By Bishop Paul S. Coakley, Archbishop of Oklahoma City, Chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development

Sept. 5, 2022 – The church often looks at the well-being of society through the lens of the well-being of the family. As Pope Francis said during his visit to the United States in 2015, “We cannot call any society healthy when it does not leave real room for family life. We cannot think that a society has a future when it fails to pass laws capable of protecting families and ensuring their basic needs…”1 This Labor Day, let us reflect on how we can build a more just economy by promoting the welfare of working families through both charitable works and through advocacy for improved policies such as expanding the Child Tax Credit and passing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. Advancing these two policies would have a profound impact on family stability, especially for families who are financially vulnerable.

Some recent reports have found the economy is returning to a pre-pandemic norm with regards to unemployment rates.2 However, other reports demonstrate that, while wages are rising, much or all of the increases are lost to inflation, which affects low-income families the most and puts our economy in a precarious position.3 I pray that government leaders who deal with inflation may have prudence in addressing its complexities and challenges.

But pre-pandemic norms were far from perfect. Even before current economic uncertainties, women – especially women of African descent and Latina women – earned less than their male counterparts, including when doing the same work with the same qualifications. They filled the majority of direct care jobs, experiencing increased risk of injury, high stress, and exposure to illness while earning low wages.4,5 They were the majority of caretakers for their loved ones, yet many lacked adequate family and medical leave policies. These and other economic challenges continue to affect working families and children.
This is also the first Labor Day since the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade. The ruling is an incredibly significant step towards healing the deep wounds of abortion and protecting all preborn human life. But our aim as Catholics has always been, and remains, to build a society in which abortion is unthinkable. This unique moment necessitates a society and an economy that supports marriages, families, and women; it demands that all of us reach across political aisles and work diligently to reframe social policies in ways that are pro-woman, pro-family, pro-worker and, thus, authentically pro-life.

One of the USCCB’s policy priorities this Congress has been supporting the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA). There is currently no federal law requiring employers to provide short-term, reasonable accommodations to pregnant women in the workplace and the PWFA would do so. Common requests include being able to carry a bottle of water, a stool for jobs that involve long periods of standing, or lighter duty for jobs that entail heavy lifting. Women in low-wage and physically demanding jobs, disproportionately held by women of color, are regularly denied these simple accommodations and terminated or forced to take leave without pay.6 A number of states already have laws like this in place; however, pregnant women in every state should be protected by these standards. No woman should be forced to risk her or her child’s health, miscarriage, preterm birth, economic security or losing insurance benefits just because she requests a short-term, reasonable, pregnancy-related accommodation. The U.S. House of Representatives has already passed this bill with strong, bipartisan support. Now, with a short time left in this current legislative session of Congress, we urge immediate Senate passage of this proposal that would make the workplace safer for women and their preborn children. Hundreds of Catholics who participated in this year’s Catholic Social Ministry Gathering advocated for this bill in meetings with their U.S. Senators and we encourage Catholics to continue doing so through the advocacy center on the USCCB website.

The USCCB has also been actively advocating in favor of expanding the Child Tax Credit (CTC). In 2021, the CTC provided financial relief for families who were having difficulty making ends meet. Families largely spent this money on food, energy bills, housing payments and other basic needs. With rising inflation, continuing to expand this tax credit would be critically helpful to families forced to choose between buying food and filling up their gas tanks. Congress should move forward with a CTC proposal that has no minimum income requirement, includes families with mixed immigration status, is available for the year before birth, and is offered to every child – regardless of the size of the family. The CTC was enormously effective at reducing child poverty in 2021 and we should not regress from this progress.

Additionally, the USCCB supports federal paid leave policy, just wages, and the right to organize. We have long called for a system in which the whole of society enjoys fundamental human needs including nutrition, affordable housing, education, and health care. These common goods cannot be achieved through individual efforts alone, but require the collaboration and cooperation of everyone, and the exclusion of no one.

Just as significant as federal policy, there is much work that can be done locally to advance the dignity of work. For example, there are always opportunities to volunteer to help struggling families, such as with Catholic Charities. Additionally, the efforts of labor unions have helped union workers fare better during the pandemic than non-union workers, as they were more likely to maintain their pay and their jobs. To this end, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development supports organizations that work on low-wage workers’ rights and training, in an effort to eliminate labor trafficking and related workplace abuses such as wage theft.

Finally, in writing this Labor Day reflection, I am reminded of Monsignor George Higgins, who passed away 20 years ago this year. He was a fervent advocate of economic justice for all, working closely with unions and union organizers, including Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers, and received many awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He was the director of what was then called the Social Action Department of the bishops’ conference and, in fact, wrote or was consulted on the U.S. Catholic bishops’ Labor Day statements for decades. Inspired by him, let us continue his good work in building a just society for all. May the spirit and example of Monsignor Higgins inspire us, that we might have the wisdom to build up justice and improve the lives of workers and their families as he did throughout his life.

1 Pope Francis, Prayer Vigil for the Festival of Families (Sept. 26, 2015). Apostolic Journey – United States of America: Prayer vigil for the Festival of families at the B. Franklin Parkway (Philadelphia, 26 September 2015) | Francis (vatican.va)
2 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Situation Summary (Aug. 5, 2022). https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm
3 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Cost Index Summary (July 29, 2022). https://www.bls.gov/news.release/eci.nr0.htm
4 PHI. Direct Care Worker Disparities: Key Trends and Challenges (Feb. 8, 2022). https://www.phinational.org/resource/direct-care-worker-disparities-key-trends-and-challenges/
5 PHI. Workplace Injuries and the Direct Care Workforce (April 20, 2018). https://www.phinational.org/resource/workplace-injuries-direct-care-workforce/
6 A Better Balance. Long Overdue: It is Time for the Federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (May 2019). https://www.abetterbalance.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Long-Overdue.pdf

By Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON – Evangelizing the whole church, taking personal responsibility for the mission to evangelize, engaging youth and young adults better, accompanying families, asking parishes to become more welcoming, understanding the experience of LGBTQ+ Catholics and allowing more women in church leadership roles.

These are some common themes that surfaced in a sampling of U.S. dioceses’ synthesis reports on listening sessions they held in preparation for the world Synod of Bishops on synodality in October 2023.
Dioceses utilized several different tools and opportunities to gather feedback: in-person and online group listening sessions, one-on-one meetings, targeted outreach efforts, online surveys and other methods.
In the listening phase, members of parishes, dioceses, religious orders and Catholic movements were asked to consider the ways in which they currently experience the church as “synodal,” that is, as a community that walks together, and to suggest ways to strengthen that in practice.

A synthesis of the listening sessions formed a report each diocese had to submit to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; 16 regional teams were working on drafting regional reports synthesizing diocesan reports.

The USCCB will in turn synthesize the summaries from throughout the nation for a report to submit to the Vatican Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops.

The secretariat will use the reports from bishops’ conferences around the world to develop the “instrumentum laboris,” or working document, to guide continental or regional ecclesial assemblies that will take place by March 2023.

“Pope Francis’ vision for the synod called for the largest consultative process both in the history of the Catholic Church and the history of humankind,” said Seattle Archbishop Paul D. Etienne, who attended several local gatherings.

The archdiocese’s report captures feedback from nearly 1,000 online and in-person gatherings since January, involving over 11,000 people across western Washington.

“I’m so proud of the many thousands of people in western Washington who led, participated and invited others to prayerful dialogue. These events were marked by prayer, heartful sharing and attentive listening,” Archbishop Etienne said.

“The purpose was not to determine solutions; rather to practice walking with each other as church, to listen for the Holy Spirit and to begin to discern what God is asking of us in our time,” he added.
Suggested discussion prompts were intentionally broad. One participant described the synod as “an official, church-sanctioned conversation in which there are no taboo subjects, no off-limits subjects, no wrong answers.”

More than 90% of the archdiocese’s parishes are represented in its synod synthesis report. Additionally, listening sessions were held with students, the imprisoned, Catholic Community Services of Western Washington and women religious.

In the Archdiocese of Louisville, Kentucky, the faithful shared their experiences of the church during 120 in-person group listening sessions.

Seventy-eight sessions were hosted by parishes; 12 were based at schools; 23 were conducted through archdiocesan agencies and outreach programs; four religious orders hosted sessions; three lay associations held listening sessions.

“This synthesis reveals pain and challenges within our church along with opportunities for healing and growth,” wrote Louisville Archbishop Shelton J. Fabre in a cover letter accompanying the archdiocese’s synthesis. “It also reflects the great enthusiasm with which participants entered into this process.”

For thousands of Catholics in the three-county Diocese of Paterson, New Jersey, the listening phase was “more than simply an enormous feedback session.”

“The process was a deeply spiritual moment of collective discernment and encounter connected to the universal church,” the diocese said in its synthesis report.

“A full spectrum of opinions was represented,” it said. “Some called for the church to fully adapt and adjust to current times and trends; still, others to clearly articulate her immutable, orthodox teaching without compromise.

“Contrasting suggestions were made; for example, to limit the participation of, and presence of, the laity in the sanctuary and affirm the male, celibate priesthood versus to allow a married clergy and ordain women as deacons and/or priests.”

Participants identified a lack of inclusion and sensitivity to women, the Hispanic/Latino community, LGBTQ+ people, families with young children, people with special needs, people victimized by abuse, the elderly, “and other people who, for whatever reason, feel that they do not conform to the prevalent social or moral norms,” the report said.

“Although not all participants called for a change in the church’s teaching on these matters, they did call for a change in approach and attitude,” it said. “Most participants articulated a need for more listening and consultation in the church – most especially to engage the next generations.”

Diocesan spokesperson Jai Agnish said that “reading the report was a moving experience.”

“The feedback is real and authentic and provides an honest assessment of experience and perceptions of Catholics right now. It also offers great hope for the future,” Agnish said. “The report reveals a deep concern and love for the church and reflects on the positive dynamism of this collective discernment process.”

Each parish in the Denver Archdiocese held listening sessions after an archdiocesan-wide retreat in Advent on mission of the synod. At these sessions, parishioners prayed together and discussed questions about mission.

This was followed by the archdiocesan discernment event March 25-27, where representatives from across the archdiocese “gathered to pray and discern together” what was revealed in the listening phase.
The faithful identified four primary missions, according to the archdiocese’s report:

– The disciple: “Take seriously that we have personal responsibility for the mission to evangelize those closest to us: our family, neighbors and co-workers.

– The family: “Every family needs accompaniment of some sort. Help the family to encounter healing and forgiveness. Recognize that parents are the primary formators and educators of their children. There is a desire to receive formation on how to do this well.”

– The parish: “God is asking our parishes to become more welcoming. The parish doesn’t exist for its own sake but is sent out for the sake of the broader community. … We need to reach out with the good news, with the treasure we have, and share it with those who have fallen away, with the poor, and with the broader community. The Eucharist is the soul of the parish.”

– The Denver Archdiocese: It “is called to be an agent of unity, manifesting the unity of the mystical body of Christ. She is especially called to help unify the divides between our diverse languages and cultures. Clarity of communication about our mission, more initiatives for communal prayer and healing of wounds will all help to bring about this unity.”

In Iowa, the Diocese of Davenport’s “58,000 Cups of Coffee” initiative fueled synod conversations.
Massgoers were invited to have conversations with at least three different people: someone already in the pews; someone who used to be in the pews but hasn’t been since the pandemic; and someone who has never been a part of a faith community or stopped practicing long ago. Responses were shared on the diocesan website.

The coffee initiative was one of two prongs of the diocese’s synod preparation process. The other prong focuses on organized listening sessions. Responses from the listening sessions and conversations provided the content for the diocese’s 10-page summary.

On a regional level, Patrick Schmadeke, diocesan director of evangelization, represented the Davenport Diocese on the Region IX team working on its own synod report. Altogether, 17,044 people of the 15 dioceses that comprise the episcopal region participated in listening sessions and 37,666 completed online surveys.

“We’re not alone in the joys and challenges we experience in the church,” Schmadeke told The Catholic Messenger, Davenport’s diocesan newspaper.

“Among the joys is the Eucharist, which the faithful say strengthens their faith and their connection with one another as members of the body of Christ,” he said. “Among the challenges is polarization.”

He added: “We need to participate in the healing that has to come, which points back to two things: the Eucharist and thoughtfully tending to the fabric of our communities.”

(Contributing to this story were Marnie McAllister in Louisville and Barb Arland-Fye in Davenport.)