Labor Day – More than a Barbecue
Labor Day is a federal holiday in the United States, which honors the social and economic achievements of American workers. It is a popular holiday that marks the end of the summer and includes many family celebrations. However, the reason that Labor Day came into existence is one that insists upon the social and economic rights of American workers. It is a very significant day in the life of our country which celebrates the principles upon which we were founded. Its meaning is far beyond an annual barbecue.
Labor Day came about during the late 19th century as a result of the changes affecting society during the Industrial Revolution, which began in Great Britain during the 17th century and spread throughout the world. These changes included a shift in an economy based on an agrarian way of life to that of industry and machine manufacturing. The development of the use of new power and the factory system altered the manner in which society lived and worked. The Industrial Revolution resulted in an increase in migration of people from rural areas to cities. Significant social changes occurred affecting class structures. Home production quickly moved to mass production, bringing about new methods of transportation such as the railroad system.
While the Industrial Revolution brought about many good developments, it also brought new challenges in the social arena which included poverty and pollution, with unfair and dangerous working conditions. The Industrial Revolution was a major shift in how life was lived as well as in the relationship between people and families. During the late 19th century, activists began to address the dire needs of laborers, especially in regard to the matters of working conditions, just salaries and reasonable working hours. Unions rightly formed to protect the worker in a uniform matter. The first Labor Day celebration was a New York City parade organized by the Central Labor Union on Sept. 5, 1882. Many states began to recognize Labor Day, and it was President Grover Cleveland, on June 28, 1894, who made Labor Day a national holiday, confirming its celebration on the first Monday of September. As we celebrate this holiday, let us not take for granted the reason for its existence, especially in a society today which is facing new challenges in regard to the rights and dignity of people.
During the period of the Industrial Revolution making significant changes in the pattern of life and raising new challenges, especially in regard to the rights of workers, Pope Leo XIII was shepherd of the Universal Church from 1878 through 1903. On May 15, 1891, shortly before the official recognition of Labor Day in the United States, he wrote a very significant encyclical, Rerum Novarum, translated “Regarding New Things.” It was a clear articulation of the Church’s teaching regarding the rights and dignity of all people, and especially the worker, particularly in the face of the injustices which were arising in working conditions due to the Industrial Revolution. Pope Leo XIII warned of the dangers of socialism as a response to such abuses, as well as the same dangers of strict capitalism. The encyclical laid the foundation for modern Catholic teaching on social issues. Pope Leo XIII was considered to be extremely progressive in this regard, but emphasized the Church’s right to make pronouncements on social issues as they relate to moral questions. Many of the popes of the 20th and 21st centuries have continued to promote the teaching and legacy of Pope Leo XIII in this regard.
May 8 of this year, almost 134 years after Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical, Rerum Novarum, a new pope was elected following the death of our beloved Holy Father, Pope Francis. The election of the new pope was the most pleasant surprise to all in the world, since he was a citizen from the United States, Robert Cardinal Prevost of Chicago, who chose as his papal name that of Leo XIV. From the very beginning, Pope Leo XIV has made clear that he chose this name because our society is facing many of the issues, new things, as was happening at the time of Pope Leo XIII. Pope Leo XIV wishes to face them in a similar manner.
The new pope expressed his intentions when he first spoke to the College of Cardinals two days after his election. He expressed that he chose his new name, “mainly because Pope Leo XIII in his historic encyclical, Rerum Novarum, chose to address the social questions in the context of the first great Industrial Revolution.” He went on to say that “In our own day the Church offers to everyone the treasury of our social teaching in response to another Industrial Revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence that pose new challenges to the defense of humanity, justice, and labor.”
As we celebrate Labor Day this year, in view of its history and importance within our nation, it is appropriate to turn our attention to migrants. Pope Leo XIV is the first pope from “the land of immigrants,” where the rights and dignities of immigrants are being threatened today. The Industrial Revolution caused a migration from rural areas to city areas. Many of the migrants who come to our nation come to rural areas, such as in our own Diocese of Palm Beach, to labor in the fields. We are deeply grateful for the work and the contribution that they carry out in this context as well as in so many others. Labor Day reminds us of who we are as a nation and of the rights and dignities of all immigrant people. We have an obligation to secure just laws to protect our borders and our population, but we also have a natural obligation to welcome and protect the rights of immigrants. We cannot be afraid to properly address the issues facing them and to offer them all the support that we are able. Pope Leo XIV, as a citizen of the United States and from a family of immigrant background, certainly urges us in this regard.
May Labor Day be filled with every grace and blessing this year and may it be a time when we renew ourselves to carry out the labor to which God has called us, always secure in a land which protects our freedom. May we be eager to protect the freedom of those who come to us, as well as central to what our great nation is all about.
Most Reverend Gerald M. Barbarito
