Webinar discusses pastoral letter about racism

This Saturday, June 5, the Office for Catholic Social Ministry in the Diocese of Hartford will conclude its year-long webinar series on the U.S. Bishops’ Pastoral Letter against racism with a free two-hour virtual conference from 10 a.m. to noon.

The conference will provide “a broadened understanding of racism as a life issue and our role and responsibility in developing and nurturing anti-racist attitudes to address the sin of racism.”

 

The keynote address by New Orleans Auxiliary Bishop Fernand Cheri is titled “Addressing Racism in Contemporary Culture.” There will also be prayer and workshop options. 

 

One workshop discusses the question, “If we Catholics are pro-life than why don’t we turn out for Black Lives Matter the way we do for the March for Life?”

In this workshop, Rev. Ryan Lerner, Chaplain for Saint Thomas More Catholic Chapel & Center at Yale University, reflects on ministry and heeding the call to conversion during the summer of racial reckoning, and the turn from 2020 into 2021.

The other workshop addressed the question, “Biased? Who me?”

 

It is led by Nicole Miller, who currently serves as the Assistant Dean of Student Affairs at Goodwin University where she moderates various panels, conversations, and trainings on anti-racist and anti-bias teaching practices. She also is a diversity trainer for the Anti-Defamation League.  

 

For more schedule, more information, or to register, click here.

 

Video recordings of the previous webinars are available here.

Raising the minimum wage

Last November, following one of the most divisive presidential campaigns in American history, there was one policy that united us as a nation; that policy was raising the federal minimum wage.

 

In fact, 67 percent of people responding to one poll reported that they supported raising the minimum wage from the current rate of $7.25 per hour to $15 per hour. This is particularly interesting in light of the current debate in Congress on whether to raise the minimum wage.

 

The Brookings Institute has an informative article that reports some interesting facts. One is that, in Florida, which President Trump won, a ballot initiative to raise the state minimum wage from $8.56 to $15 per hour by 2026 passed with the support of more than 60 percent of the voters. The majority of voters cast a ballot for Donald Trump and for an increased minimum wage.

 

From the Catholic perspective, the minimum wage is a matter of social justice. We believe that all economic life should be shaped by moral principles. “Economic choices and institutions must be judged by how they protect or undermine the life and dignity of the human person, support the family and serve the common good.”

 

According to the Catechism, “In determining fair pay both the needs and the contributions of each person must be taken into account. ‘Remuneration for work should guarantee man the opportunity to provide a dignified livelihood for himself and his family on the material, social, cultural, and spiritual level, taking into account the role and the productivity of each, the state of the business, and the common good.’”

 

In a background paper prepared by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2014, we learn the following:

“The federal minimum wage has lost more than 30% of its value and would be more than $10/hour today if it had merely kept pace with the cost of living over the past forty years. If it had kept pace with worker productivity growth over the same period, it would be over $18/hour. Low-wage workers are doing and making more with the same amount of time, working harder, but not enjoying the fruits of their labor.” 

The bishops went on to note:

“Work has a special place in Catholic teaching. Work is more than just a job; it is a reflection of our human dignity and a way to contribute to the common good. . . . Wages earned from work are the primary way people meet their material needs and contribute to the common good.

The family is the fundamental cell of society and where we first learn, love, and develop. A living wage is a fundamental right of workers and a moral imperative of employers because it provides workers with the means and resources to form and support a family. The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church points out, “In order to protect this relationship between family and work, an element that must be appreciated and safeguarded is that of a family wage, a wage sufficient to maintain a family and allow it to live decently. Such a wage must also allow for savings that will permit the acquisition of property as a guarantee of freedom. The right to property is closely connected with the existence of families, which protect themselves from need thanks also to savings and to the building up of family property” (No. 250).

 

Catholic Bishops in the United States have long supported increases in the federal minimum wage to ensure that no full time worker and their family lived in poverty. The federal minimum wage is not a living wage, and it is not a silver bullet to solve all economic problems, but it is one way to ensure workers are compensated fairly.”

While some argue that raising the minimum wage will lead to large increases in the prices of goods and services, research shows that this is not necessarily true or concerning. For example, companies such as Target have found that the increased wages were offset by savings on recruitment and training as employees stayed longer, reducing turnover. And at least one study has shown that restaurant food pricing prices rose by just 0.36 percent for every 10 percent increase in the minimum wage.

COVID and foreign aid

The passage of the COVID-19 relief bill has focused attention on the amount of money that we, as nation, spend on foreign aid each year. Specifically, many are asking how we can spend so much money on aid to other nations when the need in our own country is so great.

 

Without going into details about how the COVID relief bill came to be tied to the annual omnibus spending bill, it is important to note that latter bill is the one that includes money for foreign aid, including both military and humanitarian aid. 

 

In the days since the bills were passed, social media has been filled with posts questioning the wisdom of spending any money on foreign aid. Many good and faithful Catholics have argued that we, as a nation, must first take care of our own people before we lavish money on other nations. They seem to believe that the commandment to love our neighbors is limited to helping just our American neighbors.

 

It is important to note that there is no theological support for such a position.

 

In a letter to Congress last year, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops wrote:

“The Church views international aid as an essential tool for promoting human life and dignity, reducing poverty, advancing global solidarity, and enhancing peace and security throughout the world. International assistance is a moral responsibility to assist “the least of these” (Matthew 25). Assistance must be an expression of our solidarity with all people living in poverty, not an exercise in self-interest, or self-promotion. Pope Francis asks us to dedicate ourselves to “the integral development of all peoples within a human family committed to dwelling in justice, solidarity and fraternal harmony.”

The bishops also wrote, “In addition, we encourage all people, communities, and countries of goodwill to welcome those in need, contribute resources within their means, and stand in solidarity with the poor and vulnerable. We cannot abdicate our moral or financial position as the global leader in life-saving humanitarian and poverty-reducing development assistance. We can all do more. Lastly, we encourage all actors in society, including the private sector, to be positive agents of change.”

Last week, Pope Francis called for “vaccines for all,” especially the world’s most vulnerable people. According to Catholic News Service: 

“At Christmas, we celebrate the light of Christ that comes into the world, and he comes for all, not just for some,” the pope said. “Today, at this time of darkness and uncertainty because of the pandemic, there appear different lights of hope, such as the discovery of vaccines.” 

“But so these lights may illuminate and bring light to the whole world, they must be available to all,” he said. “I cannot put myself before others, placing the laws of the market and of patents above the law of love and the health of humanity.” 

Also worth noting is the fact that, for fiscal year 2019, foreign assistance was less than one percent of the federal budget. 

Video series on Catholic Social Teaching

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and the Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) have worked together to create a seven-part series on Catholic Social Teaching, designed to be an introduction to this important body of thought.

The first video, “Care for God’s Creation,” was released in conjunction with Pope Francis’ declaration of September 1 as a day of prayer for creation. Other videos will be released every three weeks in conjunction with notable events on the Church calendar.

 “Catholic Social Teaching is at the core of why and how CRS performs its mission to serve the poorest of the poor and people in need at times of emergency,” said Carolyn Woo, CEO and president of CRS. “These teachings are embedded in our identity as employees and servants of God.”

“Care for each other and care for creation, what Pope Francis calls integral ecology, are at the heart of our witness as disciples of Jesus Christ. This series will help us put our faith into action,” said Jonathan Reyes, executive director of USCCB’s Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development.

You can learn more here.

Labor Day resources

The Catholic Church has been speaking out strongly on the rights of workers since at least 1891, when Pope Leo XIII issued Rerum Novarum, "On the Condition of Labor."

Here are some of the main points, according to The Busy Christian’s Guide to Catholic Social Teaching, on the website of U.S. Catholic magazine [you should bookmark this page]:

Promotion of human dignity through just distribution of wealth. Present inequality creates a decline of morality as shown in alcohol consumption, prostitution, and divorce. Workers have basic human rights that adhere to Natural Law, which says all humans are equal. Rights include the right to work, to own private property, to receive a just wage, and to organize into workers' associations. Employers and employees each have rights and responsibilities: while the worker should not riot to create a situation of conflict with the employer, the employer should maintain an environment respecting worker's dignity.

The Church’s support of labor continues to this day, with the release of the latest Labor Day statement from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. It was written by Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski of Miami, Chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development. The Archbishop writes:

We share one common home as part of a larger, single family, so the dignity of workers, the stability of families, and the health of communities are all intertwined. The path to a renewed society is built on authentic solidarity and rooted in faith. It rejects the individualism and materialism that make us indifferent to suffering and closed to the possibility of encounter.

He goes on to write about personal conversion, a living wage, the struggles of families, the importance of work, and other issues.

This statement would make a good bulletin insert for the weekend of September 5 and 6.

The USCCB also offers a pastoral aid with comments on the readings for the day, points for theological reflection from the statement, suggestions for parish activities, and prayers for the faithful, among other topics.

An archive of past Labor Day statements, going back almost 30 years, is available here.