September 5, 2009
Bishop cites challenges of global economy at religious, labor event
By Julie Sly
Herald editor
Bishop Jaime Soto speaks to religious and labor leaders as Bill Camp, executive secretary of the Sacramento Central Labor Council, looks on during an interfaith-labor coalition breakfast in Sacramento Aug. 25. Cathy Joyce/Herald photo
“Many of the issues that have been spoken about by the church with regard to labor, inequality and the ability of the market to be able to respond to the needs of people have been changed by the increasing global reality that we live in today,” he said. “The global economy is here — whether or not one is in favor of or against globalization — and we’re dealing with that in a significant way in the economic crisis we face in our country.”
The bishop spoke prior to the Labor Day holiday to about 100 religious and labor leaders from across Northern California during the second annual interfaith-labor coalition breakfast gathering.
The event was an opportunity for participants to discuss their shared belief in the dignity of work and a commitment to social and economic justice.
Bishop Soto said he was struck by Pope Benedict’s emphasis on charity and truth as “two values that are so important as we move forward as a global society and move forward in solidarity.”
“Even more than the theme of justice and doing what is right and fair, for charity and truth to happen it is important to exist in relationship with one another,” he said. “And a relationship that is based on charity, on love for one another, and the theme of justice will only come from a language of solidarity, that we care for one another.
“The language of charity has to be based on how we define justice and fairness in the world,” the bishop added. “It also means that we go beyond that to say what am I willing to sacrifice, what am I willing to give up so that someone else can live? What am I willing to put aside for myself so that others can have a better quality of life?”
The bishop urged religious and labor leaders to be at the forefront of current legislative efforts on the federal level to reform health care and to revise current immigration policies to improve human rights for immigrants.
“Organized labor has an important role to play in these two issues and to look for how it is that workers can gain just compensation for their labor,” he said.
Bishop Soto contended that the United States has always thrived on welcoming immigrants, who have provided a consistent workforce for the United States and brought tremendous innovation and new initiative to the nation’s economy and society.
“Immigration reform is needed desperately in a system that is broken,” he said. “In many ways it has failed to serve immigrants, but also failed to serve the best interests of the U.S. economy and insuring safety in our neighborhoods and communities.”
The bishop joined a panel of religious and community leaders from the Muslim, Christian and Jewish communities, who talked about how labor concerns are viewed from their various faith traditions.
One speaker on the panel, the Rev. Dexter McNamara, a Presbyterian minister and executive director of the Interfaith Service Bureau in Sacramento, urged religious and labor leaders to bring civility to the current debate over health care reform.
“The idiocy and incivility in the debate has nothing to do with facing the issues and facing one another as brothers and sisters,” he said. “When we lose charity and the ability to talk in a civil way, the game is over — we aren’t going to get anywhere.”
Rabbi David Wechsler-Azen of Congregation Beth Shalom in Sacramento, another panelist, talked about the importance of giving high school students a sense of ownership and incentive about work while they are receiving their education.
“We are all ultimately owners of an enterprise called the United States of America,” he said. “Actually, it is a community-owned business. And students are kernels and it’s our job to make them pop. They need to be a part of our goal of ensuring health care and education for all our children.”
