Labor bill threatens religious liberty in Pa.
Labor Day waits just around the corner next week, and with it, the summer’s last official long weekend. It’s an open question how many Americans will pause between hot dogs and hamburgers to consider the contribution of organized labor in our country, especially over the past century. The Church teaches the dignity of work and the right of workers to organize because it respects the human dignity of workers. It also points out the rights and responsibilities of both workers and managers to treat each other with fairness and justice.
Last week, the Church in Pennsylvania found itself in the curious position of opposing a proposal concerning unionized Catholic school teachers. House Bill 2626 would force Catholic and all religious schools to accept teachers’ unions. Most important, it would grant the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board the right to examine Church doctrines and rule on their application as a pretext in a labor dispute between a union and the Bishop of a diocese.
Regardless of the intent of the bill’s sponsors, it would put a government agency in the position of deciding what teachers may teach in Catholic schools, not the Bishop. On a fundamental level, the bill would undermine a bishop’s role, along with pastors of the Church and dedicated religious and lay catechists, to teach the Catholic faith to children.
The bill clearly oversteps the Constitution’s first amendment clauses of free exercise of religion and establishment. The United States Supreme Court has consistently upheld this principle and kept religious education free from government interference.
At a hearing on the bill Aug. 18, speakers such as those from the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference presented reasoned testimony, fielded thoughtful questions from legislators without animosity and engaged in a cordial, give-and-take forum. It was a good sign and, considering that the Archdiocese of Philadelphia enjoys a positive and productive working relationship with its unionized Catholic school teachers, it is apparent that the bill does not represent a classic management vs. union confrontation.
The issue is one of religious liberty. The Church is not a trade association or special interest group with an education agenda or business unit. It is a community that lives out its mission from Jesus Christ to pass on the faith. The Church naturally resists any attempt to restrict a bishop’s duty and right to teach the faith.
The hearing on HB 2626 shows that prudent legislators recognize this right. Republican and Democratic lawmakers should agree to reject this bill and keep government out of the Church’s mission of handing on the Catholic faith in Pennsylvania.