Feast of St. Joseph the Worker - Who do we work for?

Today's feast of St. Joseph the Worker is a good opportunity to pause and ask ourselves if we are affording work and workers the dignity with which God views work and those who work.

Image: freepik.com

Workers have not always been treated with dignity and, in many instances and places, they still are not so treated. Unions did not arise because workers had nothing better to do with their time. They arose because workers were treated like disposable machinery, useful only insofar as they increased the company's bottom line.

In this article posted in National Catholic Reporter, Michael Sean Winters S.J. gives us food for thought appropriate to today's feast. Read for yourself Today's feast is a moment to reflect on the dignity of workers
https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/todays-feast-moment-reflect-dignity-workers

CHANGING TIMES - APRIL 2019 - from the SSVP National Newsletter

Johanna Cross is the new Social Justice rep for BC and Yukon. This is an article she posted on the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul - National Council of Canada website (https://www.ssvp.ca) with the subtitle, "I’m the New Social Justice Rep for BC and Yukon… Now What?"
(https://www.ssvp.ca/newsletters/social-justice/changing-times-april-2019). Click on this link to go to the original post where you can also download a PDF version if you wish. 
The article is reproduced below for your convenience.

A few months ago my name was put forward to be the new Social Justice rep for BC and Yukon.  I fully admitted that I didn’t know much about social justice but I’d be willing to take a huge leap of faith and say YES - so here I am!

Papal documentation of the importance of social justice dates back to Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical Rerum Novarum in 1891 which stressed the dignity of every human person as well as the common good. Each pope, since, and up to Pope Francis in his encyclical Laudate Si, has written about social justice, laying the foundation of what is The Social Doctrine of the Church.

At the BC and Yukon Regional SSVP AGA in May 2019, the importance of social justice as part of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul mandate will be put forward. The expected result is that social justice will become a Rule; that is every conference will be required to have social justice on their regular agenda.

Ontario’s cuts to legal aid will hurt the poorest

On Good Friday this year, as on every Good Friday, I read about the trial of Jesus Christ before Pontius Pilate and how, in a travesty of justice the Roman Governor caved to the demands of the ruling religious elite in Jerusalem and sentenced Christ to execution with two rebel bandits. This year on good Friday I also read in the Toronto Star how legal aid, already meagre, will be further cut to Ontario's poorest and most vulnerable.

Syrian Refugee Children (globalnews.ca)

For Christians who believe that the risen Christ hides in plain sight in the poor, the weak and the vulnerable, Good Friday is a very fitting occasion to publicise this cut in services resulting in further travesty against those without the means to represent themselves in court, refugee claimants and, often, the victims of such horrific crimes as child abuse, murder, manslaughter and sexual assault against minors because the perpetrators are not being tried soon enough and are simply being set free by the courts.

Read the full opinion piece here: Ontario’s cuts to legal aid will hurt the poorest.
https://spon.ca/ontarios-cuts-to-legal-aid-will-hurt-the-poorest/2019/04/20/