Within the economic crisis, the role of labor unions, informed by the social teaching of the Church (deeply supportive of the unions as a way to protect the workers) provides spiritual tools needed to help.
The Holy Father spoke of these in a recent talk to an Italian labor union.
An excerpt.
“Today, he told his audience, "you continue to draw inspiration for your activities from the social Magisterium of the Church, with the aim of protecting the interests of workers and pensioners in Italy".
“Benedict XVI then went on to refer to the Church's "concern for social problems, which have increased over the last century". In this context he mentioned Leo XIII's Encyclical "Rerum novarum", which "strongly defended the inalienable dignity of workers. The guidelines contained in that document", he said, "helped to reinforce Christian influence on social life".
“In 1991 John Paul II marked the hundredth anniversary of "Rerum novarum" by publishing his Encyclical "Centesimus annus". Ten years earlier, in his Encyclical "Laborem exercens", dedicated to the subject of work, the same Pope had described trade unions as "an indispensable element of social life, especially in modern industrialised societies", said Benedict XVI.
"A recurring element in the Magisterium of twentieth-century Popes", he went on, "is the call for solidarity and responsibility. In order to overcome the economic and social crisis we are currently experiencing, we know that free and responsible efforts must be made by everyone. In other words what is needed is to overcome individual and sectorial interests, and unite to confront the difficulties affecting all areas of society, and particularly the world of work. Never before has this been so urgent as it is today; the difficulties afflicting the world of work call for closer and more effective collaboration among the many different components of society".
"My hope is that from the current global crisis there may emerge a shared desire to create a new culture of solidarity and of responsible participation, which are indispensable conditions if we are to build the future of our planet together".
Lampstand Foundation website, http://www.lampstandfoundation.org/
"The sinner is at the very heart of Christianity. Nobody is so competent as the sinner in matters of Christianity. Nobody, except the saint." Charles Peguy (1873-1914)
About
- David H. Lukenbill
- I am a California native, married, we have one daughter and live close to the American River with two cats and all the wild critters we can feed. I am a management consultant to nonprofit organizations and have an Associates of Arts degree in Administration of Justice from Sacramento City College, a Bachelor of Science degree in Organizational Behavior from the University of San Francisco and a Master of Public Administration degree, also from the University of San Francisco.