"Labor Day Statement: Promoting The Dignity of Workers in the Rise of AI"
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Dilexi te is an apostolic exhortation (NOT an encyclical) begun by Pope Francis and finished by Pope Leo XIV:
2....I share the desire of my beloved predecessor that all Christians come to appreciate the close connection between Christ’s love and his summons to care for the poor....
7....I am convinced that the preferential choice for the poor is a source of extraordinary renewal both for the Church and for society, if we can only set ourselves free of our self-centeredness and open our ears to their cry.
9....there are many forms of poverty: the poverty of those who lack material means of subsistence, the poverty of those who are socially marginalized and lack the means to give voice to their dignity and abilities, moral and spiritual poverty, cultural poverty, the poverty of those who find themselves in a condition of personal or social weakness or fragility, the poverty of those who have no rights, no space, no freedom.
12....“the organization of societies worldwide is still far from reflecting clearly that women possess the same dignity and identical rights as men. We say one thing with our words, but our decisions and reality tell another story,”[9] especially if we consider the numbers of women who are in fact destitute.13....The claim that the modern world has reduced poverty is made by measuring poverty with criteria from the past that do not correspond to present-day realities....
16....God has a special place in his heart for those who are discriminated against and oppressed, and he asks us, his Church, to make a decisive and radical choice in favor of the weakest.
18. The Old Testament history of God’s preferential love for the poor and his readiness to hear their cry — to which I have briefly alluded — comes to fulfillment in Jesus of Nazareth....
102....Growing up in precarious circumstances, learning to survive in the most adverse conditions, trusting in God with the assurance that no one else takes them seriously, and helping one another in the darkest moments, the poor have learned many things that they keep hidden in their hearts. Those of us who have not had similar experiences of living this way certainly have much to gain from the source of wisdom that is the experience of the poor. Only by relating our complaints to their sufferings and privations can we experience a reproof that can challenge us to simplify our lives.
115. I would like to close by saying something about almsgiving, which nowadays is not looked upon favorably even among believers. Not only is it rarely practiced, but it is even at times disparaged. [Huh???] Let me state once again that the most important way to help the disadvantaged is to assist them in finding a good job... almsgiving remains, for the time being, a necessary means of contact, encounter and empathy with those less fortunate.
Right now, our hierarchy has a credibility problem - largely of its own making! Our bishops often strike me as listening to the wrong voices. "Synodality" - in practice - can seem like Rehobam listening to his inexperienced buddies, instead of the sage advice of his dad Solomon's advisors (cf, 1 Kings 12).
Our world needs the sage wisdom of authentic, comprehensive Catholic teaching. Holy Father:
Joe Tevington is a proudly orthodox Catholic, a husband since 1986, a dad to two adult children, a grandpa to two, and a civil service retiree. He is a sign language fluent certified rehabilitation counselor with graduate degrees in deafness rehabilitation, religious studies/moral theology, & Christian counseling psychology, as well as a catechetical diploma and certificates in benefits planning and Catholic social ministry. He deeply appreciates Catholic teaching on the sanctity of human life and the sanctity of the transmission of human life, as well as how they are to inform us in our apostolates and ministries.
On much lighter notes, he fancies himself to be the foremost authority on his native Brooklyn, when it comes to architecture, cinema, geography, history, Italian food, stick ball, stoop ball, or wiffle ball.
