The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-05-19
Catholic Thought And Opinion
By REV. JOSEPH E. DONNELLY
forts. His critics might well emulate

forts. His critics might well emulate him.
 FOLLOWING THE
 DIVINE WORKMAN
 Nineteen hundred years ago "the poor had the Gospel preached to them" by One Who said: Blessed are the poor" A Carpenter Himself, He chose His Apostles from the ranks of the workers and the poor. The Apostles, proud of the workers hands, proud of their poverty, went into a pagan world to preach that "the laborer is worthy of his hire" :" that the slave is the brother of his master, that all men are equal be- fore God, and that with God there is neither slave or free, Jew or Gentle.
 A revolution? Indeed, a strange revolutionl The world had known revolutions of hate and blood, but never revolution of love. Stranger still, the revolution was a success. The teaching was accepted and 1t changed the world. Through the centuries the Church continued to preach the doctrine of the Apostles, to preach the doctrine of justice and equality and charity, to insist on the brotherhood of man, and to defend the dignity of man and the dignity of his labor.
 THE ROOT OF .. MANY EVILS
 But there came another revolu- ton. Not this time @ revolution of love, but revolution of violence and bloodshed, 8 revolution which disrupted the unity of Christendom and denied the Church the author it.' to teach. Then, out of this so- called Reformation which buried the seeds of so much misery, there came the strange doctrine that a mans dignity was in proportion to his wealth, that in the acquisition of wealth might was right, and that men were things to be used and when their usefulness was drained off, they might be cast aside.
 A new conception of liberty was evolved. Individual rights assumed primacy over collective rights. Mans quest for wealth and power was not to be impeded by any social re- straints. The Church was ordered to care for her religious questions and not interfere, under the pre- text of social apostolate, with economic problems which were deemed beyond her scope and authority. Man, the child of God, the brother of Christ, and crea- ture endowed by his Creator with the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" became a chattel, a victim of memorable ecou- onic laws.
 But as the evil grew and manif- ested its depth the Church, then concerned with many serious prob- lems, began to hurl her denuncia- tions of social evils. Taking shape in l848 with Bishop Won Kettler in Germany, and carried on by Baron Vogelsang of Austria, Professor Descurtins of Friburg, Cardinal Manning, Cardinal Gibbons and the rest, the movement eliminated in 1891 with the "Workingman's Char ter," the encyclical, "Rerum Nov- arum" of Pope Leo XIII. Today the social apostolate of the Church, rec ognized and organized, is moving through the world.
 AN AMERICAN CRUSADE
 Whatever their fault, and some times they are many, the labor unions of America have salvaged much of the more human, Christian days. The right to organize, the right to fair wages, the right to work more humanly, all these so reluctantly granted by political lib- eralisn, were Tnatter-of-fact In the medieval guilds of workmen.
 Today the laboring man must learn his true dignity. He must learn that he is child of God and brother of Jesus Christ Whose Divine hands also knew toll. The might of selfish wealth that still strives to crush his struggle for rights, must give way. Today the great crusade of the American labor organization Is moving into stride as crusade that will bring indus trial democracy to America, a crusade that will develop intelligent and articulate workmen who will adjust-at long last-the social or der and secure justice and a decent existence for the workingman of America.