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The Union labeled “stronger” but still needing work

17 Feb 2013 - Preaching the News for Sunday

In this Sunday’s reading from the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses speaks to the people of how the Lord delivered them from slavery and gave them “this land flowing with milk and honey.” In his State of the Union address Tuesday, President Barack Obama also spoke of difficulties left behind but wasn’t ready to describe the current situation in such rosy tones.“Together we have cleared away the rubble of crisis and can say with renewed confidence that the state of our union is stronger,” the president said, but “we gather here knowing that there are millions of Americans whose hard work and dedication have not yet been rewarded.”A major focus of the president’s speech was to encourage a bitterly divided Congress to move beyond the strident politics of partisanship that plague the nation. “The greatest nation on Earth cannot keep conducting its business by drifting from one manufactured crisis to the next,” Obama said. “The American people have worked too hard, for too long, rebuilding from one crisis to see their elected officials cause another.”On Wednesday the president began a three-day tour to promote the economic proposals he unveiled in his address, including raising the minimum wage to $9 an hour. “Our job as Americans is to restore that basic bargain that says if you work hard, if you're willing to meet your responsibilities, you can get ahead,” Obama told factory workers in North Carolina.House Speaker John Boehner, however, opposes raising the minimum wage. "When you raise the price of employment, guess what happens? You get less of it," Boehner said Wednesday. "At a time when the American people are still asking the question, 'Where are the jobs?,' why would we want to make it harder for small employers to hire people?"Homily hint: The political debate over immigration reform is one of many sure to heat up over the next months. This might be a good season to emphasize the message of inclusivity Saint Paul delivers this Sunday to the Romans: “There is no distinction between Jew and Greek: the same Lord is Lord of all." Sources: Articles by Christi Parsons and Kathleen Hennessey for the Los AngelesTimes, Tom Cohen for CNN, and Ashley Parker for the New York Times

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Obama calls for a minimum of fair pay

07 Sep 2014 - Preaching the News for Sunday

“You shall love your neighbor as yourself” sums up our mutual obligation for each other’s well being, Saint Paul argues in this Sunday’s second reading. President Obama on Labor Day appealed to our sense of neighborly solidarity, saying it was time to make sure all Americans can meet simple goals like being able to pay their bills and send their children to school. “There is no denying the simple truth: America deserves a raise,” he said in renewing his call to raise the federal minimum wage. Hailing examples set by employers like Kentucky State University, whose president took a pay cut to give raises to his lowest-paid workers, Obama said Congress needed to catch up to the businesses and other institutions—as well as 13 states and the District of Columbia—that have already acted to raise their minimum wage. The president also mentioned his executive order last February requiring that federal contractors in 2015 increase their minimum hourly wage to $10.10 from the current $7.25. Countering arguments that raising the minimum wage would reduce jobs, Obama said states that had not waited for the federal government to raise their wages had seen more job growth than those that had not raised their wages. The president also expressed optimism about the nation’s economic recovery, highlighting the fact that nearly 10 million jobs have been added in the last four and a half years, and that the unemployment rate has been improving. “By almost every measure, the American economy and American workers are better off than when I took office,” he said. Homily hint: Do you survive on anything close to minimum wage? If the answer is no, let your elected officials know it is time to help those who make the least. And if the answer is yes, even more so! All work has dignity—so should all pay. The laborer is worthy of his or her wages, as First Timothy puts it. Source: An article by Emmarie Huetteman for The New York Times

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The laborer is worthy of better wages

19 Apr 2015 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The psalmist this Sunday describes God in these terms: “You who relieve me when I am in distress.” Distressed low-wage workers are looking for relief as well, and their campaign for a big bump in the minimum wage, the "Fight for $15,” is growing rapidly, with everyone from adjunct professors to home healthcare aids joining fast-food workers this week at more than 230 city and college demonstrations as well as in dozens of cities overseas. Homily hint: Every time you turn around seems the price of something has gone up—yet wages for many remain remarkably low. A time of prosperity after a long downturn should translate into benefits for all, especially for those who have suffered most. Support a just and living wage—honest pay for honest work. For more on “Fight for $15” see: Protests For $15 Minimum Wage Are Heating Up; Fast-food strikes widen into social-justice movement

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Homily stories

14 Oct 2012 - Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

Recently an Australian mining heiress—one of the world’s wealthiest people—sparked controversy by suggesting that if you’re not a millionaire, it is because you are lazy and resentful. The lifelong billionaire followed that statement several weeks later with the suggestion that Australia was losing its competitive edge because of workers’ demands for a livable minimum wage and safe working conditions: After all, said the mining magnate who earns approximately $52 million a day (that’s $600 per second), people in some parts of the world are “willing to work for less than $2 a day.” It is hard not to feel sorry for people who are so disconnected from humanity that instead of being appalled by the brutal conditions under which some labor, they would push many more to the brink of enslavement for the sake of a competitive edge. A word to the wise: Beware of the door you close on others. That same door may close on you before you can enter God’s kingdom.

Authors Patrice J. Tuohy

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