US bishops’ Labor Day statement focuses on crises of work, family in middle America
August 24, 2016
Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami, chairman of the bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, discussed the crises in work and family life, particularly in rural and middle America, in the bishops’ 2016 Labor Day statement.
“Once the center of labor and the promise of family-sustaining wages, research shows these communities collapsing today, substance abuse on the rise, and an increase in the number of broken families,” the prelate wrote, as he noted that “over half of parents between the ages of 26 and 31 now have children outside of a marriage.”
The solution to these crises, he continued, is found in Christ and in the solidarity shown by members of the Church.
“Let us begin by going to the Lord, laying our burdens at the foot of His cross and giving over our hearts that we might find rest,” he said. “In our call to rebuild community on a firmer foundation, we must rely upon the sister principles of solidarity and subsidiarity … The first response, then, is local, to look to our neighbors in need, our brothers and sisters who may be without sufficient work for their families, and offer them help.”
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