Labor Day - 2007

Yahweh God took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden to cultivate and take care of it.

(Genesis 1:15)

Some of the Catholic Church's teachings taken from from the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church (Chapter 6 Human Work) to think about on this Labor Day. (& an occasional comment by me.)

Par 255 In the Creator's plan, created realities, which are good in themselves, exist for man's use. The wonder of the mystery of man's grandeur makes the psalmist exclaim: “What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him little less than god, and crown him with glory and honour. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet” (Ps 8:5-7).

Par 256 Work is part of the original state of man and precedes his fall; it is therefore not a punishment or curse.

Par 257 Work has a place of honour because it is a source of riches, or at least of the conditions for a decent life, and is, in principle, an effective instrument against poverty (cf. Pr 10:4). But one must not succumb to the temptation of making an idol of work, for the ultimate and definitive meaning of life is not to be found in work. Work is essential, but it is God — and not work — who is the origin of life and the final goal of man.

This paragraph is 1 of many that shoots down any claims used by a lot of those Social Justice moonbats who misrepresents the Catholic Church's teachings on capitalism. Along with the section entitled c. The duty to work (Par 264-266), as well as elsewhere in this chapter (see below for quote), it shoots down the disaster that has been America's welfare system. Our system has been set up to discourage those on it from getting ahead, from getting a job, from working. They don't let us off of our obligation to put God 1st. Nor does it let us get away with not helping those truly in need. But, what the Church teaching basically boils down to is that work is the best way to get out of poverty & that capitalism creates these jobs (more below).

Par 264 The awareness that “the form of this world is passing away” (1 Cor 7:31) is not an exoneration from being involved in the world, and even less from work (cf. 2 Thes 3:7-15), which is an integral part of the human condition, although not the only purpose of life. No Christian, in light of the fact that he belongs to a united and fraternal community, should feel that he has the right not to work and to live at the expense of others (cf. 2 Thes 3:6-12). Rather, all are charged by the Apostle Paul to make it a point of honour to work with their own hands, so as to “be dependent on nobody” (1 Thes 4:12), and to practise a solidarity which is also material by sharing the fruits of their labour with “those in need” (Eph 4:28).

Par 274 Work is also “an obligation, that is to say, a duty on the part of man”. Man must work, both because the Creator has commanded it and in order to respond to the need to maintain and develop his own humanity. Work is presented as a moral obligation with respect to one's neighbour, which in the first place is one's own family, but also the society to which one belongs, the nation of which one is son or daughter, the entire human family of which one is member. We are heirs of the work of generations and at the same time shapers of the future of all who will live after us.

2 Thesselonians 3:10 "For also, when we were with you, this we declared to you: that, if any man will not work, neither let him eat."(emphasis mine) The context for St. Paul writing this was there were those who refused to work, not because they weren't able to, but because they claimed they didn't need to with the 2nd Coming being so near. Instead they demanded that the other Christians provide them with a 1st Century equivalent of welfare. In doing so they were also taking the alms given to the Church ment to help the truly needy away from those who were truly needy.

Yes, it is our responsibility to help the truly needy. But, our system, instead of providing a short term solution, has created a multi-generational dependance on welfare. It discorages, rather than encourages most people to work.

The Church teaches us that not only is work an obligation but it is also a right. The next paragraph I quote from tells us why.

Par 287 Work is a fundamental right and a good for mankind, a useful good, worthy of man because it is an appropriate way for him to give expression to and enhance his human dignity. The Church teaches the value of work not only because it is always something that belongs to the person but also because of its nature as something necessary. Work is needed to form and maintain a family,to have a right to property, to contribute to the common good of the human family. In considering the moral implications that the question of work has for social life, the Church cannot fail to indicate unemployment as a “real social disaster”, above all with regard to the younger generations.

Work is designed by God to give human dignity. It is INTERESTING to read the above paragraph as it reminds me of the reasons given in the Declaration of Independence by America's Founding Fathers for seperating from England.

The Church makes it clear (Par 291, below) that it isn't the duty of the State to create jobs. Rather, it is the duty of the state to see to it that the laws allow for capitalism to function as it should so that (as pointed out above) it can create jobs & wealth for all.

Par 291 Employment problems challenge the responsibility of the State, whose duty it is to promote active employment policies, that is, policies that will encourage the creation of employment opportunities within the national territory, providing the production sector with incentives to this end. The duty of the State does not consist so much in directly guaranteeing the right to work of every citizen, making the whole of economic life very rigid and restricting individual free initiative, as much as in the duty to “sustain business activities by creating conditions which will ensure job opportunities, by stimulating those activities where they are lacking or by supporting them in moments of crisis”.

There are several books that I recomend you read that will develop in greater detail the history of capitalism in America, what it really is (as well as isn't so you can recognize the MSM & other left-wing moonbat misrepresentations of capitalism & the free-market economy supported by Catholic Social Doctrine. They are Robert P. Murphy's The Politically Incorrect Guide™ to Capitalism & Thomas DiLorenzo's How Capitalism Saved America: The Untold Story of Our Country's History, from the Pilgrims to the Present. DiLorenzo does an especially good job of diferentiating between capitalism & what is really merchantilism. He comes down esp hard (a lot like some of Papa Benedetto's recent statements) on those who abuse capitalism & in doing so betray the very thing they claim to represent.. I again recommend that you read Thomas Woods Jr.'s book The Church and the Market: A Catholic Defense of the Free Economy for the best take on proper application of Catholic social teaching to capitalism. Another great resource for information is the Ludwig von Mises Institute. Part of their mission is to be the research and educational center of the Austrian School of economics.

The Catholic Church On Unions

(some rarely mentioned parts of the Church's teaching about them)

While the Church recognizes the right of workers to form a union, it also has some interesting things to say to unions about actions that they SHOULD & SHOULD NOT DO:

Par 304 The Church's social doctrine recognizes the legitimacy of striking “when it cannot be avoided, or at least when it is necessary to obtain a proportionate benefit”, when every other method for the resolution of disputes has been ineffectual. . . . It becomes “morally unacceptable when accompanied by violence, or when objectives are included that are not directly linked to working conditions or are contrary to the common good”.

I know that some people don't like the fact that police, fire fighters, air traffic controllers & a few other groups are forbidden by law to strike. But it is clear that their being on strike would create conditions that are "contrary to the common good". While they can strike in many situations, nurses who care for people in a hospital shouldn't readily go on strike, even for a short time like they have here in DBQ at Finley Hospital. This paragraph also points out how a strike should be the absolute last resort as well as the very limited reasons that it is justified in.

Par 306 The Church's social doctrine teaches that relations within the world of work must be marked by cooperation: hatred and attempts to eliminate the other are completely unacceptable.

This applies to the business owners. BUT, it also applies to the unions. & lately it seems like, more often than not, their representatives are the ones spewing the venom & hatred. They are the ones who go beyond fair demands & into the very greed they accuse the other side of, greed that can result/has resulted in the destruction of a business.

This is also the case because in every social system both “labour” and “capital” represent indispensable components of the process of production

This is clearly an endorsement of capitalism.

. . . . unions may not misuse the tools of contention; because of what they are called to do, they must overcome the temptation of believing that all workers should be union-members, (emphasis mine) they must be capable of self-regulation and be able to evaluate the consequences that their decisions will have on the common good.

The 1st line fits in with what I said earlier in this paragraph. The real eye opener was the line that I put the emphasis on. To me that is a ringing endorsement of Iowa's Right to Work law. It is also a condemnation of the attempt by unions to get rid of the private ballot to certify a union.

Par 307 Unions do not, however, have the character of “political parties” struggling for power, and they should not be forced to submit to the decisions of political parties nor be too closely linked to them.

Given how in bed the Democratic Party & most unions are, this was another eye opener for me. It doesn't deny unions the right to work for laws that help protect workers. But, union stands on things like abortion clearly go against the principle of this paragraph. & the almost incestuous relationship between the Dems & most unions is clearly condemned here.