Four Century challenges in employment relations Bishop Kevin Manning
F.
Media Release
Monday 28 April 2006
Brisbane’s Catholic Justice and Peace Commission urged Catholics to learn more about Catholic Social Teaching on work and employment.
It made this call as Queensland prepares to celebrate Labour Day on May 1 and in conjunction with an announcement that the Commission was planning to mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of Pope John Paul II’s encyclical on human work, Laborem Exercens this year.
The Commission’s Executive Officer, Peter Arndt, said that the Commission felt that Catholics should learn more about the Church’s teaching in this area as so many significant changes in the laws governing employment relations have taken place in the last year.
“Many Church leaders made contributions to the debate over the Federal Government’s workplace relations amendments last year and our Commission feels that it is important to understand the long-standing principles which informed their comments,” Mr Arndt said.
“Since Pope Leo XIII’s landmark 1891 encyclical, Rerum Novarum, the Church has provided important principles, founded on a Gospel commitment to the dignity of workers, to guide Catholics in making judgments about what is morally sound with respect to workplace relations,” he said.
“Pope John Paul’s 1981 encyclical, Laborem Exercens, reinforces the fundamental principles espoused by Leo XIII and developed and supported in encyclicals and statements issued by his successors including Pius XI, John XXIII and Paul VI,” he said.
“Our present Pope, Benedict XVI, has also made public statements supporting the dignity of workers in the same vein as his predecessors,” he said.
“In the current situation in Australia, our Bishops have emphasised the same principles of Catholic Social Teaching in a statement on the Federal Government’s WorkChoices legislation last year,” he said.
“Australia’s Bishops stressed the Government’s obligation to balance the drive for economic growth with the demands of social justice and to ensure that policies are fair and equitable to all,” he said.
“As we in Queensland prepare to mark Labour Day, it is good for Catholics to understand that the Church stresses the importance of workers receiving adequate pay to support themselves and their families, that they have an opportunity for adequate rest and that they have a capacity to participate in and get effective support from a union,” he said.
“As Catholics engage in public debate on these issues, it is valuable for them to have a clear understanding of what the Church continues to stress as morally sound principles for relationships between employees and employers,” he said.
Mr Arndt said that the Commission was planning to issue some resources to help Catholics to learn about Catholic Social Teaching on human work. It also planned to organise a forum on Pope John Paul’s encyclical at the time of its silver anniversary in September.
For more information or comment, please contact Peter Arndt on (07) 3336 9173 or 0409 265 476.
NB This media release is issued with the approval of the Commission or its Executive under the provision of its Charter which enables it to speak in its own right. The views expressed in the release do not necessarily represent the views of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane.