Church employees on Labor Day

Well written and bravely so. Thank God for people like you Richard.

Bishops are "cafeteria Catholics" if the only teaching that matters is the Church's anti-abortion stance. The Church once spoke for the poor and disadvataged among us. Now the JPII bishops have made it into the holy, catholic, and apostolic Republican Church. May God open the eyes and hearts of these bishops to the concerns of the powerless of all agees -- the elderly, the homeless, the working poor, and other groups within our society.

I hope that every American bishop has received and for once read the latest and greatest papal social encyclical CAritas in VEritate, along with the brilliantly illuminating commentaries published here from the Reverend Father Richard P. McBrien.

Unionize now, as the Pope commands us! A living and a just wage for all workers, with adequate health care for the whole family in the face of our national failure to provide universal and accessible health care as in the civilized world

These are pro-life issues, not bankrupting people to pay for a hospital visit.

Many lay ecclesial ministers know from unhappy personal experience that pastors and bishops do not always practice what the church officially teaches about justice for the church's own employees, be they in formal ministry or not."
As somone who has worked in the church for over 30 years, I can personally attest to the above sentence. If the powers that be want a priest in charge of your job...you are out the door and generally it hits you in the behind on the way out.
A friend of mine was denied Cobra because the Diocese would not sign the paperwork. There is no unemployment. Most laws that pertain to secular workers do NOT apply to those that work in ministry of any sort.
Generally the first to go are those in the teaching ministry. Why I don't know since that is what Church is all about besides sacraments.
Today my "supervisor" in RCIA was terminated to save money...no notice just bam, slam here ya are sir! Bye.
Nope justice doesn't attend Church!

Dear Fr. McBrien, Why do we continue to use terms such as liberal and conservative when referring to Bishops, Cardinals, Priests, and the Pope. You above all should know the Catholic Church is One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic, and led by THE CHANGELESS GOD! Are you saying that TRUTH is debateable? What is your reasoning?

In my case, it wasn't the Church exactly that ended my job in the Church. It was a woman who didn't like me from before I arrived. I've speculated that she felt she should have been consulted by the pastor! In time, she got herself elected to the Pastoral Council and then her son, and she pressured the others to agree with her that I had to go. They settled on the reason of doing away with my position. The Church issue was our then Paster had no balls, and let her get away with it.
Nevertheless, it is very true that the Church does not practice what it preaches. It's almost along the lines of do as I say not as I do.
Keep up the excellent work Fr. McB

I can't even count the number of my friends and acquaintances that have been unjustly fired by priests and bishops in the church. There is no justice and no where to turn when this happens. New pastors were told, "If you do not like your staff, fire them." After all, this is what the bishop did when he took office.

On the other side pastors have hired their unqualified friends and created positions for them in the parish. They paid them salaries far above those who were already working there and very qualified for their positions. Morale suffers. It creates two staffs, those on the inside track and those who function on the outside. If you want to keep your job, you do the best you can and try to remain professional.

Tom Warren asks why use terms liberal or conservative, when referring to Bishops, Cardinals, Priests, Popes, or I suppose progressives or coservatives. The reason is the terms do apply, the church is led by Changeless God but by often prideful, often mistaken, often sinful Bishops, Cardinals, Priest, Popes.

Are you not aware of the financial abuses and thefts perpetrated by clergy of the church? Are you not aware of the pedophile priests/bishops who sexually abused thousands of especially boys, youths and seminarians across the world, and that Bishops, Cardinals, Priests and Popes particpated in a massive and sustained silencing of victims, and cover-up of abusers, moving the criminal pedophile priests/bishops from parish to parish, even country to country to reoffend again with more victims?

Only God and Jesus and Mary are without sin, not the Bishops, Cardinals, Priests or Popes. The clergy often do manifest some reasonable, some unreasonable secular, political ideas and beliefs and opinions that are liberal or conservative, that are mostly progressive or mostly conservative.

The clergy are real human beings who do sin and who do make errors. To pretend the clergy never err or do not also live in this world does not help the church. Apathy and turning a blind eye to what is happening led to these terrible ongoing abuses of the church and its people and all society across the world, including Ireland, U.S.A., Africa, India, and other countries Catholics.

"I receive fewer complaints of violations of justice....This relative silence might also mean that church employees may not know to whom to complain, or believe that registering a complaint would not do any good anyway. And so they keep their heads down, and do their work as best they can, hoping against hope that they will not be fired...." Abusers take advantage of the fact that the abused rarely complain because they're too afraid. Better to make excuses for the bruises than risk further abuse or even loss of life. What's going on in the Church right now is abuse although many of us don't realize it. I know (1) archdiocesan workers who were fired to save money but received no severance and no unemployment benefits; (2) parish employees, including a 69 year old priest due to retire next year, who were fired to save money even after being promised they would not be fired; (3) Eucharistic ministers and lectors the pastor wants replaced because they're the same old faces and he prefers to see "new blood"; (4) musicians (paid and volunteer) who are replaced because the pastor wants to hear different music; (5) a highly trained person who for years ran campus ministry on a volunteer basis, was promised a paid position when one became available which it finally did, interviewed for the job and was passed over in favor of a complete novice that she was expected to train; (6) another person who was the volunteer pastoral associate for years, also promised the job when a paid position became available, and passed over in favor of an "insider". The list is endless. Women are the most abused of all (the only man in my short list above is the 69 year old priest), yet most of us take it because ...? Why do women, including myself, stay in the church and take it. I wish I had an answer. I wish we could talk about it. Before the bruising gets worse and I lose my sacramental life, I wish the abuse would stop.

I read in my local bulletin that 150 thousand new Catholics came into the church last Easter. What it left out was that almost 1/2 million Catholics LEFT the Church last year, some of them "new" Catholics who have come into the Church in less then five years.

All the infighting and injustice that goes on in our Church is proving that the leadership in the Church are not living the gospel and people are going elsewhere to be nourished rather then threatened.

I hate it when the Eucharist becomes a forum for the Republican Party. I don't remember priests telling us from the pulpit to vote for Kennedy or any other political issues of those days.

Yes, this article is about Labor Day and justice in the Catholic Church. Where do we begin when everyone in the Church is so divided that you can't have a differing thought. Even when Paul VI came out with Humanae Vitae there wasn't the hate and threats that we have been experiencing the last few decades.

No wonder we are loosing so many Catholics. We are focusing on the wrong things in the wrong way.

Bene, bene, bene Bishop Gumbleton:

As a gay single man, I am forbidden to: a)attend seminary even though I would honor a vow of celibacy; b)only allowed 5 of the seven sacraments; c)considered "disordered" - even though the American Psychiatric Association has removed homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses in 1973; d)not allowed to voice my opinions or celebrate my sexuality in the Roman milieu; e) accused of "grave" sin that puts my sould and my Catholicism in jeopardy; f)not allowed to meet with other members of Dignity (Catholic LGBT's)on church grounds; and g)not allowed to attend seminary or profess vows towards becoming a priest. And we say we are an inclusive church?

A few weeks ago, we sang a song with the words, "All are welcome, all are welcome in this place...." I could almost hear the stain glass start to rattle, the Bible burst into flames, and the prophet Isaiah to arise and shout,

"When you come in to visit me,
who asks these things of you?
Trample my courts no more!
Bring no more worthless offerings;
your incense is loathsome to me...

When you spread out your hands,
I close my eyes to you;
Though you pray the more,
I will not listen.
Your hands are full of blood!
Wash yourselves clean!
Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes;
cease doing evil; learn to do good.
Make justice your aim; redress the wronged,
hear the orphan's plea, defend the widow.

Isaiah 1:11-17

Another injustice and incredible irony in Catholic institutions is found in the practice of many diocesan offices of Catholic Charities. These institutions often hire people part-time in order not to have to give them benefits, like health insurance, or as independent contractors, so the agency won't be required to pay employer taxes, let alone provide basic benefits. This is done in the name of having money to help the poor, but often results in taking advantage of idealistic people and increasing the numbers of the working poor. This position makes even more insidious the position of those bishops who are against health care reform.

Oh Father! Just when I think you have reached your lowest cheap shot, you go even lower.

You state, "But at least some of these John Paul II bishops believe that abortion is a moral issue that 'trumps' all others, including social justice, war and peace, the environment, and such traditional Catholic teachings as the right to unionize. In this context, the word 'trumps' effectively means that these other issues are really of no moral account.

"Such bishops have no qualms about opposing political candidates who are pro-choice (not pro-abortion), and also no qualms about supporting candidates who voted for the war in Iraq and support tax policies that unduly favor the wealthiest of citizens." [This happened again in the 2008 Presidential campaign.]

In response, let me remind you of the contents of a letter by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger to the USCCB.

“Not all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia. For example, if a Catholic were to be at odds with the Holy Father on the application of capital punishment or on the decision to wage war, he would not for that reason be considered unworthy to present himself to receive Holy Communion. While the Church exhorts civil authorities to seek peace, not war, and to exercise discretion and mercy in imposing punishment on criminals, it may still be permissible to take up arms to repel an aggressor or to have recourse to capital punishment. There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not however with regard to abortion and euthanasia.
"

I do believe the words of our Holy Father "trump" anything you have ever said in your life, or will ever say for the rest of your life.