My mother, God rest her soul, always looked forward to Labor Day. It was usually near the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Sept. 8 and my mother’s birthday on Sept. 7. But what my mother most looked forward to about Labor Day was that soon thereafter her children would be back in school. My mother always considered the start of school to be her best birthday present.
Nonetheless, my mother was an example of supporting laborers, like my father, God rest his soul, so that wages, benefits and meaningful work that contributed to the common good were protected during those times when one too many corporate leaders put profit ahead of people. As an orphan, my mother felt in her heart the plight of the less fortunate. I think we were the only family in the neighborhood that boycotted lettuce and grapes until there were improvements in the conditions that brought much injustice to migrant workers.
Father Charles Lachowitzer
Though my mother probably never heard of Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical on the Rights and Duties of Capital and Labor (“Rerum Novarum,” 1891) her conscience most certainly reflected this watershed teaching of the Catholic Church. Since Leo XIII, the successors of Peter have marked the anniversaries of “Rerum Novarum” with additional teachings on the dignity of the human person and the dignity of labor. These teachings were not to favor any one economic system; rather, the purpose was to use the truths of our faith as the lens through which to address all economic systems. As a pair of glasses, the first of two fundamental principles is the inviolable worth of each child of God, without exception, from the moment of conception until the moment of death. The second is the intrinsic value of work as an essential component to understanding how we are created in the image of God. These central themes are echoed in the sacred Scriptures, particularly in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
To mark the 90th anniversary of “Rerum Novarum,” Pope St. John Paul II issued an encyclical titled “Laborem exercens” (Through work). In this document is an important teaching on the distinction between “work” — the labor that contributes to the individual and common good, and “toil” — the labor of the desperate and the oppressed. In our own nation, there has been much improvement in the ways laborers are treated. “Rerum Novarum” had a significant influence on the labor unions in the United States. Whether we are owners, managers or part of the work force, we do have civil rights that were unheard of a century ago.
Today we still have complicated issues around labor. The difficulties for women and people of color still challenge us whether it is a “glass ceiling” or a “downward hand of mobility.” It is just as true today as it was generations ago, that each person is deserving of fair wages, safe working conditions and access to reasonable benefits as the fruit of one’s labor. Many of the ills in American society are a direct result of the vicious cycles of poverty, where too many people do not have much hope they can improve their lives. One of the more devastating economic realities is the whole notion of the “working poor,” where laborers who work full-time cannot afford medical care and whose families are still dependent on public assistance to survive.
As we honor the national celebration of Labor Day coinciding with the end of the summer season and the return to school, a quality education is still one of the ways to move upwards in the American economy. For generations, our Catholic schools have provided this education for the children of immigrants, migrants and those in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods. We are a better and a stronger nation when we ourselves are “schooled” in the fundamental teachings of our Church on the dignity of the human person and the intrinsic value of work as one of the ways we are created in the image of God.
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