The Working Catholic: Social Doctrine Part 16   It was news when this past April employees at a Volkswagen assembly plant in Chattanooga, TN voted overwhelmingly to join United Auto Workers (www.uawregion8.net). The vote is noteworthy because the South is generally not receptive to unions. It is not only noteworthy in the present. We may “someday look back at the Chattanooga vote as a milestone on the road back to the more or less middle-class society” in the U.S., writes... Read more

The Working Catholic, Immigration Part Three by Bill Droel Archbishop John Hughes (1997-1864) of New York is probably not a suitable role model for a bishop today. And yet… Hughes was born in Ireland. He once tellingly wrote: For first four days of my life, I was “on social and civil equality with the most favored subjects of the British Empire.” But then I was baptized a Roman Catholic. Hughes emigrated to the U.S. in 1817 where he worked in... Read more

The Working Catholic: Big Tech by Bill Droel The popular use of a term sometimes differs from its original use. Such is the case with Luddite, which now usually refers to someone who fiercely opposes most technology. Blood in the Machine by Brain Merchant (Little Brown, 2023) takes us back to the term’s origin: the Luddite Movement in England from 1811 to 1816. Textile workers were opposed to certain types of automated machines, not wholesale opposition to all technology. They... Read more

The Working Catholic: No Contract, Yet by Bill Droel In recent times employees for some well-known companies have voted for a union at their store or warehouse. These apparent employee victories do not, however, signal improved labor relations in our country. It is difficult for employees to achieve a pro-union vote. The parent company retains union-busting lawyers and consultants who, in round one, teach executives and branch managers how to disrupt an organizing effort by making side promises to a... Read more

The Working Catholic: Neighborhood Part Two by Bill Droel Some Catholics have a deficient operative belief in the dogma of Christmas. For example, one young priest appropriately picked a light/darkness theme for his Christmas Day homily. However, its content was all darkness: our society’s disrespect for life, war in the Holy Land, war in Ukraine, corruption of Chicago politicians and more. Why didn’t he feel the Light? Are not all the little light bulbs strung on houses in our neighborhood... Read more

The Working Catholic: Sacramental Neighborhoods by Bill Droel Robert Moses (1888-1981) was the public works czar for Metro New York. His projects included highways, bridges, parks and more. He also spearheaded a few Upstate projects. The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert Caro (Random House, 1974) is the definitive biography. A gripping chapter is titled “One Mile.” There is a slight bend in a short section of what is now the Cross Bronx Expressway... Read more

The Working Catholic: Race Relations by Bill Droel Efforts these days to improve race relations are of related types. There is virtue signaling, as in ubiquitous TV ads featuring a mixed-race couple or the obligatory progressive statements from businesses and national religious denominations. There is social therapy, as when church-sponsored groups examine and then admit to their racism. Thirdly, justifiable racial grievances are expressed through marches and rallies that unfortunately lack any specific goal. Saul Alinsky (1909-1972), considered the dean... Read more

The Working Catholic: Social Doctrine 16, Imagination by Bill Droel Catholics are, if you will, vaccinated with an analogical imagination. We assume that God’s creation, especially people, are made in God’s image and that therefore God is like creation in some way. Now, the vaccine does not last with all Catholics. It quickly wears off on a Catholic in an environment devoid of enchantment. And, some non-Catholics certainly have the analogical imagination. Gay Talese, baptized Gaetano, (now in his mid-80s)... Read more

The Working Catholic: UAW Strike by Bill Droel Autoworkers are not only seeking higher pay, writes Binyamin Appelbaum in N.Y. Times (10/2/23). “They are also, audaciously, demanding the end of the standard 40-hour workweek.” This is not the first time employees have sought fewer hours. In fact, our feast of St. Joseph the Worker/International Workers Day (May First) was inspired by an 1886 Chicago protest for shorter hours. The Federation of Trades and Labor held a May rally in our... Read more

The Working Catholic: Mediated Eucharist by Bill Droel Concern for public health in early 2020 forced most churches to curtail worship. The fallback became services by way of the internet. While there has long been a Catholic Mass on TV for shut-ins, the widespread broadcast of Mass by local parishes is new. As Covid-19 tapers off, some parishes discontinue their worship broadcast. Others, however, continue. After all, they installed the equipment and learned the rituals of TV. The mediated style... Read more