SDACT President Nominated For Person of the Year

The following article appeared in the Wilkes-Barre Citizens' Voice, November 30, 2008:

Finalists for 2008 Person of the Year have made impact on Wyoming Valley

The Citizens’ Voice received many nominations for Person of the Year for 2008. Each nominee warranted careful consideration because of his or her positive impact on the Wyoming Valley, but the list needed to be limited to 10 nominees.

Last year, the Person of the Year award was presented to Rabbi Larry Kaplan for his continued foster parenting with Luzerne County’s Children and Youth Services. During the past 10 years, he and his wife, Gerri, have cared for more than 50 foster children and have repeatedly opened their doors to children who have nowhere else to go. The Kaplans even adopted two of the foster children.

This year many of the nominees have stories as compelling as the Kaplans’ and are just as deserving of the award. Each of the 10 nominees has had a significant, positive impact on the Wyoming Valley in the past year.

Like last year, readers will decide who wins the award by voting online. Voting will begin today at http://www.wbcitizensvoice.com/personoftheyear/cvvote.aspx and last until Dec. 14. To vote, follow the links on the Web site for Person of the Year and choose one nominee. The winner will be announced in the Sunday, Dec. 28 edition of The Sunday Voice. Here are the 10 nominees for The Citizens’ Voice Person of the Year for 2008.

• Monsignor John Bendik — This year was bound to be difficult for parishioners at four Roman Catholic churches in Pittston. With a dwindling population and finances, St. John the Baptist, St. Casimir’s, St. Joseph’s, and St. John the Evangelist all decided to combine into one church last year. After more than a year of planning by Monsignor John Bendik and other church leaders, the churches closed throughout the spring and summer. Each held closings that honored the ethnic heritage of the individual parishes. During this trying time, Bendik comforted the parishioners and ensured a smooth and respectful transition from four churches into one church in Pittston.
• Julie Benjamin — Almost four nights a week, Julie Benjamin gives her time to help the least fortunate in the community — those without a home. Since 2003, Benjamin has served as the coordinator for Ruth’s Place, a homeless shelter for women in Wilkes-Barre. Throughout 2008, Benjamin has remained upbeat while facing challenges to the women’s homeless shelter. Ruth’s Place lost its home when the First United Methodist Church was sold over the summer and had to move temporarily to the Salvation Army gymnasium in Wilkes-Barre. In mid-November, the shelter moved again, and its search continues for a permanent home. Benjamin supervises at the shelter four nights a week instead of spending evenings at home with her family. Through the years, the shelter has housed up to 550 women. Usually 15 stay at the shelter at any given time. “I don’t think of it as a sacrifice. It is sort of my calling,” said Benjamin of her work at the shelter.
• Al Boscov — This summer, Boscov’s department store announced devastating news. Due to the faltering economy, the company declared bankruptcy and 10 stores closed. But before the company was liquidated, the retired Al Boscov said he was determined to keep the store under family ownership and pledged to keep the stores open — including one in downtown Wilkes-Barre where 150 work. Wilkes-Barre officials lauded Boscov’s past generosity and support of Wilkes-Barre and crossed their fingers that his vision for the stores would be successful. Boscov, 79, has worked to obtain more than $300 million, including some of his own money, to save the department store chain and again showed his commitment to the Wyoming Valley. With financial assistance coming at the state, city and county level, Boscov seems poised to have another chance to rebuild his 39-store corporation. “We’re going to be fine,” said the optimistic Boscov. “We’re going to surprise a lot of people.”
• Dr. John Callahan — It was after watching “The Lion King” with his grandchildren that Dr. John Callahan decided to give his time at the Care and Concern Free Health Clinic in Pittston. A line in a song from the film, “you should never take more than you give,” stuck out to him, and he thought donating his services to those who are uninsured would be valuable. “There are a lot of people who need help, and but for the grace of God, I could have been one of them,” said Callahan, 69, a physician in the Pittston area for more than 40 years. Since the clinic opened last year in the old Seton Catholic High School, Callahan estimates he has seen 600 patients, even with the clinic open one night a week. Callahan is honored to be nominated, but he believes that without the two individuals who started the clinic, Ann Cocco and Deacon Jim Cortegone, he wouldn’t have helped so many people.
• Joe DeVizia and Eric Lee — Separately, Joe DeVizia and Eric Lee have been a part of many projects to improve the Wyoming Valley. But within the last two years the two have combined forces on Generation to Generation, a project designed to build relationships between older and younger people in the area. DeVizia serves as the chairman and Lee had the original idea for the group, which hosts activities for people of all ages and cultural backgrounds. “No matter what age you are, you want to be a part of something,” DeVizia said. The group had its biggest success in September, when they hosted a dance for all ages and more than 1,100 came. Lee, owner of Peking Chef restaurants, has described Generation to Generation as a “labor of love,” and DeVizia said wherever he goes as Luzerne County’s executive director of human services, people ask him about upcoming events for the group.
• Wilbur Dotter — Wilbur Dotter has volunteered for area veterans every Thursday since early 2001. Dotter is a van driver for Disabled American Veterans, and it is his job to pick up veterans in the Wilkes-Barre area who need a ride to their doctor’s appointments at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Plains Township. “It is usually people who would have a rough time coming in otherwise. A lot of them are elderly, a lot of them don’t have a car,” said Dotter, 68, of West Pittston. Through the years, Dotter drove almost 10,000 miles and volunteered for more than 1,750 hours. When he drives the van, it takes a full day because he has to drive and pick up the veterans. Then he must wait until they are done with their appointments before taking them home. A veteran himself, Dotter is glad to do his part to help those who served the country. He pledges to continue driving as long as he is able.
• Milz — Though a controversial figure this year, Michael Milz has dedicated much of his life to educating children as a history and science teacher for 33 years in the Scranton Diocese’s school system. In 2008, Milz found himself fighting for the Scranton Diocese’s teachers to have their bargaining unit recognized. No longer a teacher with the diocese, Milz has continued to fight on behalf of the teachers as a head of the Scranton Diocese Association of Catholic Teachers and part of the Northeast Area Labor Federation. “All employees need a voice when it comes to the conditions of employment with their employers,” said Milz, 58, of Wilkes-Barre. This year, Milz worked with State Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski to craft and introduce legislation in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives to guarantee parochial school teachers the right to form a union. Milz has sacrificed for what he believes is right.
• Susan Shoval — Susan Shoval has been an important part of the Wyoming Valley for the last 25 years. She and her husband Judd Shoval started Guard Insurance in Wilkes-Barre in 1983 and have seen it grow far beyond their original vision. The company started with 15 employees and grew to 250. Last year, they sold the company to an Israeli insurance company, Clal, to continue the growth of the business. In addition to Guard Insurance’s success, Shoval volunteers her time to help the Wilkes-Barre community. Shoval has served on many community boards and is the co-chair of the Luzerne County Diversity Commission. She enjoys giving her time to help the community and believes she is doing her part to better the Wilkes-Barre area. “Since I was born here, I’m very interested in the direction and success of the local community,” Shoval said.
• Dr. Susan Sordoni — Dr. Susan Sordoni calls her professional life a “Cinderella” story. Nearly 30 years after receiving her bachelor’s degree from Misericordia University, she finished medical school and became a doctor. Earlier this year, Sordoni and her colleagues opened the doors at the Volunteers in Medicine free medical clinic at 190 N. Pennsylvania Ave., in Wilkes-Barre. On the first day it opened, Sordoni was busy with patients, showing the evident need for medical help for the uninsured and the under-insured in the Wyoming Valley. As a person who fought to accomplish her dreams, and who uses her skills to assist those in need, Sordoni has shown her concern for the people of northeast Pennsylvania.
• Miriam Stadulis — This year marks the 20th year that Sister Miriam Stadulis and the McGlynn Learning Center made a difference in young people’s lives. At the McGlynn Learning Center, Stadulis reaches children who live in low-income housing at the Wilkes-Barre Boulevard town homes. Stadulis estimates that the McGlynn Learning Center hosts 100 students a year for education and recreation programs. During the school year, the McGlynn Learning Center hosts after-school programs and over the summer Stadulis and her assistants teach lessons in everything from reading to computer literacy programs. Stadulis is glad that the center has thrived in its mission of tutoring underprivileged children in Wilkes-Barre. “That’s our goal — to see them succeed in school and do something positive in their lives,” Stadulis said.

NCR Article Features SDACT Campaign for Dignity & Justice

The following article appeared in the November 28, 2008 edition of the National Catholic Reporter:

State politician squares off against bishop in labor fight

By PATRICK O'NEILL

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. -- State Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski doesn’t like the position he’s in as a faithful Catholic and member of St. Mary of the Maternity Parish.

Pashinski is leading the battle in the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives against his own bishop. As sponsor of House Bill 2626, Pashinski is trying to resurrect the Scranton Diocese Association of Catholic Teachers, a union no longer recognized by Scranton Bishop Joseph F. Martino.

Earlier this year, Martino announced in the diocesan newspaper, The Catholic Light, he would no longer recognize the teachers’ association, implementing in its place an employee relations program critics have dubbed “a company union.” Martino has refused to meet with union representatives, and will not take questions on the matter from media outlets.

Pashinski, 62, a Pennsylvania native, admits to being torn, but he says he is being forced to take on his bishop because he must also be loyal to his constituents in this heavily unionized and heavily Catholic region of northeastern Pennsylvania.

“It’s a difficult position for a lot of people, all of us who love our faith,” he said. “This is not the kind of position we want to be in.”

Following the 2007 closure of some diocesan schools and the consolidation of others, diocesan officials assured teacher association president Michael Milz that the union would be recognized under the restructured system. Martino later changed his mind, a decision he announced last January in The Catholic Light.

Bishop Joseph F. MartinoMartino’s decision has set off a firestorm in parishes. Teachers and students have engaged in walkouts and pro-union rallies have been held throughout the diocese. Milz said he has received supportive phone calls from dozens of diocesan priests who back the union, but refuse to speak out publicly against Martino.

The union has turned to the legislature for help. Because Catholic lay teachers were not included for protections in the 1935 National Labor Relations Act, the union has asked the state legislature to amend the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Act to cover lay employees of religiously affiliated schools. If the bill passes both houses, and is signed into law by the governor, the Scranton Diocese Association of Catholic Teachers can start organizing in the schools again. Pashinski said the legislation has a strong chance of being approved next year.

Pashinski got some chuckles from the audience at the daylong hearing when he asked a panel of Catholic opponents of HB 2626 if the Vatican had a union. When none of the panelists knew the answer, Pashinski said the Vatican does, indeed, have a labor union.

Although Martino has refused to meet with the union or the news media, he was well represented at two hearings conducted by the House Labor Relations Committee in which it was clear the union had strong support from committee members.

Robert L. Paserba, superintendent for Catholic schools in the Pittsburgh diocese, which has some unionized teachers, spoke against the bill, saying it “would create a general statewide law with unknown consequences and dangerous involvement of the state in defining religious issues and mission in Catholic parish schools and Catholic high schools. Moreover, it would represent the choosing of sides in an internal church dispute over the application of church social teaching in one particular diocese.”

A different picture was painted by Irene M. Tori, vice president of the Association of Catholic Teachers, which she called “the sole and exclusive bargaining agent for the lay teachers in the 29 [high] schools of the archdiocese of Philadelphia.”

Tori, who spent 25 years as a math teacher in Archbishop Ryan High School in northeast Philadelphia, said the union has been unable to organize the diocese’s elementary schoolteachers and maintenance workers because they fear losing their jobs if they meet with union officials.
“The fear is pervasive,” Tori said at a Sept. 18 Labor Relations Committee hearing at Wilkes University. Tori said the workers always ask her: “ ‘Can I be fired for doing this?’ We would always answer them honestly and say, ‘Yes.’ At that point the teachers, no matter how bad the working conditions were, would begin to backtrack.

“Passage of House Bill 2626 would change the answer that the association has to give them.”
Rita C. Schwartz, president of the Philadelphia-based National Association of Catholic School Teachers, said HB 2626 would offer protections to Catholic lay teachers throughout the state. At the present time, six of the state’s eight dioceses have Catholic teachers’ unions.

“Since there is at present no protection under the law, all Catholic school teachers in Pennsylvania are one bishop away from what has happened in the diocese of Scranton,” she said.
Over the years, Tori said she has filed eight complaints “against various bishops” with the Vatican over union-related disputes. None was resolved in the union’s favor. “It’s kind of like Lions 8, Christians 0,” she said.

Last month, the Scranton teachers’ association lost its Vatican appeal over Martino’s decision not to recognize the union.

Canon lawyer Nicholas P. Cafardi, dean emeritus of Pittsburgh’s Duquesne University Law School, spoke against HB 2626.

Raised in a pro-union family, Cafardi said the Code of Canon Law gives the bishop full authority over church schools. “Teachers in Catholic schools are the bishop’s collaborators in this theological ministry,” Cafardi said at the hearing. “They are not simply employees, but are rather co-ministers with the bishop in his ministry of Catholic education.”

A “state-enforced labor relations model ... would impede if not destroy this co-ministry,” he said. “It would require the diocesan bishop to use the mechanisms of the state to deal with what is not, at base, a secular, but rather a religious and spiritual relationship.
“Should the proposed legislation be adopted, the church-state conflicts that it would propagate are enormous.”

In an interview with NCR, Cafardi said he was not familiar with the specifics of the Scranton standoff between Martino and the teacher association, but he added that the bishop also has a role to play in settling disputes.

“Speaking abstractly, because I don’t know the facts in Scranton,” Cafardi said, “if the code says these people are your co-ministers, you need to treat them as co-ministers. You need to treat them as your full collaborators in propagating the faith, which just means that you treat them with a certain level of respect.

“If the church says that, then act that way. While it means that the state should not interfere in that relationship, it also means that the bishop should prize it and nurture it.”
For his part, Pashinski would be happy not to be leading the charge of state interference with his church.

“I don’t like being in this position,” Pashinski told NCR. “If these five other [Pennsylvania] dioceses worked it out with their bishops, they don’t have a problem. Government’s out of it.
“I’m having difficulty as a Catholic trying to understand how, when the bishop represents the shepherd of Jesus Christ, why he can’t bring all the members of the flock together and settle it the way I believe Jesus would.

“[In Scranton] there doesn’t seem to be any movement to meet with the members of the flock. This is not a regular employer-employee relationship. These teachers are Catholic teachers. Every Sunday they put their money in the basket to support the schools, to support the churches, and on top of that they’re dedicating their lives to promote our faith for generations to come.”

Patrick O’Neill is a freelance writer living in Raleigh, N.C.

HB 2626 Discussed on Statewide Radio Show

On November 16, 2008, SDACT President Mike Milz was interviewed on the statewide radio program, "The Rick Smith Show." Milz discussed the status of HB 2626 which will amend the PA Labor Relations Act to include employees of religiously-affiliated schools.

To listen to the interview, go to the link below and advance the MP3 file to the 14 minute mark: http://ricksmithshow.com/november-16%2C-2008-show

Scranton Diocese Overlooks Best Resource to Address Catholic School Situation

The following letter to the editor of the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader appeared November 16, 2008:

Scranton Diocese Overlooks Best Resource to Address Catholic School Situation

It has been a difficult journey for me in faith to observe how the Scranton Diocese has chosen to deal with parish and school communities. Yes, downsizing is happening all over in Catholic schools and parish communities, but not in the way and the speed it has been done here.

This year, when an opportunity presented itself for the diocese to work with its people – the most dedicated employees of their schools, their teachers – the diocese chose not to do so.
We believed then the promises that closing four Catholic high schools in the largest county in the diocese (with 1,425 students enrolled among them) to create a new school, Holy Redeemer, would at least provide more opportunities and resources.

Yet, we find that the diocese has increased class sizes and laid off teachers.

I am glad that we live in Kingston and close enough to Holy Redeemer that my children can still receive a Catholic high school education, and the blend of teachers is truly wonderful. But I don’t believe these teachers can speak openly and honestly for themselves when the diocese would not even permit them to organize and have a vote to show whether or not the majority of teachers wanted the union to continue representing them. They do have to worry about their jobs.

The diocese’s unwillingness to talk with the teachers union and negotiate – or to use a liaison such as Father Sullivan at King’s College, who is an expert on the Catholic church and workers’ rights – concerns me.

Instead of dialogue, the diocese just published the decision not to recognize the existing 30-year teachers union in the diocesan newspaper. The diocese also used this newspaper to announce it had chosen for the teachers the employee relations program. The way this was handled also sent a message to the community.

Couldn’t the efforts have been better spent by the diocese on meetings and verbal communication with the teachers and with the bishop? Why couldn’t stronger marketing campaigns be put forward for the Catholic schools? The very people the diocese chooses not to work with as a group, their teachers, their best resource, could be their greatest support and also the best sales pitch for their school system.

I was able to attend part of the hearing for state HB 2626. I was able to read through the written copies of testimonies that were provided to any who attended. I feel it is a sad day here for Catholic education.

I am still praying that some of what Pope Benedict’s visit was about – honoring and valuing our youth opinions and dialogue with the church community – can still happen.

If a Pennsylvania law has to be put in place for this to happen, I truly hope it comes to pass.

Mary Theroux
Kingston

PBS Show on SDACT Campaign Available On-line

Click on the following link to view the segment on the PBS show "Religion and Ethics Newsweekly" featuring the SDACT's campaign for dignity and justice: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/episodes/episode-no-1211/cover-catholic-church-and-labor/1322/

Altoona-Johnstown Diocesan Teachers Urged To Support House Bill 2626

SDACT President, Mike Milz and National Association of Catholic School Teachers' President, Rita Schwartz, travelled to Ebensburg this past weekend to join in the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Altoona-Johnstown Catholic School Teachers Association (AJCSTA).

A formal dinner was held Sunday evening where Milz was a featured speaker. Besides congratulating the Association on its proud accomplishments over the last quarter century, Milz used the occassion to talk to the membership of the Association about the common goal of all unionized Catholic school teachers in the State - the passage of HB 2626.

Through the efforts of our brothers and sisters in Altoona-Johnstown, three members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives that come from the geographical area served by that Diocese are among the 57 cosponsors of HB 2626. They are Reps. Scott Conklin, Gary Haluska and Edward Wojnaroski.

Milz talked about our statewide strategy to secure the passage of HB 2626 which entails all unionized teachers working together to see that every member of the General Assembly from each diocese- House and Senate - sign on in support of the Bill.

Earlier in the day, Milz and Schwartz met with the Executive Board and building representatives of the AJCSTA to talk about HB 2626 and upcoming negotiations for their Association.