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Union workers and leaders were welcomed to St. Patrick’s Cathedral for the annual Labor Mass last weekend and told they should regard it as their home—as a place of worship and because they and their predecessors built and recently restored the great edifice.
In words of welcome and thanksgiving near the end of the morning liturgy on Sept. 10, Cardinal Dolan greeted the representatives of unions who had marched in the opening procession behind banners of the New York City Central Labor Council AFL-CIO, International Union of Operating Engineers and Plumbers Local Union 1, as well as theater and stage employees, ironworkers, steamfitters and many others.
“This is your house. This house belongs to Jesus,” the cardinal said, “and Jesus was a working man.”
“It was built with union labor, and it was recently restored with union labor,” he added. “You should feel at home here because you are at home here.”
The cardinal went on to explain that when Pope Francis visited the newly restored cathedral last September, the pontiff expressed his support for the 300 union workers assembled on the steps outside the entrance with a deep bow of reverence.
“That’s what we do this morning. We give a bow to the workers of this great city and state,” said Cardinal Dolan, who was the celebrant of the Mass honoring the canonization of St. Teresa of Kolkata that immediately followed the Labor Mass.
Msgr. Kevin Sullivan, executive director of archdiocesan Catholic Charities, neatly connected the readings at the Mass with the labor movement.
The first reading, from St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corithians (“We though many, are one Body, for we all partake of the one bread.”), speaks of “the many members and the unity of labors at its best,” said Msgr. Sullivan, the principal celebrant and homilist.
“What we strive for is not merely the betterment of some, but the betterment of all,” he said.
Msgr. Sullivan pointed to the attributes of organized labor in promoting cohesiveness among workers, speaking up for their rights and negotiating in good faith.
Without taking a partisan position in the political season currently under way, Msgr. Sullivan noted the “negativity” that dominates the discourse “about what it means to advance our country.” He contrasted that with ideals promoted by the labor movement, where all partake of “one loaf” and “one common good.”
Msgr. Sullivan said that the Gospel reading from St. Luke (“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ but do not do what I command?”) challenged members of both the Church and the labor movement to look inside themselves and make sure their interior lives are aligned with their public stances.
In attendance was James Callahan, general president of the International Union of Operating Engineers, who would later that morning serve as grand marshal of the annual Labor Day Parade on Fifth Avenue.
Speaking to CNY outside the cathedral, Callahan, a third-generation union member, said it was “a great honor” to serve as grand marshal as a representative of his union and the labor movement and also on behalf of his family.
His grandfather, an Irish immigrant and father of seven, embarked on union membership as he “aspired to the middle class,” said Callahan, a member of Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish in Lindenhurst in the Diocese of Rockville Centre.
Callahan, who has been general president of his union since 2011, said the message of Msgr. Sullivan’s homily resonated with him and the hundreds of other union members at the Mass.
“A rising tide floats all boats,” he said. “All people benefit.”
