SDACT CAMPAIGN UPDATES FOR MARCH 12, 2008

Below are links to the latest letters to the editor connected to SDACT's ongoing campaign for justice and dignity for our lay teachers.

Follow Father Sullivan’s advice and open teacher/bishop dialogue

Catholic school teachers have every right to negotiate wages



Diocese out of step

Editor:

For 40 years it has been my privilege and pleasure to teach religious studies in a Catholic university. As a practicing Catholic and as an educator, the Catholic Church’s teachings on social justice and human rights have consistently been a source of pride and inspiration to me.

Over the years, I’ve taken every opportunity to gladly share these principles with my students and with others. So when I see one of these basic human rights being ignored by the Diocese of Scranton, I feel the need to express my views, which I believe reflect the views of a growing number of Catholics who feel that the Catholic Church in the Scranton Diocese is not living up to one of its own teachings, namely, the right to unionize.

To be more specific, in November, a document, “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” was published by the Catholic bishops of the United States. It is intended to be read widely by Catholics during the upcoming election year so that they can become better informed as they prepare to vote. The document draws heavily upon the rich and long-standing social justice teachings of the Catholic Church, including a passage that appears under the heading, “Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers.” It reads: “Employers contribute to the common good through the services or products they provide and by creating jobs that uphold the dignity and rights of workers — to productive work, to decent and just wages, to adequate benefits and security in their old age, to the choice of whether to organize and join unions . . .”

Is not the Catholic Church an employer when it comes to Catholic schools, and, by its own words, must it not, if it is to remain true to its own principles of social justice, allow its teachers the choice of whether or not to organize and join a union? This is not the first church document to recognize the rights of workers. Since 1891, with the publication of “Rerum Novarum,” these rights have been affirmed time and again not only in documents from the Vatican but from our own Catholic bishops in the United States.

It seems that the diocese is not only out of step with the teachings of the church regarding the right of workers to organize and join unions, but also with a majority of the American bishops who approved the 2007 statement mentioned above. I respectfully urge Bishop Joseph Martino to begin a process of negotiation and reconciliation that can hopefully lead to a resolution of the union question that is acceptable to all parties.

JOHN R. ZAUMS, PH.D.
CLARKS SUMMIT