MAY 1ST AND PREDICADORES DE JUSTICIA, WISCONSIN - 2019

   “Predicadores de Justicia” is an off-shoot of a program originated in Chicago by Ms. Kim Bobo founder of the Interfaith Community for Worker Justice.  The program is called – Labor in the Pulpits and is successfully used throughout the country as part of the U.S. Labor Day celebration.  Workers present homilies on labor justice on the week before Labor Day. The purpose was to give workers a voice for justice in the churches.  Milwaukee participated in the program for many years.

The New Sanctuary Movement of Voces de la Frontera, has been using the program, calling it Predicadores de Justicia for International Labor Day, May 1^st. 

Voces members preach homilies to explain the meaning of International Labor Day and relate it to the current struggle for justice.  Preachers connect the scripture readings of the day to the Labor Day message as a guide and inspiration for their preaching of justice. A sample homily follows.

Readings: Second Sunday of Easter – April 28, 2019

1.    Acts 5:27-32, Focus: “We must obey God rather than any human authority.”  (Psalm 118, Focus: “With Yahweh on my side, best help of all, I can triumph over my enemies.”  14-24 or Psalm 150, Focus:  “Let everything that breathes praise Yahweh ),

2.    Revelation 1:4-8, Focus: “Christ … ruler of the kings of the earth.”

3.    John 20: 19-31, Focus: Jesus said to Thomas, “peace be with you.” “These are written so that you will come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.”

     

Sample Homily – ideas from the readings are underlined

Good Morning I’m …… Thank you for allowing me to speak to you today about the May 1^st March.  This year we will gather at (time & place) and parade to … We will be advocating for drivers licenses for immigrants and low income people.

Today’s readings inspire our work for justice and peace.

The Evangelium or ‘good news’ of the Emperor gods of Rome was Peace through military might. But Jesus message was Peace through non violent action. In John’s Gospel, Jesus greets Thomas with what has become a usual Christian salutation even used in the liturgy, peace be with you. Jesus appeared not as a ghost or figment of the imagination but as the living Jesus who had suffered and been executed by the Roman Empire.

Peter and the Apostles did not accept the authority of Rome as the word of God even when insisted by religious authorities under Roman control.  The reading from Revelation states that Jesus is ‘the ruler of the kings of the earth.’   

I know from experience in the country where I was born violence causes only death and destruction.  In believing in Jesus Good News of non violent action we have life in his name, as written in the Gospel of John.

This is why I ask you to support justice as the road to peace.  On May 1^st we will again march for Justice.  This year we will advocate for driver licenses for immigrants and low wage people. Driver licenses are essential for getting to a job, caring for kids and the safety of the community.  

Be there as a followers of Jesus’ message in the struggle for Justice and peace.

The Working Catholic: Economic Ideologies by Bill Droel

The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin (www.kul.pl/21.html) just published The Catholic Social Ethic by St. John Paul II (1920-2005). This two-volume text of 500+ pages dates from the 1950s, when Fr. Karol Wojtyla was a young parish priest/teacher. Scholars have long known about the text. In fact, about 300 copies were circulated among students and others in the 1950s. Jonathan Luxmoore, an expert on Catholicism in Eastern Europe, reported on the text a dozen years ago. He recently summarized the new book for Catholic News Service (1/19/19) and for The Tablet of London (2/2/19).

Just as there are Biblical fundamentalists who selectively invoke one or another Scripture verse to support their preconceived opinion, so too there are some papal fundamentalists among Catholics. For example, a small but influential number of Catholics in the U.S. and elsewhere pull a phrase from John Paul II or from Pope Benedict XVI to claim that Catholicism is in harmony with unrestricted capitalism (also called neoliberalism). Similarly, a few Catholics pull out one another phrase to say that Catholicism gives unqualified approval to Marxism. This new book by John Paul II got caught up in this pick-and-choose controversy, causing the long delay in publication.

The Catholic Social Ethic, along with John Paul II’s other writing and talks, shows that he never was a big fan of free market capitalism. He repeatedly rejected “individualistic liberalism.” Nor of course did John Paul II ever mount a defense of communism. Yet through study and experience of the communist regime in Poland, he was well-versed in Marxist themes.

John Paul II, Luxmoore says, recognized that Marxism appealed to young workers because of injustices in their situations. To connect with young adults, Catholicism must have a sophisticated alternative to Marxism. It cannot merely condemn a mistaken ideology. Catholicism must furnish an approach to social justice and peace that fits the daily comings-and-goings of young adults. John Paul II, along with several other Polish theologians including Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski (1901-1981), set about crafting an accessible theology of work.

In contrast to materialistic capitalism, John Paul II popularized the principle of the priority of labor over capital. That is, the worker is the subject of work; not the investment of money. Yes, investments are part of production and service delivery. But the purpose of the enterprise is the worker. According to John Paul II, the word worker is inclusive--managers, owners on the scene, shop hands, janitors, truck drivers, clerks, all those who in some way fashion and distribute the service or the product.

In contrast to materialistic communism, John Paul II outlined a spirituality of work which integrates business, family life, civic involvement and more with fidelity to Jesus’ gospel.

Young adults are familiar with today’s materialisms and other empty ideologies: careerism, cost-benefit analysis, consumerism, conspiracy theories, extreme individualism in economics and culture, relativism (or what the White House calls alternative facts), and more.

Some Catholic leaders say they are interested in young adults. Maybe so. But does a young adult ever come upon ideas and experiences within Catholicism that suggest an alternative to the harshness of work, to the arbitrariness in society or to our vacuous culture? Would a young adult ever hear themes about work expressed in spiritual terms? John Paul II’s theology of work project is suggestive, but not enough. Other theologians and particularly interested young Catholics have to take the matter a few steps further: More sources, more reflections, more conversations and for sure more focused action for justice and peace within the workaday world.

At the moment, The Catholic Social Ethic is available in Polish. Perhaps a condensed English version can be published soon. Perhaps it could include a few pastoral comments and top out at let’s say 200 pages.

Droel is editor of John Paul II’s Gospel of Work (National Center for the Laity, PO Box 291102, Chicago, IL 60629; $7)