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Families who are financially struggling and facing poverty and unemployment might feel like they are alone in their plight, but the Catholic Church has shared a message of unity with them.
This was what Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami said during his Labor Day message, according to the Catholic News Agency.
"These challenging times can pull us toward despair and all the many dangers that come with it," he said. "Into this reality, the Church shares a word of hope. She seeks to replace desperation and isolation with human concern and true solidarity, reaffirming the trust in a good and gracious God who knows what we need before we ask him."
Wenski, who also chairs the U.S. bishops' committee on domestic justice and human development, says America is currently facing "twin crises" that are related — poverty and lack of access to good jobs. These two things have affected families and harmed the dignity of workers, therefore keeping them from enjoying family life.
The problems, according to Wenski, are "stagnant wages, industry leaving towns and cities behind, and the sharp decline in the rate of private-sector organized labor," not to mention the increasing rates of child poverty.
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Even Pope Francis is aware of these issues. In his address to the U.S. Congress last September, the pope said young people "seem disoriented and aimless, trapped in a hopeless maze of violence, abuse and despair."
"Their problems are our problems. We cannot avoid them," the pope continued. "We need to face them together, to talk about them and to seek effective solutions rather than getting bogged down in discussions."
Wenski says it is imperative for Christians to stand up against poverty and practice true solidarity with their neighbours. "The Church weeps with all of these families, with these children, whose homes and worlds are broken," he says. "For those who feel left behind today, know that the Church wants to walk with you, in the company of the God who formed your 'inmost being' and who knows that you are 'wonderfully made.'"
