USCCB synod tackles the dignity of work and the role of unions

The somewhat arcane title of a recent gathering at the headquarters of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington -- "Third Synodal Meeting Fratelli Tutti: North-South Socio-Environmental Dialogue" -- might not immediately reveal its very practical purpose.

The aim of the July 28-29 event was to examine interconnected current and future challenges to dignified work, integral human development and care for our common home.

But just what is a "Synodal Meeting" -- and what does it have to do with "Fratelli Tutti," Pope Francis' third encyclical?

The Synod on Synodality -- initiated by Pope Francis in October 2021 and concluded in October 2024 -- was a process designed to enhance the mission of the church through inclusive conversation at diocesan, national and continental levels. Culminating with two global Vatican assemblies -- where both clergy and laity collaborated at literal round tables -- synodality was proposed as a template for church discussion and decision-making.

In "Fratelli Tutti" -- released Oct. 3, 2020 -- Pope Francis decried a "throwaway" world whose "way of discarding others can take a variety of forms," including "an obsession with reducing labor costs with no concern for its grave consequences, since the unemployment that it directly generates leads to the expansion of poverty." The pontiff also asserted "there is no poverty worse than that which takes away work and the dignity of work."

The July 28-29 USCCB-hosted event -- which included more than 40 organized labor groups from North, Central and South America, as well as representatives of international organizations and ecclesial networks -- was convened by the Latin American and Caribbean Episcopal Council, known as CELAM, and the Vatican's Pontifical Commission for Latin America.

"Participants committed to strengthening intersectoral North-South cooperation and collaborating with the agenda of Pope Leo XIV and the Episcopal Conferences," a post-meeting statement reported, "contributing proposals to consolidate the role of organized labor in building a more just and sustainable economy."

Bishop Daniel E. Flores of Brownsville, Texas -- who was elected a member of the Ordinary Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod by members of the Synod of Bishops at the Vatican in October 2024 -- said synodality is critical to such an objective.

"Synodality has a large aim of strengthening the communion of the local churches with each other," Bishop Flores told OSV News. "And you can't do that unless you're talking and listening and thinking and praying together -- and seeing what we can do together for the witness of the church."

Bishop José Reginaldo Andrietta of Jales, Brazil represented the South; Bishop Flores represented the North; and Msgr. Juan Antonio Cruz Serrano, permanent observer of the Holy See to the Organization of American States, represented the Vatican.

"Whenever you're dealing with issues of work and the economy and the condition of workers," said Bishop Flores, "you're looking at different parts of the world that have different factors influencing that. There's a lot of particular circumstances, but it's important that we understand those -- because increasingly, they're having a global effect."

It's not, however, a new concern.

"It basically goes back to one of the fundamental principles of the social teaching of the church," Bishop Flores emphasized, "which is that the economy, economic structures, economic dynamics, and so forth, are for the sake of the human person -- not the human person for the sake of economic dynamics."

"It's the issue of human dignity and family dignity," he continued. "Especially for those who aren't in a position to make decisions at the upper echelons of government and economic entities -- that they have a voice, and that their voice is heard. And that, that's the only way you can pursue the common good" -- which, he added, "is one of the most traditional things in terms of the church's whole moral perspective on the social order."

The synodal model, Bishop Flores noted, provided the "Synodal Meeting Fratelli Tutti" participants "a chance for some serious listening to what the circumstances are in other parts of the Americas -- in terms of the condition of labor; technology, how it's affecting people, how it's affecting life -- so that we in the North could understand that, but also, so that those in the South could understand what we're facing here in terms of similar dynamics."

A shared urgency was felt, it seems, to remind humankind of some essential truths.

"I think there's obviously a consensus about the need to articulate -- for this new world we're living in -- the basic principles of justice for workers and for families, but also the issue of putting human dignity first," said Bishop Flores. "I go back to this very fundamental principle: The just treatment of workers is not only a pragmatic thing because it makes the economy work better; it's a primary thing because of human dignity.

"The church," he explained, "has to continue to find the language to speak that to the modern, current circumstance. And I think these sort of gatherings help a lot."

Chuck Hendricks -- president of the Catholic Labor Network and director of national contracts and internal support for Unite Here International Union -- said he "thought the gathering was really good…having this group of people thinking and talking about what amounts to the future of labor and social justice in the church. If I'm with just labor organizers -- even labor organizers from the church -- that's just one perspective. It's really good to have a dialogue of people from broad perspectives."

Hendricks was particularly impressed by the words of Archbishop Shelton J. Fabre of Louisville, Kentucky.

"He at some point was talking about the struggles of ordinary priests in responding to things like labor issues -- how lots of people come to priests with lots of agendas, and it's really hard for priests to figure out how to engage," recalled Hendricks.

"And it's only when you get to the ‘enfleshment' of the issue -- having workers and people affected by the issues talking with the priests or talking with the bishops about the actual issues -- that you're able to put flesh on the issue. And," he added, "make it real so it can't be another agenda to deal with later, but a real agenda to deal with now."

Some Americans, Hendricks suggested, literally can't afford to wait.

Many of the airport workers represented by Unite Here "have a second job at the airport — they work one shift for a company serving food, and then they get off and they go work for another company serving food, or pushing a wheelchair, because the wages are not enough," said Hendricks. "Service sector workers, particularly, can't afford a normal life — they have to have two full-time jobs, or one and a half full-time jobs."

Nor do some feel they can have children.

"We definitely know -- particularly younger people -- that say, ‘I can't afford to start a family.' And so they don't. Especially now that you have states cutting Medicaid, and employers not providing affordable health care, if you can't get Medicaid. It doesn't feel," Hendricks suggested, "like a family values country."

Dan Graff, director of the Higgins Labor Program at the University of Notre Dame -- who was invited to the "Synodal Meeting Fratelli Tutti" but unable to attend -- nonetheless had some thoughts to share.

"What's important is that the church is invested in that kind of stakeholder process. Catholic social teaching is really adamant that participation matters, for all members of society," Graff stressed. "And if you use the dignity of each individual human person as the basis for that participation, then that requires workers in unions and other solidarity groups to have a role in helping shape the economy."

"It's great and logical to see the Catholic Church -- in this case, the bishops as well as the Vatican -- sponsoring this. Because at the heart of Catholic social teaching is, how do we bring different perspectives together to the table, and that everyone deserves a seat there. In some ways," reflected Graff, "it's almost countercultural to the American economy these days."

It's a point with which Bishop Flores agrees.

"Synodality, at the heart of the matter, is an openness to actually keeping it real. Keeping it real is you really do have to listen to people, and you really do have to talk to people," said Bishop Flores. "You can't sit somewhere in an office and sort of plan the global economy."