institute. You can read the address in its entirety here!

Opening Plenary: The Dignity of Work: Theological Foundations
Bishop Gabino Zavala, Archdiocese of Los Angeles

I. Introduction and Invitation to Reflection

I want to welcome all of you to this Social Action Summer Institute. This is a wonderful opportunity for personal growth, renewing your commitment to your work, building relationships and enjoying this wonderful city. I am very grateful for your invitation to share some of my own thoughts with you. I am privileged to be with all of you.  Thank you for all the work you do in service to the Church and the bishops. Your work gives the People of God a wonderful context in living out the Gospel in our daily lives.

You are all well aware of the timeliness of this topic on the dignity of work.  The situation in Wisconsin with public sector workers that has spread to Ohio, Indiana, Michigan and other states has challenged us to examine once again our teachings on labor, unions and the common good.  In the latest Legatus Magazine we are told that “most Catholics, including bishops and priests, are relatively uninformed about the social doctrine of the Church, its themes and development.”  The article goes on to say that this is the case because most young priests are not interested in these issues and many older priests have failed to update themselves on these issues.  This may well be true. If it is, you have a lot of work to do!  Finally, they state that the times and circumstances have changed since Rerum Novarum and so we need to look at these present cases in light of the changing context of catholic social teaching.  Some use this argument as an opportunity to deny workers their basic rights.

In response to the Wisconsin situation Archbishop Jerome Listecki of Milwaukee  issued a statement on Feb. 16 that came down in favor of workers’ rights.  “Hard times do not nullify the moral obligation each of us has to respect the legitimate rights of workers… Every union, like every economic actor, is called to work for the common good, to make sacrifices when required and to adjust to new economic realities.  However, it is equally a mistake to marginalize or dismiss unions as impediments to economic growth.”

I raise this just so that we can see how timely our work is today.

Do most of you remember the first paying job you had? I remember my first job.  My first job besides doing household chores at home was to sell newspapers.  When I was 11 years old I got this job which required me to stand on a corner selling newspapers after school.  I would sell the evening edition of the newspaper to people as they went home from work.  If I sold 30 papers at $0.10 a piece I took home $1.05.  It may not seem like much by today’s standards.  But we are talking about the early 60’s.  On my way home I could buy a small cheese pizza for $0.95 or a small bag of fries for $0.25.  Or I could save my money for something else.  I enjoyed my job.  It made me feel good.  It gave me a sense that I was getting something for my hard work.

Take a moment to reflect on your first job: What was it? What work were you doing? Why did you take the job? What did you do with your compensation?  How did it make you feel?

Because to work is so significant, to be compensated for what we do makes us feel valued.  It causes us to look beyond ourselves.  Even as a child or a teenager, it leaves a lasting impression.

II. Foundations of the inherent dignity of work

The Church has a rich tradition on work and the rights of the worker. It doesn’t matter if it is the labor of a paper boy, factory worker, or white collar worker.  Central to this teaching is the belief that work has an inherent dignity. And it seems that to an extent, every Pope from Leo XIII in Rerum Novarum to Benedict XVI in Caritas In Veritate have talked about the dignity of work.  In fact all of us, as we talk about work and labor, stipulate to work’s inherent dignity. We assume it. It’s axiomatic.  It is something that we just take for granted.

Why? Why do we believe so deeply that work has inherent dignity?

We need to go back to the very beginning.  Let’s look at the Book of Genesis.  The narrative on creation gives us two thoughts.  First of all we see that Man and Woman are  created in the image and likeness of God.  God’s labor is central to our existence.  God didn’t merely will the world or us into existence.  It wasn’t done with a flick of the wrist or a snap of the fingers. The creation of the world was work.  Hard work that required rest.

Secondly, Man and Woman are put in Eden to cultivate and care for it. This is to be understood as an exercise of human creativity and a participation in God’s ongoing creation of the world.

In the Old Testament writers had very strong words for those who abused laborers and poor people, for those who withheld wages.  In the book of Deuteronomy the author tells us “do not cheat poor and needy hired servants, whether they are Israelites or foreigners living in one of your towns.  Each day before sunset pay them for that days’ work; they need the money and have counted on getting it.  If you do not pay them, they will cry out to the Lord and you will be guilty of sin.”  The prophet Jeremiah proclaims: “Doomed is the one who builds his house by injustice and enlarges it by dishonesty: who makes his people work for nothing and does not pay their wages.”
Clearly this speaks to today’s concern about wage theft!

As we know, Jesus echoes these sentiments and frequently used the dynamics of labor and work to teach in parables.  We have the familiar examples of the Workers in the Vineyard [Mt 20:1-16]; the Barren Fig Tree [Lk 13: 6-9] in addition to today’s gospel (Parable of the Sower).

And Jesus even tells us why he does it–because that’s how we come to understand.
Of all the analogies or themes he could use, he repeatedly relies on work because that’s the easiest for us to understand. We are all engaged in it!

Not only are we all engaged in it, to some degree people want to define us by it.  How often when meeting someone for the first time are we asked the question, “What do you DO?”  As if what we DO, defines who we are.  Jesus himself is frequently identified by his vocation.  He is a carpenter.  While the question is limiting because it doesn’t encapsulate all we are, as Catholics, the hope is that our work DOES reflect who we are and what we believe to be true, what we know to be of value.  And if we look at the etymology of vocation, we know that the word ‘vocation’ comes from the Latin “to call”–i.e. our labor, properly understood, can be seen as a divine calling.

Work allows us to share with Jesus in creation. In work, we carry out our Gospel mandate to care, feed, clothe, visit our sisters and brothers [Mt 25]. In work, we bring forth the Kingdom of God here on Earth.

Today the Scriptures and teachings of Jesus continue in the Wisdom of the Church.
The Second Vatican Council reiterates the value of work and its transformative potential.

“For all their works, prayers, and apostolic undertakings, family and married life, daily work, relaxation of mind and body, if they are accomplished in the Spirit—indeed even the hardships of life if patiently borne—all these become spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. During the celebration of the Eucharist these sacrifices are most lovingly offered to the Father along with the Lord’s body. … the lay faithful consecrate the world itself to God” (Lumen Gentium, 34).

III. The goal of dignified work

It is in understanding the nature of dignified work, that we can understand the goals of our labor; that is, what our labor ought to accomplish.

Work ought to promote the common good.  Our work needs to contribute to society.  Our work should enhance who we are as human beings.  It should help us celebrate our humanity, be ever faithful stewards of creation, protecting the vulnerable and providing for those who cannot work.

Our work should be supportive of the worker and the worker’s family.  Work should provide a wage sufficient to allow everyone to achieve their personal, spiritual, emotional, and intellectual fulfillment.  Work should allow for realization and self-awareness in each worker.  Every worker should experience the same level of pride and accomplishment as that very first job selling newspapers.

IV. Our challenge, then, is twofold:

In conclusion, what are the challenges for us?  We need to ask ourselves: how do I personally discern, develop or nurture my own vocation? How do I continue to find work that contributes to the common good, allows me to support myself and my family, and helps me fulfill my role as co-creator? How do I challenge myself and find support for my work?

Second, but no less important; How do I invite others to discern, develop or nurture their vocation? How do I deprive, by my choices and behavior, my human brothers and sisters of their right to decent, dignified work? How can I live in solidarity with my brothers and sisters in my community and around the world in their quest for dignified work?

Solidarity means going that extra mile to shop in stores that treat their workers with dignity. Solidarity means standing with farm workers, hotel workers, janitors, car washers, meat processors, and restaurant employees who just want a decent wage. Solidarity is helping workers whose wages have been stolen to find justice.  And we can all think of so many more examples.

The work you do is tough. It is demanding. We need to celebrate what we do.  It is so important.  And we need support networks to give us the strength to carry on.

Thank you all once more for the work you do, for your persistence and tenacity, and for your commitment to the common good.

In July, I attended the annual Social Action Summer Institute in New Orleans and was asked to reflect on my experiences there. While I feel like I’m strong academic and advocacy writer, I am not as comfortable writing emotively about experiences. The SASI conference was such a great experience for me that I agreed to write this reflection anyway. That’s proof right there that it was a powerful and important event for me!

My first experience at SASI set the tone for the whole event. I attended the energizing, spiritual and upbeat first Mass. While my church in Minnesota has a wonderful music director and musicians, there was something special about hearing a saxophone solo of Louis Armstrong’s What a Wonderful World reverberating through a beautiful church in New Orleans.

I arrived at SASI knowing one other participant. Typically I would have introduced myself to people milling about before Mass, but I was exhausted from an early flight. I sat in an empty pew, feeling too tired to meet anyone. Not two minutes after I sat down, people reached out and started introducing themselves to me, genuinely interested in who I was. I met SASI veterans who throughout the conference introduced me to people they knew. The SASI conference was full of great people, and there was time for excellent, engaging discussions at evening socials, meals and during coffee breaks.

At one table discussion I heard colleagues’ reflections on work they had done – Days at the Capitol, Life and Justice Committees, Action Alerts, etc. This gave me a chance to reflect on my own work and inspired some ideas for future projects.  I saw the unique issues of our diverse dioceses, from the diocese of Salt Lake City, which encompasses all 84,900 square miles of Utah and has 63 Catholic parishes, to the 108 parishes of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, which is a mere 4,208 square miles.

I especially appreciated Tricia Hoyt’s presentation on Biblical Justice. The piece that resonated most with me as I approach my advocacy work was the reminder of who was meant by the terms “widow,” “orphan” and “alien” in the Bible. Deuteronomy 10: 17-19 reminds us:

For the Lord, your God, is the God of gods, the Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who has no favorites, accepts no bribes; who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and befriends the alien, feeding and clothing him. So you too must befriend the alien, for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.

I was reminded that the word “widow” at the time Deuteronomy was written did not simply mean a woman whose husband has died. Rather, the widow was a person who was utterly powerless and had no voice in the public arena.  A widow’s husband had died, and she had no son, or brother, or father. She had lost any man who could speak to her interest in the public forum, and so needed protection from society as a whole. The same is true for the orphan and the alien – they had no one to speak for their interests, so the community needed to look out for them. At SASI I was able to explore this concept in more depth than I had before, with people who do similar advocacy work, and I brought back renewed passion in my work for giving voice to those not allowed a voice.

Upon return to work where I occasionally listen to webinars that are not particularly engaging, I’ve appreciated the seminars at SASI even more. Every session was interesting and energizing, and caused me to  learn and grow. The bar is set high for future conferences and events!

My experience at SASI will be useful in my professional life for a few reasons: I built a network of people I can ask questions and to continue to grow and learn with, and I developed a better background of biblical justice and Catholic social teaching that I can apply to my advocacy work. Finally, I am energized and renewed for the challenges ahead. I am grateful for my time at SASI.

Marie Reigstad is Public Policy Manager at the Catholic Charities Office for Social Justice in St. Paul, Minnesota, She represents the office at the state Capitol and mobilizes parishoners on select public policy issues. She is a licensed attorney who previously worked as Leadership Assistant for the Minnesota State Senate.

Photos by Pat Dougherty, Archdiocese of St. Louis.

Check out a few photos from the 25th Annual Social Action Summer Institute! We gathered together as a community on July 10-13, 2011 in New Orleans.

Photos by Alan Endermann and Jenn Svetlik.

We’ll have more reflections & photos about SASI to come, but we wanted to share a few snippets of the feedback from participants about what they gained from this year’s Social Action Summer Institute, July 10-13, 2011 at Loyola University, New Orleans Over 115 people from 25 states gathered together this year.

Have a reflection about SASI you’d like to share? Ways you’re using what you learned in your ministry? Share with the Roundtable!

What did you like most about SASI?

• Being with people I identify with, learn from, and feel we share common concerns & struggles.
• Very practical, wonderful energy, enthusiastic participants, great presenters, good flow of schedule.
• Everyone is so welcoming! I had great conversations with participants and presenters/experts.
• The music at the opening liturgy was heavenly and it was great to have the Archbishop with us. All of our prayer times were invigorating and inspiring.
• A great gathering of engaged people getting together in the name of Jesus. The topics discussed were relevant to the times.
• Sharing best practices and visiting great projects funded by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development energizes me.
• It is so wonderful to be able to connect with national partner staff each year. Thank you!
• So many great workshop topics – it was so difficult to choose which ones would be most helpful to me!

What learnings or plans will you take home to your work/ministry?

• I will talk to my parish about being more supportive on workers’ justice issues and supporting those who are unemployed.
• I plan to study Rerum Novarum and Caritas in Veritate and prepare sessions for teaching a group of business leaders using those documents.
• I’ve gained new sensitivity to “white privilege,” interracial dialogue, and diverse  friendships.
• I’ve learned the need to understand the people I work with and not “sell” programs.
• Now I have some practical tools to build capacity in my job.
• I will build a team to start a life and justice commission modeled after the one built in Louisiana to unite respect life and social justice advocates.
• I have a new understanding of BP oil spill & its effect on people and environment, as well as how oil refineries continue to negatively impact the lives of their neighbors.
• I have a renewed commitment to support CCHD’s important work to empower people to work for change.
• I got ideas on new ways to overcome apathy in the Church – can’t wait to try them out!
• I will try practices used by community organizers to revitalize the ministries in my parish.
• I was touched by the “Tending to the Soul” session recognizing the need for self-care in ministry work.
• I have a greater understanding of how closely connected justice issues are to our sacramental life.
• I have a meeting planned with our Bishop to talk about increasing participation in programming by Catholic Relief Services, JustFaith Ministries, and other formation programs around Catholic social teaching.
• I have tons of notes (on my paper and my heart) to reflect on (and a desire to move to New Orleans!)
• I feel really nourished by this community of wonderful people and ready to face the many challenges in my work!

If you were able to make the 2011 SASI, thanks so much for taking part! And to all of our readers, we hope you’ll be able to join us in the future!

Save the Date: SASI 2012 is coming to Louisville, Kentucky July 29-Aug. 1!

Photos by Alan Endermann and Jenn Svetlik.

Dear Roundtable,

In the last Report, we first announced the theme of the 25^th Annual Social Action Summer Institute – Focus on the Worker: “New Things” in Labor 120 Years after Rerum Novarum. Now we’re only days away from the gathering when many of us will come together for learning, prayer and fellowship. As we prepare for the event, please keep all the presenters and participants in your prayers – that the event may inspire us to be more Spirit-led, effective laborers working to share God’s justice in the world.

As you’ve no doubt heard, Bishop Gabino Zavala of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and co-president of Interfaith Worker Justice will be offering the opening keynote. In anticipation of that address, we’re reprinting Bishop Zavala’s 2010 Labor Day Message, “Enduring Principles of Catholic Social Teaching.”

Some of you know I’m currently pursuing a theology degree, and, inspired by the Church’s support of workers organizing across the country this spring, I wrote an essay for a Church history class on the context and impetuses for Rerum Novarum. I’ve adapted it for the Roundtable Report so that perhaps it might also serve as some background reading for the 2011 SASI.

In addition to planning for SASI, this summer the Roundtable board met via conference call for the first of a two-part summer meeting. Thoughtful conversations and important planning for the upcoming year took place – the most exciting being determining the 2012 Award Recipients and the theme for the 2012 Symposium. Jan Benton was selected to receive the 2012 Harry A. Fagan Award, and Monsignor Marvin Mottet was selected as the 2012 Servant of Justice Award recipient.

The 2012 Symposium will feature Catholic University of America political science professor Dr. Maryann Cusimano Love. She will offer food for thought around the shared and dissonant values of the American Constitution and those of Catholic social teaching.
Save the Dates: the Symposium and Awards Dinner will take place February 11-12, 2012 at the Washington Marriott Wardman Park in Washington DC. More information will be coming soon.

And while you have your calendar open, save the dates for the 2012 Social Action Summer Institute, which will take place July 29-Aug 1, 2012 at Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky. We are pleased that JustFaith Ministries will be a major planning partner for the event.

The Roundtable board continues to work this summer for the good of the Roundtable. They will meet again in-person directly after SASI for the second part of the summer board meeting. They are also currently engaged in annual calls to all of you – if you haven’t heard from a Roundtable board member yet, expect a call soon! These calls are an opportunity to share your joys and challenges with a peer eager to listen. They are also an occasion to share suggestions on how the Roundtable can be of better service – so please share your ideas! We appreciate your feedback, and we will take it to the July board meeting planning sessions.

We do put your suggestions into action; in the past year, several Roundtable members expressed a desire to receive more content and training around respecting human life and dignity. In May, Tricia Hoyt of the Diocese of Phoenix offered a webinar training for Roundtable members providing a New Framework for Sharing Teaching on Respect for Life. It was our most popular discussion call to date – if you missed it, be sure to check out the feature article & her powerpoint slides!
And as we plan for a fall webinar, please email me your suggestions of topics and speakers.

Responding to the brokenness they see around them, Catholic young people have heart to serve and change the world – and putting this desire into action can be a prime opportunity to learn about and reflect on Catholic social teaching and unite their faith with the world’s realities. Diocesan directors and young adult ministers gathered in May in the Diocese of Camden to reflect on “Integrating Faith, Service, and Justice”; check out the top three takeaways from the conference. Seventh graders in the Archdiocese of St. Louis also recently put their faith in action by hosting a Social Justice Festival; read about the learning and planning process they participated in – and share it with staff in your own dioceses!

As always, the Roundtable Roundup offers news of social action office transitions, the good work that you are doing, and upcoming initiatives from the Roundtable’s national partners.

In order to continue all of the Roundtable’s work, we depend on your support. Many of you have opted to wait until the start of a new fiscal year to pay your 2011 membership dues. If the new fiscal year has begun, please don’t hesitate – mail in your membership form and dues payment today!

I hope this summer is a rejuvenating time for you – that you are able to create space to hear the Spirit’s call as you plan for upcoming activities for the fall and beyond.

Grace & Peace,

Jenn Svetlik
Roundtable Coordinator

Bishop Gabino Zavala, of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and President of Interfaith Worker Justice, will open the Social Action Summer Institute with reflections on the dignity of work and theological foundations for supporting workers rights.

On Labor Day 2010, he offered the following reflection, Enduring Principles of Catholic Social Teaching.
Reprinted with permission.

Catholic Social Teaching, stretching from Rerum Novarum (1891) to Caritas in Veritate (2009), has given us enduring principles to deal with “new things” as they arise in the economies of our time. Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical Rerum Novarum addressed the conditions of workers in a world that was in the midst of rapid technological change. This new economic structure had little or no regulations that produced not just gaping inequality between the industrialists and workers, but really two very different human realities. The teeming industrial towns had poor sanitation and housing; inhumane working conditions for men, women, and children; and, a political system unable or unwilling to address the new social environment wrought by economic change.

The class struggle in Europe and the United States pitted the opulence of rich against those struggling for survival. Pope Leo XIII, in his search for peace, condemned the violence of ‘class struggle’ and sought resolution in gospel values. The letter from the pope “On the Condition of Workers” had a huge impact in the Church and on the people of the United States that were fraught with concern over the rights of workers, wages, unions, and larger social conditions.

The lasting points made in Leo XIII’s encyclical and found throughout the church’s social doctrine begin with a correct view of the human person. Human persons are willed by God; they are imprinted with God’s image. Their dignity does not come from the work they do, but because they are as human.

The Holy Father wrote about the dignity of work and the rights and dignity of workers. Work is the way we procure the necessities of life for ourselves and our families; it is the way we realize ourselves through self expression; and finally, through work we contribute to the common good.

Pope Leo XIII stressed:
1. the centrality of the human person
2. the errors of socialism and laissez-faire capitalism
3. the right to form trade unions and other associations
4. the right to limited working hours and to rest
5. the right to a just wage

Caritas in Veritate, an encyclical written in 2009 by Pope Benedict XVI, expresses similar concerns about our economic and social life in an increasingly globalized society. Facing the current economic crisis squarely, with so many people around the world lacking decent work and struggling for the necessities of life, the Holy Father offers a moral framework for economic life, a call to solidarity, and the challenge of working together to build an economy that is founded on gospel values. Pope Benedict clearly places the human person at the center of economic life as he reflects on creation, respect for life, rights of workers, and the role of civil society.

Benedict notes: “The repeated calls issued within the Church’s social doctrine, beginning with Rerum Novarum, for the promotion of workers’ associations that can defend their rights must therefore be honored today even more than in the past, as a prompt and far-sighted response to the urgent need for new forms of cooperation at the international level, as well as the local level.”(#25)

Instead of relegating labor unions to a by-gone era, he says it is “important…that labor unions – which have always been encouraged and supported by the Church – should be open to the new perspectives that are emerging in the world of work.”…“The global context in which work takes place also demands that national labor unions, which tend to limit themselves to defending the interests of their registered members, should turn their attention to those outside their membership, and in particular to workers in developing countries where social rights are often violated.” (#64)

On a related matter, Benedict says, “the dignity of the individual and the demands of justice require, particularly today, that economic choices do not cause disparities in wealth to increase in an excessive and morally unacceptable manner, and that we continue to prioritize the goal of access to steady employment for everyone.”(#32)

Benedict then responds to the question: What is meant by the word “decency” in regard to work? He goes on to say “It means work that expresses the essential dignity of every man and woman in the context of their particular society: work that is freely chosen, effectively associating workers, both men and women, with the development of their community; work that enables the worker to be respected and free from any form of discrimination; work that makes it possible for families to meet their needs and provide schooling for their children, without the children themselves being forced into labor; work that permits the workers to organize themselves freely, and to make their voices heard; work that leaves enough room for rediscovering one’s roots at a personal, familial and spiritual level; work that guarantees those who have retired a decent standard of living.” (#63)

The Catholic tradition, our social doctrine, asks us to look at social and economic issues from the perennial viewpoint of the value of human work that finds its intrinsic meaning in the dignity of the worker. Making the principles of Catholic Social Teaching applicable to everyday life is never easy. We need to develop ways to assess not just our own individual actions but wider trends in society both in public policy and economic activity. As Pope Benedict XVI writes: “The current crisis obliges us to re-plan our journey, to set ourselves new rules and to discover new forms of commitment, to build on positive experiences and to reject negative ones. The crisis thus becomes an opportunity for discernment, in which to shape a new vision for the future.” (#21)

Widely considered the first great social encyclical, Rerum Novarum was issued by Pope Leo XIII on May 15, 1891. It marked the first formal endorsement by the magisterium of the budding Catholic social movement and laid the foundation for the magisterium’s teaching on social issues.

Allie Suwanrumpha, “Factory Worker” February 6, 2008 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution.

Rerum Novarum responded to the emergent ideas of the day promoting the common good while warning against the negative elements in the two prevailing schools of thought on how to structure the economy – socialism and capitalism. Against socialism, it asserted that private property was a right and principle of natural law. Against laissez faire capitalism, Rerum Novarum declared that the state has a role in protecting private property, regulating the conditions of work, seeing that employees receive a just wage, and producing laws to encourage a wide distribution of property. It also stated that it is the Church’s task to remind the world of the inequalities and sufferings that exist and to alleviate poverty through works of charity and the promotion of justice. The document also encouraged and supported organizations that promoted social and worker solidarity, such as trade unions and Catholic social action organizations.

Even before the encyclical was issued, the Church was engaged in work responding to the inequalities and violations of rights that had developed as a result of the Industrial Revolution. In Germany in 1864, Bishop Wilhelm von Ketteler had published The Worker-Question and Christianity. Alongside these teachings, Christian workers’ clubs and union movements were developing across Europe – of which Cardinal Gaspard Mermillod of France was a part. He was called to Rome to consult on economic issues and later helped found the Fribourg Union, committed both to papal loyalty and addressing social issues. The Union’s statements on work as a laborer’s personal act (not just a commodity), just wage, and collective bargaining were reflected in Rerum Novarum.

Tom Szustek, “Restaurant workers protest” March 16, 2011 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution.

While organizing for and promoting workers’ rights were taking place in Europe, there was also a great deal of hostility toward the Church by the European working class (including the assassination of archbishops). In the U.S., however, the immigrant working class was backbone of the U.S. Church. To a great degree, the impetus for Rerum Novarum was American, seeking to identify with and protect the rights of Catholic immigrant workers.

Understanding the connection between Catholic immigrants to the U.S. in the late 19^th century and the importance of promoting the dignity of work and protecting workers’ rights is important work for us as the Church today, too. Latino Catholic immigrants, which make up 1/3 of the U.S. Church, are often victims to violations of workers’ rights.

At the recent conference on Rerum Novarum at Catholic University, Fr. Clete Kiley shared testimonies of hotel staff whose workload of rooms to clean had nearly doubled in recent years, and workers felt compelled to work at an exhausting pace and through lunch to complete the work. “We want to be proud of our work,” they insisted. These are Catholic women with families, seeking to do their jobs well, and being robbed of wages when forced to work through lunch. They have been discouraged and even prevented from forming unions to provide a channel through which their voices can be heard more clearly against the injustices they face. They call out to their brothers and sisters throughout the Church, to help them to secure just and dignified work — a concrete recognition of their own human dignity and their ability to be co-creators with God in their work.

BP America, “Workers remove damaged boom from the waters” July 4, 2010 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution.

Rerum Novarum was clear in recognizing the right to strike as a tool for workers to demand their rights, as well as the role of unions in negotiating workers’ rights. Later encyclicals and documents by the U.S. Bishops continue to make these rights explicit. In the Bishops’ letter Economic Justice for All for all, they write, “No one may deny the right to organize without attacking human dignity itself. Therefore, we firmly oppose organized efforts… to break existing unions and prevent workers from organizing” (104).

And in Caritas in Veritate, Pope Benedict XVI writes, “Through the combination of social and economic change, trade union organizations experience greater difficulty in carrying out their task of representing the interests of workers, partly because Governments, for reasons of economic utility, often limit the freedom or the negotiating capacity of labor unions. Hence traditional networks of solidarity have more and more obstacles to overcome. The repeated calls issued within the Church’s social doctrine, beginning with Rerum Novarum, for the promotion of workers’ union that can defend their rights must therefore be honored today even more than in the past” (25).

Lawrence Lew, O.P., “The Holy Family engaged in Work” March 26, 2007 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution.

Examining the content of and the context in which Rerum Novarum was offered to the Church by the magisterium, can help guide our understanding of the history of Church teaching and our social analysis in the present age. Many of the problems that plagued the world when Rerum Novarum was written still challenge humanity today: economic decline, concentration of wealth in the hands of few, powerful employers neglecting the dignity of their workers and using their work solely as a commodity to further profits at any cost. The teaching of the Church and the examples of everyday Catholics living out their faith through practicing worker justice is a living witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

At the 2011 Social Action Summer Institute later this month, over 100 Catholics from across the country will come together to learn and discuss Supporting Workers Today, and will examine the history of Catholic thought on work, explore current case studies in promoting workers’ rights, and strategize for the future of the Church’s work locally in promoting human dignity and the dignity of work.

You can still join us - register today!

Text adapted from Rerum Novarum: Context, Foundations and Impetuses by Jennifer Svetlik and notes from the conference on the 120^th Anniversary of Rerum Novarum: Church, Labor and the New Things of the Modern World at the Catholic University of America in May 2011.

Great news – the deadline to register for the Social Action Summer Institute has been extended! If you’re still thinking of attending but need some more time to consider please take advantage of this opportunity!

If you need on-campus housing, you must reserve your spot online then mail in your check by June 24. If you can find accommodations elsewhere, registration will be accepted until July 6.

********************************************************************

The 25th Annual SASI has a great lineup including Bishop Gabino Zavala, president of Interfaith Worker Justice who will offer our keynote address, Track II leader, Kathy Saile, Director of Domestic Social Development at the USCCB and many other talented speakers who will offer Track I and our plenary sessions and workshops.

SASI is being offered for **$125 off** last year’s tuition & room & board price! All of the components of the SASI are GREAT! If you’re a veteran, Track II on Supporting Workers Today will offer insightful information for your work. If you’re a newcomer, Track I is THE place to get started and the SASI is a great place to get to know colleagues and national contacts.

If you can’t come, think about sending staff or commission members, as well as getting the word out in parishes.

Thanks for spreading the word! Looking forward to seeing you there!