Milestones in Catholic church's role in labor movement

National Catholic Reporter, June 4, 1999

1879: The Knights of Labor, a Catholic labor movement that peaked in the 1880s, is founded in the United States. Most members eventually joined either the American Federation of Labor or unions affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations.

1891: Leo XIII issues Rerum Novarum ("On the condition of workers"), the first papal encyclical on social questions. Leo endorsed the right of laborers to organize.

1916: Fr. John A. Ryan publishes Distributive Justice, analyzing the U.S. economy from the point of view of Catholic social teaching. Ryan would become a major force for Catholic support of the labor movement.

1919: The U.S. bishops issue their "Bishops Program" for social renewal after World War I. It was the first pronouncement by the U.S. hierarchy on social and economic problems. Its support for collective bargaining, unemployment insurance and protection for the elderly anticipated many of the elements of the New Deal.

1931: Pius XI issues Quadragesimo Anno, reaffirming the church's commitment to labor. It is the first papal document to use the phrase "social justice."

1933: Peter Maurin and Dorothy Day start The Catholic Worker newspaper in New York City, a voice for labor and Catholic social teaching still being published.

1935: The Association of Catholic Trade Unionists is formed in the United States, designed to bring church teachings on the economy and workers' rights to the people.

1948: The United Nations issues its Universal Declaration of Human Rights, with observers from the Holy See present. The declaration includes a strong section on social and political rights.

1965: The Vatican II document Gaudium et Spes reaffirms the church's commitment to the rights of labor flowing from the dignity of the human person.

1986: The U.S. bishops issue their pastoral letter Economic Justice for All, which calls for a renewed Catholic commitment to social and economic justice.

1991: John Paul II issues Centesimus Annus on the 100th anniversary of Leo XIII's encyclical, reaffirming papal support for collective bargaining, a living wage and cooperative rather than competitive relations between labor and management.