Evening star., 1950-02-12
The Week in Religion
By Religious News Service


contact with the Nations workers
The movement aims at preventing
the growth of communism and
promoting the cause of religion
in the ranks of labor.
A Protestant labor school has
been opened under the sponsor
ship of the Staten Island division
of the Protestant Council of the
City of New York. Undertaken
after conferences between council
leaders and local trade union off,
cials, the school will conduct
courses intended to help meet
common problems of labor groups.
The new school is the second of
its kind sponsored by the coun-
Gil. Last year labor school was
opened under it's auspices at the
Presbyterian Labor Temple in
New York in response to the re-
quest of a group of telephone
workers and members of C1O
local. The curriculum includes
lectures. on the Taft-Hartley law,
housing, unionism, social insur-
ance, and the relation of religion
to labor.
First Glasses in 1946.
Among the pioneers of this
movement is the Presbyterian
College and Seminary at Bloom
field, N. j., which held seven
week series of classes for labor
union leaders in 1946. The
Bloomfield courses. in turn, were
an outcome of Presbyterian pro-
grams in the labor industry field
begun with the establishment OF
the Presbyterian Institute OF In
dustrial Relations at the New
York Labor Temple in 1943.
Until 1946. the only labor
schools established to train work
ers and labor leaders in Christian
trade union principles were those
initiated by Roman Catholic
groups, notably the. Association
H Catholic Trade Unionists and
lhe Society Of Jesus (Jesuits.
At the third annual conference
on the church and economic life
sponsored by the Council OF
Churches of Buffalo and Erie
County at Buffalo, N. Y. last De-
cember, strong plea was made
to Protestants to get on an equal
footing with Catholics in the field
Of labor and economic relations.
In the keynote address, DR..
John w. Mcconnell, professor of
industrial and labor relations at
Cornell University, outlined the
basic aims to be sought by a
Protestant infiltration in indus
trial life.
I'm it's traditional role" he said,
"the church might very well pro-
vide the common meeting ground
for management and labor. serve
as a much-needed avenue of com
munication between widely sep
arated groups, and identify the
separated groups with common
moral and ethical standards and
social responsibilities which tran
sccnd the narrow selfish interests
of particular organizations"
Other Jobs for Ministers.
Rejecting Protestant concern
over the need for an effective
Christian impact on labor gen.
e"ally was the proposal made last
month to create a specialized
corps of ministers who would
spend at least six months of every
four years in some job other than
their ministerial profession.
Approved by seminar group at
the Home Missions Congress in
Columbus, Ohio, the plan, it was
stated. would have a marked in
fluence on groups relatively un-
touched by traditional Protestant
denominations.
Under the plan, seminary stu
dents entering the special field
would be required to obtain jobs
in factories, restaurants, and at
other forms of manual labor
while in school, to develop an un-,
derstanding of workers and the
conditions under which they earn
q living. After ordination, they
would spend at least six months
every four years at some job in
order to keep in touch with in
dustrial workers and low-income
groups.
It was announced at the recent
national Methodist student con-
ference at the University of ILL.,
nois that the Methodist Council
of Bishops had a plan under way
to recruit so young Christians
each year who, after proper train
ing, would spread the Christian
message as laborers in factories
and mines and as members of
labor unions.
Catholic Plan Followed.
In introducing apostles" among
the workers, the Protestant
churches would be following a
plan launched by Roman Catholic
priests in other countries, chiefly
in France, where a 5-year- -old
movement known. as the Mission
de Paris has attracted consider
able attention.
Popularity known as Com
mandos of Christ" priests belong
ing to the mission are dedicated
to allaying distrust Of priests and
Christianity among the working
masses. They have no parishes
but live among the workers, shar-
ing their daily experiences and
working side by side with them In
the factories.
In it's last Labor Sunday mes