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Faith and work join hands in the marketplace

Story and photos by LIZ QUIRIN
Messenger editor

In the business world today, the headlines scream about people lying, cheating and stealing in their places of work. The injustices in the marketplace take up more and more room in newspapers or time on audio or video news programs.

With this issue, The Messenger is beginning Faith in the Marketplace to recognize leaders in business who take their faith to work with them. Their integrity and ethical behavior demonstrates advice that the United States bishops described in “Economic Justice for All,” a 1986 pastoral letter on Catholic Social Teaching and the U.S. Economy.

The pastoral letter said, in part: “The road to holiness for most of us lies in our secular vocations. We need a spirituality that calls for and supports lay initiative and witness not just in our churches but also in business, in the labor movement, in the professions, in education and in public life.”

We called for nominations through parish emails, bulletin announcements and The Messenger. Because of space limitations, we could not interview everyone, so four people were interviewed for this issue. The names of all of the nominees are again listed in this issue.

We salute those who were nominated, and agree with the bishops’ pastoral, which said: “We cannot separate what we believe from how we act in the marketplace and the broader community, for this is where we make our primary contribution to the pursuit of economic justice.”

We hope to make this an annual recognition, growing as people become aware of our goals and also more aware of the people with and for whom they work.

In this time when the values of honesty, trust and integrity have come to mean so little to some people, those people nominated for this recognition stand out as examples of the way business should be conducted.
The Gospel is read at weekend liturgies, but it must be taken from the church and practiced in the world of commerce every day.

In addition to practicing their faith at work, the nominees also had to be active members of a parish in the diocese.
While this is a small beginning, we believe it is an important first step in demonstrating that more people take their faith seriously and rely on principles in conducting business. This week, they receive the headlines and our congratulations for being nominated.