Several hot button issues of Catholic teaching are frequently hit by the media - while others go almost unnoticed.
This Labor Day weekend is a good opportunity for us to remember the wealth of Catholic teaching on concerns and issues related to labor and justice for workers. The Catholic Labor Network provides an excellent collection of resources on such issues with links to documents as old as the papal encyclical of 1891 and as recent as the 2008 Labor Day statement of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
This Labor Day weekend, please take a few minutes just to click on the link above, take a look at the site and bookmark it as a favorite for future reference.
This prayer for Labor Day weekend comes from the Archdiocese of Detroit:
Loving Father,
on this weekend, when we rest from our usual labors,
we pray for all who shoulder the tasks of human labor—
in the marketplace, in factories and offices,
in the professions, and in family living.
We thank you, Lord, for the gift and opportunity of work;
may our efforts always be pure of heart,
for the good of others and the glory of your name.
We lift up to you all who long for just employment
and those who work to defend the rights and needs
of workers everywhere.
May those of us who are now retired
always remember the valuable contribution we make
to our Church and our world
by our prayers and deeds of charity.
May our working and our resting give you praise
until the day we share together in eternal rest
with all our departed in your kingdom
as you live and reign
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever.
Amen.
Happy Labor Day!
-ConcordPastor
15 comments:
Concord Pastor, Today is also the Feast of St. John the Baptist. He was a "hot button issue" kinda guy himself. He was martyred for "speaking truth to power" by speaking out against King Herod's marriage. May his example inspire all who would question the prevailing morality of their society and leaders.
My late husband's birthday was June 24. Even though he was a lifelong Unitarian he delighted in the fact that June 24 was the feast day of St. John the Baptist and his own birthday.
So I was surprised to see the above comment. I googled to find that August 29 is the feast day of the beheading of St. John the Baptist. I learn something everyday!
Thank you for the link to Catholic Labor Network. The encyclicals Rerum Novarum 1891 and Quadragesimo Anno 1931 (40 years later) are both excellent. It strikes me that another encyclical devoted to workers might be in order. I watched the Democratic convention Monday-Thursday nights. I was struck by how many people have been devastated by what has happened to the US economy in the last eight years. The personal testimonies of several people was so poignant.
Even this morning, as I was listening to WBZ, I noted that John McCain has picked up on some of the social justice themes that were emphasized over and over at the Democratic convention.
Many working people are really hurting. An encyclical to address this issue would be welcome.
One of the speakers last night, Barney Smith, was absolutely wonderful. His parting statement was, "I wish someone would pay attention to Barney Smith instead of Smith-Barney." Priceless!
Speaking of conventions... the Democrats were almost overshadowed today with the news that McCain had chosen Sarah Palin, a mother of five -- including an infant with Down Syndrome. What a wonderful pro-life statement she made with her "choice" to give birth to a handicapped child.
This goes so well with the topics Concord Pastor has been posting earlier this week on Nancy Pelosi and the bishops.
So Anonymous 7:58pm, how do you feel about the mother of 5 young children taking on the hours of VP of the United States? Are we to assume that her husband will be the major caregiver or will "staff" fill this role? I realize and respect woman w/children who are employed/have careers by choice and/or by need. I assume Gov. Palin has the financial resources to hire competent caregivers. Not everyone has that option. I do not feel the Democrats were "almost overshadowed" by McCain's choice. Why does highlighting a candidate for this (or any) single issue cause me to push away from them completely?
Anonymous 10:40 p.m.: I suspect that Sarah and Todd Palin brought their last child to term simply because they loved the child even before birth - and not to make a pro-life statement.
But I don't think the Anonymous 7:58 comment (Oh, for screen names!) was suggesting that they had this child for some political pro-life purpose.
Actually, Anonymous 10:40, the Palin children range in age, with the oldest boy about to depart for service in Iraq and others looking to be teen/middle school. So it's not a family of babies.
From what I've read, the couple share child-rearing duties, and everyone in the family pitches in. Just like the old days!
I suspect the Palins made a decision to carry their son to term out of love, as CP wrote above.
Overshadowing the Democrats was the way Charles Gibson put it on ABC news. (Google News seems to indicate that too.)
As for the question,"Why does highlighting a candidate for this (or any) single issue cause me to push away from them completely?"
I don't know. Cynicism?
I think they seem a wonderful, warm, American family. The kind of people I'd like to have as neighbors.
Interesting how a post about Labor Day turned into a pro-life discussion. Anonymous 7:58 stated "What a wonderful pro-life statement she made with her "choice" to give birth to a handicapped child."
With all do respect (and I don't assume that you deny this) there are other "pro-life" issues at stake. My fear is this war in Iraq will continue which means the death of many young people...both Americans and Iraqis (some with unborn children). My fear is that a McCain/Palin administration means the war and killing will continue indefinitely. My fear is that the torture of POWs will continue. What about Christ's beloved poor,welfare and other human rights issues? Consientious Catholic Christians need to pray. Pray very hard for answers regarding ethical questions that appear on both sides,Democrat or Republican.
Anne
I just read that 80 percent of all Down's Syndrome babies are being aborted these days. I am appalled. What would Jesus say about that?!
Anonymous 10:37: I do not doubt nor do I have any reason/desire to doubt your statistic, but it's always helpful for the discussion when statistics are backed up with a source. If you have one available, it would be helpful to provide it here. That way, subsequent responses build on a sure footing. Thanks!
From Anonymous 10:37:
If you google "down's syndrome abortion" you find lots of studies. Apparently, the abortion rate is higher in the EU, particularly in Britain. However, American statistics are in this non-technical essay in the Washington Post:
washingtonpost.com
Eugenics By Abortion
Is perfection an entitlement?
By George F. Will
Thursday, April 14, 2005; Page A27
In Britain, as in Europe generally, abortion law has not been made by judges proclaiming glistening, hard-edged rights that cannot be compromised. Rather, abortion law has been made by lawmakers -- imagine that -- seeking to accommodate clashing sensibilities. That is one reason why British law is less extreme than America's essentially unlimited right to abortion on demand.
In Britain, after the 24th week of pregnancy -- "viability," when the child presumably can live outside the womb -- an abortion is permitted only when "there is a substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped." But in 2001 an unborn 28-week-old child was aborted because new techniques for detecting fetal abnormalities indicated that the child had a cleft lip and palate.
An Anglican curate, a 28-year-old woman who was born with a congenital defect of the jaw, tried to get a court to consider this a case of "unlawful killing." She noted that far from being substantially handicapped, she is enjoying life -- as is, by the way, her brother, who has Down syndrome, a genetic defect involving varying degrees of mental retardation. Prosecutors eventually refused to file charges, relying in part on guidance by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists that stated there is "no precise definition of serious handicap."
But the prosecutors' refusal goes far toward supplying a definition. The refusal implies that any abnormality can qualify as a serious handicap because seriousness is determined not by its impact on the disabled person's life chances but by the parents' reluctance to be inconvenienced by it. How else is one to understand abortion as an alternative to surgery that corrects cleft lips and palates?
In Britain, more babies with Down syndrome are aborted than are allowed to be born. In America, more than 80 percent of the babies diagnosed prenatally with Down syndrome are aborted. This is dismaying to, among others, the American Association of People with Disabilities, whose premise is that "disability is a natural part of the human experience."
The AAPD worries that increasingly sophisticated prenatal genetic testing technologies will mean that parents who are told their expected babies are less than perfect "will experience pressures to terminate their pregnancies from medical professionals and insurers." The worry is not groundless.
ALSO: I would assume having two candidates with sons serving in Iraq would give them a personal stake in making decisions regarding war and peace. McCain is a victim of torture himself, and is strongly against it!
I would also remind the writer above that abortion is an INTRINSIC EVIL, always and everywhere wrong.
While people of good will may come to different positions on the best way to solve poverty, health care and other issues, there is no such wiggle room on abortion, in the Catholic Church and in many other religions, since it involves the taking of innocent life.
The New York Times in 2007 says the abortion rate for Down's is 90%.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/09/us/09down.html
I really hope these statistics are not true. People who have Down Syndrone are the most lovable, honest, and most genuine people I've ever known. They are truly special people whom we can all learn from.
I work with children with handicaps. I have goose bumps all over my body and I have such a deep hurt in my heart that these statistics could be true.
As stated people who have Down Syndrome are very special people with personality traits (i.e. compassion, honesty, and warmth) that we if we could control evolution we should hope that more people would have those attributes.
Teacher
Hi,
Both my sister-in-law and my aunt were advised to have abortions, on the basis of "medical advice," and both refused to do so. My niece and my cousin are both absolutely fine and wonderful, absolutely normal! We can never "know" what God has in store for us. We can only "leave it in his hands."
Post a Comment