Courtesy of Joseph McCartin, CLN Board Member; Professor and Executive Director, Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor, Georgetown University

“The world needs renewed commitment, a new social compact that can bind us together, older and younger generations, for the care of creation and for solidarity and mutual protection within the human community.” – Pope Francis, May 8, 2024

Pope Francis shared these words in a special audience he held in Rome with worker rights advocates from around the globe, including a number of members of the Catholic Labor Network.  The group gathered under the auspices of a project called the Future of Work After Laudato Si’ (FOWLS), which is coordinated by the International Catholic Migration Council, with the support of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development.

FOWLS was launched in 2018 as a project that aimed to convene Catholic scholars, activists, and religious from around the world in public discourse and discussions that sought to link the urgent challenges of the environmental and climate change crisis with the need to address deepening inequality and a growing international migration crisis.  Participants in these dialogues were widened in 2020 as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic became clear.  These virtual convenings heard testimony from worker advocates from around the globe and led to the drafting of a framework called Care is Work and Work is Care that was released in September 2022 and to the publication of a detailed Project Narrative Report months later.

Following the issuing of these documents, convenings were held in multiple places around the globe to digest and act on their findings.  It was at this point that the Catholic Labor Network joined the effort.  In June 2023, CLN leaders helped convene “Putting Care is Work into Practice: The Chicago Social Dialogue,” an effort that brought together workers and employers in the hospitality industry with the aim of developing a guiding statement for their industry.  Longtime CLN board members Fr. Clete Kiley and Chuck Hendricks of the hospitality union UNITE HERE helped convene that meeting which produced a remarkable statement, the Chicago Hospitality Charter.

When FOWLS participants journeyed to Rome this May for their audience with the Pope, the Holy Father encouraged them to develop a roadmap for the next stage of their work. During their Rome deliberations, FOWLS participants heard from representatives of UNITE HERE, including Hendricks, union members Roushaunda Williams and Cecilia Leiva, and union staffer Sara Lyons.  The Chicago social dialogue helped inspire the roadmap that came out of the Rome meeting.

Now North American participants in FOWLS are considering a follow-up social dialogue patterned on the Chicago model, perhaps one that seeks to convene leaders, workers, and students in Catholic higher education to talk about the application of the Laudato Si’ vision to that sector.  Whether that becomes the focus of the next step of the work in North America, CLN will be involved.  If you would like to take part in this work, please let us know by emailing aimee@catholiclabor.org.