Pro-Solidarity Paragons of Catholic Social Teaching
Why is it somehow that, preserved for all time in that great Compendium of Catholic Social Teaching, we are supposed to pay homage to the thuggish, lazy, and illicit power-grabbing of unions? Aren’t they just the political enemies of the Church?
Cardinal Donald Wuerl has told a gathering of religious and labour leaders that solidarity cannot be taken for granted.
“It is sometimes avoided or even denied because it brings with itself obligations,” the Archbishop of Washington DC said, noting that by the same token there are those who harbour “neglect of and occasional hostility toward solidarity in our social and cultural context”.
Cardinal Wuerl is in full swing for the Leftist FrancisState. Usually he can just stand back and work his magic. Why the sudden urgency to become a blatant Democrat operative?
Cardinal Wuerl said: “Solidarity is expressed in works of generosity, forgiveness and reconciliation. Catholic teaching explicitly recognises organised labour as instruments of solidarity and justice. But we cannot take solidarity for granted.”
The cardinal made his remarks at a conference on “Erroneous Autonomy: A Conversation on Solidarity & Faith”, co-sponsored by The Catholic University of America’s Institute for Policy Research & Catholic Studies and the AFL-CIO, which hosted the event at its headquarters building in Washington.
“What brings fresh urgency to our new evangelisation mission is just how widespread and profound are forces which neglect basic understandings of right and wrong, the common good, the dignity of the human person and our obligations to one another of genuine solidarity,” Cardinal Wuerl said.
“People in this room can point out how these factors have also contributed to a dramatic decrease in union membership in recent years.”
So somehow the enemies of the Faith have caused a drop in union membership? I thought it was the fact that the state laws stopped enabling them to force workers to pay their protection?
If we’ve learned anything from this latest Faith-crushing manifesto, it’s that encyclicals can be full of lies and worldly policy. Despite that enormous compendium, isn’t most of so-called Catholic ‘social teaching’ just people twisting, spinning and capitalizing off a handful of relatively recent and somewhat dubious encyclicals?
Labor, yes. Associations, yes. Owners, yes. Managers, yes.
Enormous, coercive, immoral, and anti-Catholic trade unions? Take the long Catholic view. Don’t buy the Cardinal’s unholy politicking.
“Work his magic” – that is such a good description of Cardinal Wuerl. He was equally dazzling on Fox News doing damage control on the eco-cyclical. Almost nothing he said was true, but then the Cardinal knows that people watching a morning talk show are not the same people that read encyclicals, or even blogs.
Cardinal Wuerl and Pope Francis are quite close, reportedly speaking at least once a week. The Elegant One was instrumental in getting Francis elected in the Conclave.
Ah, Cardinal Donald Wuerl… whenever I see him I think of the song, “He’s a smooth operator… smooooooth operator!” If it weren’t for his age, he probably would be the next pope. Maybe he will anyway?