Martino: St. Pat's Mass to be held

The following article appeared in the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, March 7, 2009:

Martino: St. Pat’s Mass to be held

SCRANTON – Bishop Joseph Martino issued a statement Friday saying a Mass will be celebrated at St. Peter’s Cathedral prior to the St. Patrick’s Day parade on March 14 and added the decision to hold the liturgy “was clouded” by “the possibility of disruptive behavior in the parade” by supporters of the effort to unionize Catholic school teachers.

Martino’s statement said “it was learned last week” that the Scranton Diocese Association of Catholic Teachers planned to march in the parade and “use the sound system on the AFL-CIO campaign bus ‘to drum up support for HB 26,” a bill in the state House that would amend the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Act to explicitly cover Catholic teachers. It would give teachers the right to take their case to the Labor Relations Board.

“I cannot understand how such behavior has any place in a parade that is organized to honor St. Patrick and to celebrate Irish heritage,” Martino is quoted as saying. The diocese notes the association marched in last year’s Wilkes-Barre parade.

The diocese decided to hold the Mass after parade organizers “received verbal assurance from the AFL-CIO” that SDACT will not advocate for the bill or protest Martino.

SDACT released its own retort, saying “the apparent paranoia in the bishop’s statement is more than a little disconcerting and certainly unfounded.” The association plans to march, but would be part of a “much larger contingent of union brothers and sisters” showing labor solidarity on several issues.

The association noted that “the history of the Irish in our area is intertwined with the region’s labor history,” and “there is not a St. Patrick’s’ Day parade in the entire U.S.” that lacks a banner with the words of activist James Connelly saying, “the cause of labour is the cause of Ireland and the cause of Ireland is the cause of labour.”

SDACT also repeated its contention that support of labor rights has been a basic tenet of Catholic teaching for more than a century, and noted that the participation in last year’s parade proves the group would not be disruptive.

“SDACT had the largest contingent in the parade consisting of parents, teachers, alumni and students, whose participation was orderly and enthusiastic.”