The Working Catholic by Bill Droel A victim syndrome underlies the divisiveness in our society, explains Frank Bruni in The Age of Grievance (Simon & Schuster, 2024). Each of us experiences frustrations. We complain that the line in the grocery is too long and it was a mistake to shop or the neighbor’s dogs bark all day and a move to a No Pets apartment would be wise. Grievance goes beyond such feelings of bad luck. We can normally get... Read more

The Working Catholic by Bill Droel It is commonly ranked as the top professional football play of all time. Only 22-seconds remained in the December 1972 AFC Division final. The Steelers were losing. That’s when Terry Bradshaw pitched the immaculate reception to Franco Harris (1950-2022) for the thrilling victory. The play is legendary; it can be viewed on several websites. The Eucharist is not a legend. It is not a reenactment. It is not available on instant replay. It is... Read more

The Working Catholic by Bill Droel The bells are back. Years ago and for years before that, the attention of worshipers at Mass drifted for understandable reasons: their ignorance of Latin and their partially obstructed view of the drama. Congregants often used their time at Mass for private prayer.  Thus at key moments in the Mass, particularly at the consecration, altar servers would ring an assemblage of bells. The bells went quietly into a closet nearly 60 years ago. In... Read more

The Working Catholic by Bill Droel Our U.S. Catholic bishops host a Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis from July 17-21, 2024. It is the culmination of a three-year process meant to teach the real presence of Jesus/God in the Eucharist. The bishops are reacting to surveys that seemingly show that Catholics do not know or do not believe the dogma of the Eucharist. (There is ambiguity. For example, to answer a survey question by saying “the Eucharist is a symbol” does... Read more

The Working Catholic by Bill Droel “Why did the new, worker friendly workplaces prove unable to keep their employees happy enough not to have to pay union dues?” So asks a Chicago Tribune editorial (4/10/24). The editors have in mind Trader Joe’s, Starbucks, the camping equipment retailer REI plus several museums and theatres here in Chicago and elsewhere. After all, Trader Joe’s has a 7% annual pay increase, a 401K, a health insurance option, employee discount on groceries and more,... Read more

The Working Catholic: Social Doctrine Part 16 by Bill Droel   It was news when this past April employees at a Volkswagen assembly plant in Chattanooga, TN voted overwhelmingly to join United Auto Workers (www.uawregion8.net). The vote is noteworthy because the South is generally not receptive to unions. It is not only noteworthy in the present. We may “someday look back at the Chattanooga vote as a milestone on the road back to the more or less middle-class society” in... Read more

The Working Catholic, Immigration Part Three by Bill Droel Archbishop John Hughes (1997-1864) of New York is probably not a suitable role model for a bishop today. And yet… Hughes was born in Ireland. He once tellingly wrote: For first four days of my life, I was “on social and civil equality with the most favored subjects of the British Empire.” But then I was baptized a Roman Catholic. Hughes emigrated to the U.S. in 1817 where he worked in... Read more

The Working Catholic: Big Tech by Bill Droel The popular use of a term sometimes differs from its original use. Such is the case with Luddite, which now usually refers to someone who fiercely opposes most technology. Blood in the Machine by Brain Merchant (Little Brown, 2023) takes us back to the term’s origin: the Luddite Movement in England from 1811 to 1816. Textile workers were opposed to certain types of automated machines, not wholesale opposition to all technology. They... Read more

The Working Catholic: No Contract, Yet by Bill Droel In recent times employees for some well-known companies have voted for a union at their store or warehouse. These apparent employee victories do not, however, signal improved labor relations in our country. It is difficult for employees to achieve a pro-union vote. The parent company retains union-busting lawyers and consultants who, in round one, teach executives and branch managers how to disrupt an organizing effort by making side promises to a... Read more

The Working Catholic: Neighborhood Part Two by Bill Droel Some Catholics have a deficient operative belief in the dogma of Christmas. For example, one young priest appropriately picked a light/darkness theme for his Christmas Day homily. However, its content was all darkness: our society’s disrespect for life, war in the Holy Land, war in Ukraine, corruption of Chicago politicians and more. Why didn’t he feel the Light? Are not all the little light bulbs strung on houses in our neighborhood... Read more