USCCB committee, Catholic Charities call for just minimum wage to promote family life
July 30, 2015
The chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, joined by the president of Catholic Charities USA, called upon members of Congress to "advance legislation and policies that would ensure fair and just wages for all workers."
Noting that "a full-year, full-time worker earning the federal minimum wage does not make enough to raise a child free from poverty," Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami and Sister Donna Markham said that Congress can promote the common good by "ensuring the federal minimum wage promotes family formation and stability."
Quoting St. John Paul II's encyclical letter on the 100th anniversary of Rerum Novarum, they added that "society and the State must ensure wage levels adequate for the maintenance of the worker and his family, including a certain amount for savings."
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Further information:
- USCCB Domestic Justice Chairman, President Of Catholic Charities USA Urge Fair And Just Minimum Wage In Letter To Congress (USCCB)
- Full text of letter (USCCB)
- Pope St. John Paul II: Centesimus Annus (1991)
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Posted by: ForOthers8614 -
Jul. 31, 2015 8:16 AM ET USA
The USCCB once asked that we all consider eating dinners on Fridays of Lent that reflected the "poverty budget" delineated by the USDA as an act of solidarity with the poor. I went to the USDA website to act accordingly. After some calculation, however, I discovered that my Catholic school teacher's salary had necessitated that my family lived for SIX YEARS on a food budget that was 1/3 LESS than the "temporary, emergency" poverty food budget! I writhe as my wife and children live in poverty.
