Snapd
ragon
THE
P RTAL
September 2015
Saint Joseph
the Worker
O
n May 1st we celebrated a feast that was introduced into the liturgical calendar
relatively recently, by Pope Pius XII on May 1, 1955 – that of Saint Joseph the Worker. It
is, you might say, a second and less important feast than the great feast of St Joseph celebrated
on March 19, but still in its own right very important.
The feast was
introduced
in
response to the
Communist
“May Day” celebrations. Pope Pius had granted
a public audience to the Catholic
Association of Italian Workers
on the first of May 1955, whose
members had gathered in Saint
Peter’s Square to celebrate the
tenth anniversary of their society,
and used the occasion to institute
the new feast, which he proposed
to the Church and the world as a
way of recognising the dignity
and value of all human work.
On that occasion Pope Pius said,
“We intend that all may recognise
the dignity of work, and that
this dignity may be the motive
in forming the social order and
laws, founded on the equitable
distribution of rights of duties.”
the forgotten workers
The recent tragic events in Dakka in Bangladesh,
where hundreds of workers were killed when the
building they were working in collapsed, has brought
to our attention what we tend to forget, and actually
rather like to forget, that there are many in the world
who work hard in poor conditions for very little
money, who cannot provide the basic necessities for
their families, and will never achieve the financial
security that most of us enjoy, even in a recession.
Credit must be given to Primark
It is too easy to forget the plight of workers in a
Bangladeshi sweat-shop, as we congratulate ourselves
for having picked up a bargain in a high street fastfashion store supplied by them. Credit must be given,
I think, to Primark, which has pledged compensation
to the victims of this disaster who worked for its
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supplier in Dakka - long-term aid
for children who have lost parents,
financial aid for those injured, and
payments to the families of the
deceased.
We can only hope that other
retail outlets supplied by the same
factory will follow suit. But then,
do we actually have to bear some
of the blame and responsibility?
For Christians, celebrating the
value of labour and protecting the
rights and dignity of those who
work is not simply a political or
economic agenda, it is a sacred
trust that we cannot ignore. It is a
trust rooted in scripture - think of
the prophet Amos who roared with
anger at those who “sell the needy
for a pair of shoes” or “trample the
head of the poor into the dust of
the earth”(Amos 2:6-7).
a right to productive work
Key principles of Catholic social teaching are that all
workers have a right to productive work, to decent and
fair wages, and to safe working conditions. They also
have a fundamental right to organise and join unions;
the economy should serve them, and not the other way
around. People have a right to private property, but no
one should amass excessive wealth while others lack
the basic necessities of life.
common good and dignity
Catholic social teaching is also clear that the vocation
to pursue justice is not just a task for chief executives
and boards of directors, it is a call to all of us to work
with others to shape the institutions that we are part of.
In the countless daily decisions and choices we make
in our workplaces – and in the shopping mall – social
justice, the common good and the dignity of men and
women can be upheld or not.