Separation of Church and Scott…

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops recently came out in “solidarity and support” of Archbishop Jerome Listecki of Milwaukee, who recently wrote:

“The Church is well aware that difficult economic times call for hard choices and financial responsibility to further the common good,” the archbishop said. “But hard times do not nullify the moral obligation each of us has to respect the legitimate rights of workers.”

The Chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops backed up Archbishop Listecki:

Catholic teaching and your statement remind us these are not just political conflicts or economic choices; they are moral choices with enormous human dimensions. The debates over worker representation and collective bargaining are not simply matters of ideology or power, but involve principles of justice, participation and how workers can have a voice in the workplace and economy. As you point out, “It does not follow from this that every claim made by workers or their representatives is valid. Every union, like every other economic actor, is called to work for the common good, to make sacrifices when required, and to adjust to new economic realities. However, it is equally a mistake to marginalize or dismiss unions as impediments to economic growth. As Pope John Paul II wrote in 1981, ‘[a] union remains a constructive factor of social order and solidarity, and it is impossible to ignore it.’” (Laborem Exercens #20, emphasis in original)