Labor Day

Monday, Sep. 2, 2024

Location: Diocesan offices and Catholic schools closed

"You too go into my vineyard, and I will give you what is just.” — Matthew 20:4

"Labor Day has a larger purpose than just cookouts and a shorter work week. It’s meant to remind us of the importance of labor, of the inherent dignity of work and of all workers," explains Deacon Matthew Glover in his 2017 Understanding Our Church column. 

"The Catholic Church has stood up for the dignity of work and the rights of laborers for the past two millennia," Deacon Glover added. "And the Church’s teachings find their root not in political ideology, but in the so-called 'hidden life' of Jesus Christ, and his foster father, St. Joseph.

"Jesus’ public ministry only lasted for three years. He spent the vast majority of his life here on earth working, carpentering and doing manual labor under the tutelage of St. Joseph. Jesus’ first act of sanctification (besides assuming our humanity in the incarnation) was to assume the normal hum-drum of our daily working lives."

This year's Labor Day Statement from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops focuses on the need for us to build a society that honors the human dignity of all who labor. Citing the parable of the workers in the vineyard, Archbishop Borys Gudziak of Philadelphia and Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso point out "God desires for us to do more than simply survive but to thrive."

"In that parable, the master pays all the workers a 'just' wage despite working for differing lengths of time. Their remuneration is given simply because he desires that we all have the resources to thrive. Dignified work reflects that our humanity gives us an active role to play in cultivating the world around us. Through work, we exercise dominion over how we provide the material needs for ourselves and our families." | Read Statement.

To learn more about Catholic teaching regarding labor, read "The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers" from the U.S. bishops, “Rerum Novarum,” (“On the Rights and Duties of Capital and Labor”) by Pope Leo XIII or other Understanding Our Church columns about Labor Day.