To the editor:
When I heard that the newly elected Pope had taken the name Leo XIV, I was not surprised. The answer was in the latter part of and around 1890. Pope Leo XIII was in communication with Cardinal Gibbons of Baltimore and Bishop Ireland of St. Paul about an encyclical he was writing about the effects of the Industrial Revolution on workers.
During his trip to Rome for his initiation as a Cardinal in 1887, Gibbons presented a lengthy letter to Pope Leo XIII from both prelates raising the issue of the Knights of Labor and their situation as a labor union. At the time, the Knights were the foremost union in the United States.
The European position was to define unions as secret societies that were forbidden by Church law. This was the definition that the Pope was ready to utilize.
Gibbons and Ireland had communicated for some time with the Vatican. Now in Rome Gibbons presented to the Pope a lengthy letter explaining to him that the Knights of Labor, the largest American labor union, possessed none of the object-able elements of a secret society, had a majority of members who were practicing Catholics, received the endorsement of the American bishops with a vote of 10-2; and that the increasing greed of the mill owners and the horrific working conditions could only be challenged by the ability of the workers to join together for the common good.
“The arguments made in the letter had an impact on Leo XIII and helped lay the groundwork for his historic encyclical “Rerum Novarum (1891), in which he defends the rights of workers to organize to seek better working conditions.” (D.R. McClarey, Card. Gibbons and the Knights of Labor – The American Catholic 2- September 2024.)
Over the years, succeeding Popes have confirmed and expanded the scope of the rights of workers and the poo,r including in our days the issues of the environment and immigration .,
In the U.S. during the 50’s and in different dioceses, including Boston and Chicago, church sponsored Labor Guilds were organized to train workers in all aspects of union organization, from parliamentary procedures to political involvement.
In Boston, the Labor Guild still continues its vital work. Interesting for us in Lynn is that one of the founders of the Guild was the late Monsignor McDonnell, pastor of Sacred Heart Parish. As pastor McDonnell continued his commitment to Social Justice, he marched in Selma for voting rights, initiated a Catholic Interracial Council, and formed the Christian Family Movement, small discussion groups of married couples from every economic segment of the parish.
A later Guild leader, Fr. Ed Boyle, S.J., expanded the Guild to include industry leaders who represented their institutions in Collective Bargaining to increasingly foster sincere and productive relations. The Guild continues its mission under the auspices of the Archdiocese with the addition of their School of Industrial Relations.
With the advent of a modern-day Leo the fourteenth, so named, our fervent hope is that he will fulfill our expectations.
John Coleman Walsh, Esq.
Lynn
