Letters to the Editor

February 16, 2008

Scholarship supporter upset by diocese’s dismantling of union

As a student at Bishop Hoban High School, I was consistently provided with “systematic and clear instruction on Catholic social teaching.” It saddens me that in conscience I cannot continue to support a financial scholarship to Holy Redeemer High School, as I have to Bishop Hoban High School for the past five years. The refusal of the Diocese to recognize the Scranton Diocese Association of Catholic Teachers is in conflict with the church’s teaching on social justice as set forth in the encyclicals Rerum Novarum and Quadragesimo Anno. The late beloved Cardinal John O’Connor followed these teachings when he gave the Scranton teachers the right to organize and recognized SDACT as their bargaining agent.

Times may change and the restructuring of Catholic schools may have been necessary. However, the right of workers to organize and to form their own unions should not be subject to the whims of a diocesan corporation in changing times. Workers’ rights are not disposable.

I will be happy to once again fund the scholarship that was provided in the event that the diocese follows the social teachings of the church and the example set by the late Cardinal John O’Connor.

Kurt J. Kwak Wilkes-Barre

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