Evangelization Update

Work is more than earning a living. It is an expression of our dignity and a form of continuing participation in God's creation. Work creates and is sustained by relationships: economic and social. From this flows these Catholic convictions*:

People have a right to decent and productive work, to decent and fair wages, to private property and economic initiative.

In Catholic teaching, the economy exists to serve people, not the other way around.

If the dignity of work is to be protected, then the basic rights of workers, owners and managers must be respected. These include: productive work, decent and fair wages, to organize and join unions, economic incentive, and ownership of private property. While private property is a right, it has its limits.

Is our work a creative activity?

How are we being challenged to balance our relationships and our work?

How are we being challenged in upholding the rights of workers in a global economy?*

To return to "How God Is Calling You to Make a Difference in the World"

To return to the beginning of this Evangelization Update

* In addition to the minutes of a Glenmary Commission on Evangelization meeting, questions and statements are from a workshop based on the video In the Footsteps of Jesus by the USCCB and Lay Ministers, Lay Disciples: Evangelizing Power in the Parish by Susan Blum-Gerding, Ed.D and Frank DeSiano, C.S.P., Paulist Press, 1999. The workshop is the work of the Social Action Committee of Immaculate Conception Church, Pulaski, TN.

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