US Bishops' Statement on Labor Day

WASHINGTON- Bishop Frank J. Dewane of Venice in Florida, Chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, issues a statement on the one-hundred-year-old United States Bishops’ Program of Social Reconstruction.

The United States Bishops’ Program of Social Reconstruction was published in 1919 after the end of World War I as a guide for the economic changes during that time period. In his statement, Bishop Dewane highlights key themes from Catholic social teaching presented in the Bishops’ Program. Subsidiarity, Monopoly Power and Wage Suppression, the Universal Destination of Goods and Employee Ownership, and Solidarity and Unions are pertinent to the present economic difficulties working people face in the United States.

“In the Gospel for this Labor Day, Jesus proclaims in the synagogue the words of Isaiah: that he, like the prophet, has been “anointed” “to bring glad tidings to the poor” (Lk. 4:18). How do we bring glad tidings to the poor today? As Pope Francis said. . . earlier this year, ‘today’s tendency is toward slowing down the pace of reducing extreme poverty and increasing the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few. . .. Many do not have food to eat and live adrift while a few drown in excess. This perverse current of inequity is disastrous for humanity’s future.’”

Bishop Frank J. Dewane’s entire statement can be found in English and Spanish.