Pastoral message
“Church and Labor:
Partners for Peace and Justice”
April
28, 1985
To my dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
The role of workers in nation-building
becomes the focus of attention among nations who celebrate Labor Day on May
first. On this day, a number of nations will extol the worker for surrendering
their individuality in order that a classless, collective society might emerge.
Others will praise the worker for fidelity to a capitalist system where profits
count more than people. Still other nations will pay tribute to the worker
who passively endures the anti-labor decrees of an authoritarian state.
In the face of these conflicting
views regarding the worker’s role in society, it becomes imperative for Christians
to seriously study the social teachings of the Church. Ignorance about the
moral principles that define social relations could make us easy prey to false
prophets who promise a paradise without God. Silence on labor issues could
also strengthen those who exploit workers and manipulate them towards violence
and hatred.
In the intensifying contest
for the hearts and minds of our workers, it is important for the Church to clearly state her social teachings, which envision free
and creative workers who are sustained by the bonds of brotherhood and by
their dignity as sons and daughters of God.
The historical conditions of
labor that led to the publication of the 1891 Rerum
Novarum by Pope Leo XIII and forty years later
of Quadragesimo Anno
by Pope Pius XI — are sadly similar to our times. Then and now, workers were
being denied a living wage; their working conditions were hazardous and monotonous;
their struggle to organize were being brutally denied. Often, the ones who
suffered the worse degradations and humiliations were women workers.
The Papal encyclicals sought
to promote social justice around certain fundamental themes derived from natural
law, from the Gospels, from theology. Some of these themes were: 1) the dignity
of every person, 2) the implementation of the new commandment of love, and
3) the relation of work with the creation of God.
The dignity of every person
derives from our being made in the image of God. This endows every man and
woman with certain inalienable rights — among them the right to life and all
those conditions needed to live a full human life such as: adequate shelter,
food, employment, education and effective participation in decisions that
affect one’s life.
As children of God, our labor
should not be degraded into a commodity to be bought and sold in the market
place. Pope John Paul II reminds us in his Laborem
Exercens of the principle of priority of labor
over capital. This asserts that man — not capital nor machine — is the primary
actor giving value and dignity to human labor. And thus, any work that dehumanizes,
any policy that increases the powerlessness of the poor, any contract that
binds the worker to immoral conditions of work —
must be repudiated as injurious to human dignity and as threats to the stability
and harmony of our society.
The second theme concerns the
life of unity and reconciliation made possible by our recognizing the image
of God in others. Christ’s new commandment is His invitation to us that we
share in God’s love — in his fidelity, generosity and mercy towards all mankind.
Therefore, in the Christian perspective, social relations are not governed
solely by the strict reciprocity of commutative justice, but by the dictates
of universal charity.
As Christians, we do not view
human relations as a battlefield where men and women are inevitably locked
in conflict whose only resolution is by destroying the enemy. Without the
constant exercise of mercy, compassion and forgiveness in our daily life,
we lose credibility when denouncing structural injustice and oppression.
The third theme is the relation
between human work and divine creation. As stated in a recent pastoral letter
of the Canadian Bishops: “...all persons are also entrusted with the responsibility
of being co-creators of the earth and stewards for the sake of present and
future generations.” Since the earth is one of God’s most precious gifts to
humanity, its limited resources must be conserved and developed to equitably
serve mankind.
These three themes having been
briefly described here, should stimulate us towards
further reflections on the dignity of labor.
In 1980, while visiting the
slums of Brazil, the present Pontiff stated: “The Church wishes to be
the Church of the poor!” We echo this Papal Exhortation and in turn likewise
state: “the Church in the Philippines wishes to be the Church of the poor!”
Therefore, on this Labor Day
of 1985, the Church blesses the courageous apostolate of those among the clergy
and laity who live and work among the poor in order to invest their cause
with Gospel values. The simplicity and discipline of their lifestyle give
much credibility to the witness of the Church among workers.
Today, the Church also blesses
the efforts of those in the business sector who seek to establish a genuine
Christian social order in this country, where workers are associated with
the profits and decisions of enterprises. May they work more diligently towards
the advent of social justice in every sector of our society.
The Church also takes cognizance
and blesses the reforms instituted by government among the bureaucracies dealing
with labor in an effort to minimize those corrupt practices that have brought
so much suffering to workers.
Above all on this first day
of May, the Church is keenly mindful of and joyfully blesses the Filipino
worker and his family. For the Church remains the true and authentic home
of our workers, especially in times of crisis. As Pope John
Paul II reminds us: “The Church does not need to have recourse to ideological
systems in order to love, defend and collaborate in the liberation of the
human being. At the center of the message of which the Church is trustee
and herald, she finds inspiration for acting in favor of brotherhood, justice
and peace...” (1979 Address at Puebla, Mexico).
Finally, I humbly entreat the
most Blessed Virgin Mary. She, whose earthly life was spent mostly in the
worker's hut of St. Joseph and in the carpentry shop of her Son, Jesus Christ
— that in the noble struggle for social justice, she brings about an enduring
partnership between the Church in the Philippines and the Filipino worker.
(Sgd.) + Jaime L. Cardinal Sin, D.D.
Archbishop of Manila
Manila, April 28, 1985
