By Barb Arland-Fye
Editorial
Ken Novak, an adjunct professor of philosophy at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, shares this story from class:
“Last semester, two students in a St. Ambrose course, The Examined Life, explored what they called the ‘capriciousness of work schedules.’ They considered what happens when employees, particularly hourly workers, receive very little notice about when they are expected to work. Imagine a single parent who has scheduled a child’s medical appointment or a parent-teacher conference and is suddenly told that the work schedule has changed. One disruption may seem minor. Repeated disruptions can make family life nearly impossible to manage. Their question was simple but profound: how can a single mother or father be understood as more than a time slot on an employer’s schedule?”
The scenario that Novak’s students explored underscores a point that U.S. bishops made 40 years ago this month in “Economic Justice for All: Pastoral Letter on Catholic Social Teaching and the U.S. Economy.” Their observation remains strikingly relevant: “Intelligent reflection on the social and economic realities of today is also indispensable in the effort to respond to economic circumstances never envisioned in biblical times” (No. 61).
The bishops also said, “Our faith calls us to measure this economy not only by what it produces, but also by how it touches human life and whether it protects or undermines the dignity of the human person. Economic decisions have human consequences and moral content.” They laid out the challenges of their day — such as high unemployment, the loss of family farms and the growing concentration in ownership of agricultural resources — and made recommendations focused on collaboration, solidarity and subsidiarity to move toward economic justice for all.
Based on the state of our economy today, “Economic Justice for All” remains unfinished business. “More people than ever are excluded from full participation in the economy,” Bishop Dennis Walsh said. “The Church has a completely different vision of economics than what we live here in America.”
Our responsibility, as Catholics committed to the Church’s social teaching, is to work toward bringing the pastoral letter to fruition. It begins and continues with prayer, education and action. It’s about moving Catholic social teaching from abstraction to reality.
Take time to read “Economic Justice for All” (https://tinyurl.com/yr4fs76u) and the U.S. bishops’ Economic Justice for All Summary Resource (https://tinyurl.com/mtthkdut) to begin the education process. Visit the Iowa Catholic Conference website
(iowacatholicconference.org) for information on life issues, including economic concerns. The ICC is the public policy voice of Iowa’s bishops.
Raise questions. Let us ask ourselves, our elected leaders and business leaders:
- What steps are necessary for Iowans to earn wages that allow all families to live with dignity?
- What can we do to ensure that workers have adequate time for family life?
- What should we do to make housing and child care more accessible in Iowa?
- How do we ensure that Iowans obtain health care coverage without financial crisis?
- How can we improve rural communities’ meaningful access to employment and education?
- How can we adjust Iowa’s tax code to improve fairness for lower- and middle-income families?
In “Economic Justice for All,” the bishops call for partnerships, solidarity and subsidiarity in building an economic system that gives all people a voice in decision making. Advancing these partnerships requires patient listening. We would be wise to follow Bishop Walsh’s recommendation to implement Basic Ecclesial Communities, a concept Pope Leo XIV brings from his Latin American experience of Church. “It is a synodal process that engages the Church to integrate the message of the Gospel and the authentic teaching of the Church into people’s lives and compels them to put that into action.”
Listening begins with a sense of humility. “… As much as we think that our opinions are the right ones, many of those deeply held political opinions are probably not correct and we should humbly search out how our faith brings perspective,” Bishop Walsh said. “We often look for easy answers to complicated problems. The truth is that complicated problems have complicated answers. There is much we need to learn.”
Samantha Groark, a labor educator at the University of Iowa Labor Center, who is Catholic and knowledgeable about “Economic Justice for All,” recommends collaboration between labor and faith groups. “This could include hosting workers’ rights clinics, connecting employees experiencing wage theft with legal assistance, providing safe spaces for workers to organize, and raising awareness about fair wages and workplace protections.”
Groark points out that “faith communities bring trusted relationships and moral leadership, while labor organizations bring expertise in worker advocacy and collective action. Together, they can help workers feel less isolated and more empowered to stand up for themselves.”
“The great temptation is to think these economic problems are too large for any of us to influence,” Novak says. “Catholic Social Teaching resists that temptation. Some changes require legislation. Some require employers. Some require institutions. And some require a person willing to bring a meal, drive a child to an appointment, mentor a young worker, hire someone who needs a second chance, or accompany a family through a difficult season.”
These are some of the ways we can finish the work of “Economic Justice for All.”
Barb Arland-Fye, Editor emeritus, The Catholic Messenger
arland-fyeb@diodav.org
