Washington Auxiliary Bishop Evelio Menjivar called on Catholics to defend the dignity of all workers at a Labor Day Mass on Sept. 1 in the chapel of Theological College in Northeast Washington, D.C.
“We as a faith community must recommit ourselves to defending the dignity of every worker, union and nonunion, citizen and immigrant,” Bishop Menjivar-Ayala said in his homily. “Justice in the workplace and in our communities is not optional. It is a demand of faith and a matter of justice.”
Bishop Menjivar – who was born in El Salvador and is the first bishop from Central America to serve in the United States – said his appreciation of the struggles that workers endure was heightened after he took a training session in 2012 under a Chicago priest, Father Clete Kiley, who was at the time a senior adviser to the UNITE HERE union, which represents workers in the hotel, restaurant and clothing industries.
“Since then, I have supported several worker-organizing initiatives – meeting with workers, praying with them, and encouraging them to persevere in their efforts,” the bishop said.
“For many Hispanic Catholics in particular, knowing that the Church stands with them is profoundly important, since at times they are uncertain whether their organizing efforts are in conflict with the Church’s teaching. They are always happy when they learn that what they are doing is good and desirable by God,” he said.
The Catholic Church “has long defended the dignity of workers,” Bishop Menjivar said. “Over 130 years ago, Pope Leo XIII issued ‘Rerum Novarum,’ the foundational encyclical on workers’ rights. He taught that labor is not a mere economic transaction but a matter of justice. Workers are not tools or machines that produce things and that can be replaced by other, more efficient machines; they are human beings created in God’s image. Pope Leo XIII insisted on the right to fair wages, rest, safe conditions and the freedom to forum unions.”
The Chicago-born Pope Leo XIV “took his name after the apostle of labor,” Bishop Menjivar said. “It is our hope that he will put workers’ rights as one of his priorities, especially as we face new, pressing challenges: workers being displaced by artificial intelligence and robots, families struggling with precarious jobs, and increasing inequalities that degrade human dignity.”
The bishop said he went to one unnamed restaurant and that his “server” was a robot. “I did not leave a tip, of course,” he added.
He quoted from Pope Francis’ encyclical “Fratelli Tutti”: “Work is a profound expression of our dignity. It is a path to growth, human development, and personal fulfillment.”
“He reminds us that solidarity must always come before profit. An economy that discards workers, especially migrants, the poor, women and the vulnerable, is an economy that kills and betrays God’s plan for humanity,” Bishop Menjivar-Ayala said.
“This teaching is urgent in our time. Many immigrant workers, our brothers and sisters, continue to suffer grave violations of their dignity,” he added. “They harvest our food, clean our buildings, care for the elderly, build our homes and prepare and serve our meals. Yet too often they remain invisible, exploited, underpaid and fearful. Many live under constant threat of deportation.”
Bishop Menjivar-Ayala said, “We are called to be like the faithful servants in today’s Gospel: using our talents courageously to build communities where workers are respected, families are secure and united, and labor is honored as a participation in God’s creative love.”
The Mass was sponsored by the Catholic Labor Network, founded in 1996, which brings together Catholics active in the labor movement. The Catholic Labor Network describes itself as an “association of the faithful in the United States of America that unites clergy, religious, laity and people of goodwill to advance the principals of Catholic Social Teaching on the dignity of work and the rights of workers through prayer, education and action.”
