Isabella Battiata

Timothy Gabrielli

SLA 150 45

8 Dec 2018

Living Wages

In this modern-day society, there are countless homeless, sick, and needy people trying to

survive with the little resources that they have to their name. Even people who have homes and

cars and things that most would consider “luxuries,” live paycheck to paycheck just to support

the household. Groups across the globe have come together to try to spread Catholic Social

Teachings (or CST) which are comprised of charity work, voluntary poverty, solidarity, and a

mission to provide help to the needy. They are at the core of social justice issues and are fighting

to help benefit all; however, those groups have competition trying to keep the society as is, or

who are ignorant in their demands. For example, there are debates out there demanding a raise in

minimum wage with slogans like “Equal pay for equal work.” In other words, “pay me based on

what this other person makes” regardless of how hard they both work for it. I have compiled a

list of sources to debunk that slogan and instead replace it with “Living wages for all.” We need

to demand a basic, living wage so that everyone has the minimum necessities to provide for their

families. I’m not arguing for a $15 minimum wage that will inflate the cost of living, but instead

a minimum required income in order to provide for our families.

on social justice issues and demands a basic wage to support the needs of the family. In section

71 of this document, he speaks on the role of men and women within the family. The man of the

house should be working to run the household while the women and children should contribute

to the “common support,” but not contribute so much that it takes away from their childhood and

the women’s strength. He states that women should tend to the house, and if at all necessary,

work in the houses’ “immediate vicinity.” If the man cannot afford his duties to his family, he

needs to demand a raise in order to fulfill those duties. The Pope also argues that the capacity of

the household should affect the amount of wages given to the workingman. I support this

because if a working family does not make enough to provide for three to four family members

and the needs of the house itself, then their wages should increase in order to properly care for

the household. I understand this is probably a reach, but it’s an idea that I think would benefit all.

My second source speaks on the different societies within a nation. Pope Leo XIII in

Rerum Novarum touches on public and private societies. On one hand, he states that public

societies focus on the common good, specifically the interests of everyone together and

individually. On the other, he speaks on private societies which only care for the partners

involved. To me, his version of a public society is like a school system. The people on top, i.e.

the principal and administration team, care for the people on the bottom, i.e. the teachers and

students, as a whole, whereas the guidance staff and teachers care for the students individually.

This creates a safe environment that focuses on the common good of the school. Private societies

in Pope Leo XIII’s terminology reminds me of our own government. The people on top only care

about the needs and opinions of the people on top. They pretend to involve the entire country in

the decisions made, but in reality, anything that benefits them is what will get passed in
government, unfortunately. If only the country was run like a public society, where the top cared

about the bottom. Maybe then we wouldn’t have so many issues that don’t seem to have an end

in sight.

The Long Loneliness and it’s beautiful storytelling is third on my list. Dorothy Day, an

iconic social justice warrior, goes through her own ups and downs in this story. Towards the

middle of the book, she teams up with another icon named Peter Maurin and together they create

The Catholic Worker. This creation is a pamphlet sold for a penny (which is still the price to this

day) that is directed towards the poor, dispossessed and exploited. In other words, workers who

have nothing to show from their work. On page 204, Day states that “Christ lived among men.”

He did hard labor, had nothing to His name, and yet He continued to work hard, despite not

being the King that His disciples thought He was. He fulfilled his duties to the church and spoke

on how there should be living wages, not wages to meet the amount of work done. On page 205,

Day states that “He had set us an example and the poor and destitute were the ones we wished to

reach.” It’s hard to believe that although Christ Himself walked the earth and lived in squalor so

many years ago, that we still do not believe in living wages or care about the needy as much as

we should.

Through the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops CST page, I found a source

from the perspective of Pastors. The perspectives shown in this article titled “Economic Justice

for All: Pastoral Letter on Catholic Social Teaching and the U.S. Economy” speak on many

hardships that the United States faced (and still face to this day) in 1986. Poverty is one of the

more important topics of conversation. In the Poverty chapter, letter B, the pastors speak on the

types of poverty that they have seen. It ranges from homeless people living in the subways and

wearing tattered clothing to children who are malnourished because the workingmen lose their
jobs and cannot afford to continue living adequately. The pastors state in section 172 that our

nation needs “to fashion a society where no one goes without the basic material necessities

required for human dignity and growth.” In other words, we as a whole need to demand living

wages, not equal wages for equal work in order to have the basic necessities to support our

families. These pastors go on in section 174 stating that poverty “is a condition experienced at

some time by many people in different walks of life and in different circumstances. Many poor

people are working, but at wages insufficient to lift them out of poverty.” There are many people

who work full time but the wages that they make cannot cover both the housing costs and the

essentials which is why those people live paycheck to paycheck, and often become behind on

their dues. Second and third jobs are sometimes necessary just to stay afloat. In section 175, it is

stated that “of the long-term poor, most are either working at wages too low to bring them above

the poverty line or are retired, disabled, or parents of preschool teachers. So, while more people

get those second and third jobs, there are even more who have other responsibilities that restricts

the number of hours they can work to support their families.

My next source is derived from Kenneth Hime’s “Catholic Social Teaching on Building a

Just Society: The Need for a Ceiling and a Floor.” In the second section of the article titled “John

Ryan and a Living Wage,” Himes speaks on a Minnesotan man named John Ryan. His main

interest was the living wage of men. He was inspired by Rerum Novarum, which solidified “the

idea of state intervention and the economy” (Himes, 2). Through his progressive ideas and

demand for economic justice, Ryan became known as the “Foremost exponent of CST” (Himes,

3). Ryan’s main goal was to get society a universal right to goods. He called this “the minimum

of justice: (1) the universal destiny of goods means all have an equal claim upon nature’s bounty;

(2) this inherent right of access to the earth’s goods is conditioned upon useful labor; and (3)
those in control of natural resources are obliged to provide access to such resources for all

willing to work” (Himes, 3). In other words, we all have a right to the goods provided to us by

the earth so long as we are working, and those in charge of said goods must provide them to the

working men to support their homes. If the man makes enough wages to keep the home running,

then the women stays home and cares for the house and children. To tie this in with my main

idea, there needs to be a minimum income made, not a minimum wage, to support the household.

I chose a Biblical verse to end my essay with. Deuteronomy 24:14-15 states that you

should not abuse a worker since he relies on your employment to provide for his household. His

wages need to be enough to live day to day and provide for his and his family’s basic needs. If

the employer should make enough to provide for his family and distribute any extra profits to his

employees to ensure that they can do the same with their families. This verse also suggests that

the man lives paycheck to paycheck and is dependent on the amount of money that he gets.

All in all, I believe a minimum wage is insufficient and a living income is something we

need to get behind. For example, a minimum of $2000 a month to cover the basic necessities of

the household. Not $15 an hour. You’re not guaranteed the same number of hours each month.

So, a minimum income, in my opinion, makes more sense to fight for.

Day, Dorothy. Long Loneliness. Harper and Row. 1952.

Economic Justice for All. United States Catholic Bishops. 1986.

Himes, Kenneth. “Catholic Social Teaching on Building a Just Society: The

Need for a Ceiling and a Floor.” Religions, vol. 8, no. 4, 2017, pg. 2-3.

Leo, Pope XIII. “Rerum Novarum”: Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII on Capital and Labor. Libreria

Editrice Vaticana. Number 51.

Pius, Pope XI. "Quadragesimo Anno": Encyclical Letter of His Holiness Pope

Pius XI on Social Reconstruction. Saint Paul Publications. Number 71.

The Bible. Deuteronomy 24:14-15. Authorized King James Version, Oxford UP, 1998.