The Working Catholic: Sacraments by Bill Droel The Christian denominations vary in their list of official sacraments. But restricting God’s instruments of grace to any official list is misguided, writes Fr. Robert Lauder in The Tablet of Brooklyn. He directs his readers to Bernard Cooke (1922-2013), particularly his Sacraments and Sacramentality (Twenty Third Publication, 1983). The word “sacrament must be understood in a much broader sense,” writes Cooke.  Properly understood, “the most basic sacrament of God’s saving presence to human... Read more

The Working Catholic: Anxiety by Bill Droel Since the dawn of the urban/industrial revolution social scientists, religious leaders and ordinary families have struggled with its side effects. The unintended outcome of industrialism was called the social question. The term, first used in Western Europe in the early 1800s, considers: How is it that the promise of economic progress is accompanied by so many paupers and what should be done about poverty? Today there is a second, related question: Why in... Read more

The Working Catholic: Social Doctrine #14 by Bill Droel The term social justice is regularly used but rarely defined. It often means a government program is on the way. “Social justice requires an increase in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps).” It can mean a general concern. “The status of women is a matter of social justice.” It can describe an event. “We went to a social justice conference.” Or describe a personality type. “She’s a social justice warrior.”... Read more

The Working Catholic: Child Labor by Bill Droel It is a fallacy to believe that if teenage members of a family spend more time on a job, the family will necessarily gain upwardly mobility. Nor is it true that our economy prospers when young people neglect their studies for the sake of income. Yes, employment trains teenagers and young adults in public disciplines plus gives them some outlook on social psychology. However, excess hours on the clock are not beneficial.... Read more

The Working Catholic: Immigration by Bill Droel The immigrant “can sense that the United States is of two minds,” writes Hector Tobar of the University of California in Our Migrant Souls: A Meditation (Farrar, Straus, 2023). “Like the indentured servants, the Poles, the Germans and the Chinese people of other centuries, she knows there are factory owners and affluent families on the other side of the fence or the ocean who really want her to make it across… She knows... Read more

The Working Catholic: Experience Counts by Bill Droel Catholic philosophers of the mid-20th century (the Personalists) improved upon an older top-down notion of truth. Yes, truth comes from God. However, revelation does not come entirely from above. God’s truth (the Incarnation) is for all time embedded in human experience. The newer approach appreciates that God’s truth arises from and corresponds to real, important questions within our daily lives. For many years Catholicism assumed that God’s truth came down from on... Read more

The Working Catholic: Leisure by Bill Droel   I put away the clock and now I enjoy the time. Saving Time: Life Beyond the Clock by Jenny Odell (Random House, 2023) is not a time management book.  It is not about leaning in or about making the most of the weekend. It is not about the work-life balance. It is not a how to or a self-help book. Saving Time is part memoir, part philosophy and a smaller part travelogue... Read more

The Working Catholic: Bad Artists by Bill Droel Sometimes a flawed individual creates captivating art—music, painting, a novel, a play. Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma by Claire Dederer (Knopf, 2023) is the latest consideration of how the public should ethically treat art that comes from a bad person. Her dilemma is more acute thanks to the courage of the Me Too movement. The following analogy relies on a dated incident. In early 2022 Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix, now retired, outed... Read more

The Working Catholic: Social Doctrine Part Thirteen, Poverty by Bill Droel It’s published in Wall St. Journal (4/30/23), so it must be true. It’s an essay about wages by Michael Lind. He begins with a quotation from Adam Smith (1723-1790), a theorist for modern capitalism. For capitalism to thrive, Smith says employees must get a family wage. Family wage is a principle of Catholic social doctrine. A slogan from Unite Here, a union of hotel workers with headquarters in Manhattan,... Read more