Dan have to do the dirty work in

Dan have to do the dirty work in

Dan D’AgostinoReligion PaperIn the pastoral letter, it declares that “basic justice demands the establishment of minimum levels of participation in the life of the human community for all persons.” This small excerpt criticizes the church as well as society though. This Catholic Framework for Economic Life represents a fundamental challenge to a “winner takes all, every person for oneself” economic ethic which leaves too many behind. It seeks to shape the national debate about how to balance our budget without further burdening the poor. It offers a different set of values. I have read the Bishops’ pastoral letter, and I find myself feeling a little defensive and a little irritated at some of his principles. Some of his remarks criticize society and confuse me dearly.

It is stated in the pastoral letter that when a person is marginalized or not allowed to participate in something, it is a violation of their justice. The Bishop tells us that the framework is not about political platforms or secular economic theories. Instead he says it’s about the poor people who have to scrap and fight for any sort of economic freedom in this world.

These are the poor people who basically have to do the dirty work in this world and are the people who are taken for granted by the more wealthy people. My question is; okay, what about them? Should we have to do absolutely everything ourselves so someone does not have to come in at night and clean up after us. Do working people have to take their own garbage out at night and vacuum their offices so someone does not have to clean up afterwards? This is in effect marginalizing the poor worker’s jobs and is violating their justice.

It is a bold contradiction and one that confuses me. On the other hand, should we leave garbage everywhere so after hours people have lots of work and more jobs are then provided for people with limited skills and education? Should we pay higher wages and provide better benefits to the people who clean up after us? How much higher? Maybe they should make the same amount the normal working person makes. There are poor people who can get around this though. I remember a job a few years ago where a number of janitors at my summer job made more money than some of the actual teachers that were fairly new in the district. The fact was that they made cushy deals to make a great amount of money and they were not even doing their jobs, which was maintaining the schools.

Just from my experiences, I sometimes have a hard time feeling bad for the whole poor population as a whole. Yes, there are truly some people in this world that have been dealt the worst hand possible and I would love to help them in any way. People like the janitors I mentioned above or the people who abuse the welfare policy and do not pull there own weight in this world are the reasons why I sometimes have a hard heart for these topics. To sum it up, the pastoral letter is largely based upon given everyone an equal chance in this world, but there is always going to be a good chunk of the poor population that still will not pull their own weight.

Why take opportunities away from the people who actually want to excel in this world with dedication and hard work and let them waist away on someone who expects everything to be handed to them on a silver platter. There pastoral letter also criticizes the church as well. The letter talks so much of how the economy has to do this or do that in order for the poor people of this world to have an equal chance of accomplishment.

Whatever happened to the church helping poor people find their way to peace and comfort? Why does nearly everything in this letter talk about economic policies and governmental issues. Yes, it does call for everyone as a while to come closer and become “unified,” but to my perspective, the church takes a backseat in this letter. It calls for all people to work for the common good, which is to have equality throughout our economy, but once again it solely deals with the issue of money and poverty. Having faith and being a good practicing Christian is not mentioned. The letter encourages all working people to not solely be money-driven, but when I read this letter, I find myself thinking that the letter itself is money-driven.

It is contradiction that negates much of what the letters intentions were.