Alexandra Santos's Profile

Pope John Paul II during his visit to Canada in 1984: "The needs of the poor take priority over the desires of the rich; the rights of workers over the maximization of profits; the preservation of the environment over uncontrolled industrial expansion; the production to meet social needs over production for military purposes"

We believe the time has come for a similar experiment in securing economic rights: the creation of an order that guarantees the minimum conditions of human dignity in the economic sphere for every person.

The economy of this nation has been built by the labor of human hands and minds.

John Paul II has stated that "human work is a key, probably the essential key, to the whole social question"

Leisure, prayer, celebration, and the arts are also central to the realization of human dignity and to the development of a rich cultural life.

it is primarily through their daily labor that people make their most important contributions to economic justice.

All work has a threefold moral significance. First, it is a principle way that people exercise the distinctive human capacity for self-expression and self-realization. Second, it is the ordinary way for human beings to fulfill their material needs. Finally, work enables people to contribute to the well-being of the larger community. Work is not only for one's self. It is for one's family, for the nation, and indeed for the benefit of the entire human family

Catholic social teaching calls for respect for the full richness of social life

"Just as it is gravely wrong to take from individuals what they can accomplish by their own initiative and industry and give it to the community, so also it is an injustice and at the same time a grave evil and disturbance of right order to assign a greater and higher association what lesser and subordinate organizations can do. For every social activity ought of its very nature to furnish help (subsidium) to the members of the body social, and never destroy and absorb them"

depends on strengthening the virtues of public service and responsible citizenship in personal life and on all levels of institutional life

more just U.S. economy

Labor has a great dignity

Pope Leo XIII stated, every working person has "the right of securing things to sustain life"

Pope John Paul II, "The experience of history teaches that organizations of this type are an indispensable element of social life, especially in modern industrial societies"

we firmly oppose organized efforts

We vehemently oppose violations of the freedom to associate, wherever they occur, for they are an intolerable attack on social solidarity.

Workers must use their collective power to contribute to the well-being of the whole community and should avoid pressing demands whose fulfillment would damage the common good and the rights of more vulnerable members of society

Organized labor has a responsibility to work positively toward eliminating the injustice this discrimination has caused.

Pope John Paul II has pointed out, "The degree of well-being which society today enjoys would be unthinkable without the dynamic figure of the business person, whose function consists of organizing human labor and the means of production so as to give rise to the goods and services necessary for the prosperity and progress of the community"

Consideration should also be given to the possibility of limiting or abolishing compulsory overtime work. Similarly, methods might be examined to discourage overuse of part-time workers, who do not receive fringe benefits

More than 33 million Americans -- about one in every seven people in our nation -- are poor by the government's official definition.

Perhaps most distressing is the growing number of children who are poor

Very many poor families with children receive no government assistance, have no health insurance, and cannot pay medical bills. Less than half are immunized against preventable diseases such as diphtheria and polio

More than one-third of all female-headed families are poor. Among minority families headed by women the poverty rate is over 50 percent

Wage discrimination against women is a major factor behind these high rates of poverty.

Despite the many changes in marriage and family life in recent decades,

women continue to have primary responsibility in this area.

Despite the gains which have been made toward racial equality, prejudice and discrimination in our own time as well as the effects of past discrimination continue to exclude many members of racial minorities from the mainstream of American life.

"a sin that divides the human family, blots out the image of God among specific members of that family, and violates the fundamental human dignity of those called to be children of the same Father"

Our economy is marked by very uneven distribution of wealth and income.