Milwaukee archbishop affirms value of unions

[Joanne98]

Source: Catholic Culture

As Wisconsin lawmakers contemplate a bill that would curtail collective bargaining by state employees, Archbishop Jerome Listecki of Milwaukee has issued a statement upholding the value of unions.

“Hard times do not nullify the moral obligation each of us has to respect the legitimate rights of workers,” Archbishop Listecki wrote. After quoting Pope Benedict’s teaching on workers’ associations, the archbishop added that “it does not follow from this that every claim made by workers or their representatives is valid. Every union, like every other economic actor, is called to work for the common good, to make sacrifices when required, and to adjust to new economic realities.”



Read more: http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=9297

[Omaha Steve]

1. This just keeps getting better and better

K&R!

[Myrina]

2. ... the bill passed the house and the one in TN is moving forward also ...

.... and POTUS used that same language last night "adjusting to the new economic reality" ... when in real reality, this isn't even a budget issue in WI because they have a surplus. This is a blatant attempt at union busting, and it appears most of the political (And now religious) establishment is going along with it.



:hide:

[onehandle]

3. Grass Roots: Catholic bishop echoes support for labor (in Wisconsin); what does your faith say?

Source: Wisconsin State Journal/The Cap Times

In case you missed it, leaders of the Catholic Church in Wisconsin are out in support of the moral right of labor to organize as Gov. Scott Walker leads a charge to dismantle collective bargaining rights for public workers. Madison Diocese Bishop Robert Morlino "echoes" a statement by Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki to members of the Joint Committee on Finance, according to a post Wednesday on the Madison Diocese website.

Listecki, president of the lobbying Wisconsin Catholic Conference, told legislators that it is "a mistake to marginalize or dismiss unions as impediments to economic growth." Despite economic hard times and the hard choices they demand. Catholics United, a national social justice advocacy group, on Thursday called on Wisconsin legislators to suspend their "attacks on workers."

The archbishop in his message quotes Pope John Paul II, who wrote in 1981 that unions remain "a constructive factor of social order and solidarity" and are impossible to ignore. More recently, current Pope Benedict wrote that the traditional call within Catholic social doctrine for the promotion of workers' associations "must be honored today even more than in the past."

Listecki asked legislators to carefully consider the implications of Walker's budget repair bill provision on collective bargaining, and "evaluate it in terms of its impact on the common good." He also appealed to lawmakers, citizens, workers and labor unions to move beyond divisiveness and work together towards a humane recovery from the economic crisis.

Read more: http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/grassroots/article_ba6e5122-3add-11e0-b03c-001cc4c002e0.html

---

Wisconsin Bishops Step Up

Archbishop Jerome Listecki of Milwaukee, in his capacity as chairman of the Wisconsin Catholic Conference, has issued a statement defending the right to organize, a right that is currently being challenged by Wisconson's new governor, about which I wrote yesterday.

The statement says, in part, "The Church is well aware that difficult economic times call for hard choices and financial responsibility to further the common good. Our own dioceses and parishes have not been immune to the effects of the current economic difficulties. But hard times do not nullify the moral obligation each of us has to respect the legitimate rights of workers."

Moral obligation. As clear as day. It will be fun to see how our friends on the Catholic right do or do not respond to this call from the Wisconsin Catholic bishops. Can you spell dissent?

http://ncronline.org/blogs/distinctly-catholic/wisconsin-bishops-step

Archbishop Listecki's Statement:

http://www.archmil.org/News/StatementRegardingtheRightsofW.htm

[ChairmanAgnostic]

4. we agnostics all prey in favor of labour

[IamK]

5. focus on cleaning up you own house first... then someone will care what you support...

[murielm99]

7. Have you ever heard of Dorothy Day and the

Catholic Workers Movement?

The church can do a lot of good for people when it wants to. I don't think we should condemn these leaders who are trying to be supportive.

[totodeinhere]

8. When they come out in favor of gay marriage rights and women's reproductive rights, then I will

remove my condemnation, but not before. When you praise them for finally getting something right, it merely legitimizes them and enables them to continue their homophobia.

[Hardrada]

9. And pacifists like Thomas Merton also. They were important voices.

[roguevalley]

10. fuck that. religious and atheists and everyone else banded together

to get civil rights through. Rabbis priests and nuns walked with everyone else at the front of lines and took the abuse too. this is right for them to step up and I welcome them.

[sabrina 1]

11. So you accuse people who are innocent of being collectively

guilty simply because they are of the same faith?? Nice example of smearing everyone with the same brush. Do you know anything personally about this Bishop? Or is he guilty by association?

Fyi, an awful lot of people care what they think. Not everyone is so narrow minded as to assume that everyone of a particular faith or ethnicity is guilty of what some of those same faiths and ethnicities do.

I hope the world doesn't judge all Americans by the brutal, torturing criminal actions of our government, otherwise I'd have to call you a torturer and wonder who is going to care what you think.

Instead, I'll stick to being rational and hold you responsible only for your own behavior.

Thank you to the Catholic Bishops for their support.

[murielm99]

6. During the thirties, there were many fighting priests

who supported the unions and working people. This is great to hear.

[applegrove]

12. I'm so glad the catholic church is speaking out on this issue.

[Moonwalk]

13. My Faith says that superstition should not be used in place of reason to decide...

what is the right and good thing to do.

When people of a particular faith do something "good" thanks because their religion tells them this is what they ought to do rather than because they rationally know it is the right things to do, it's rather like a broken clock. It got things right this time and may again. But that doesn't mean its reliable. I'm pleased Catholics are siding with the unions, but I'd like to hear they did so because it made sense to them, not because their religion told them to.

I remember all too well when many Bishops told their parishioners who to vote for, and that vote went against those who were pro-union because they were also pro-choice. Faith is a fickle supporter of such things.

[melm00se]

14. strip away the fact that he is an archbishop for a second.

and view him as the leader of a group of somewhere around 400K people. if only half support labor unions (and that number is probably low) do you want to turn away that kind of support for the cause?