By Father Casey
For many of us, this weekend may provide a last-chance summer getaway, or a big sale at a favorite store, or the arrival of everything pumpkin spice. But I hope we’ll hold onto the history and purpose of Labor Day, which began 140 years ago to honor the contributions of workers to our society. Organized labor is waning in our nation, but quite a lot of things we take for granted today owes to the labor movement: standardized workweeks, minimum wage, safety in the workplace, no child labor, and anti-discrimination laws.
You might be interested to know that Christians have had quite a lot to do with the labor movement across the years. Dorothy Day, founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, has been referred to as the “radical conscience” of the American Catholicism.[1] Frances Perkins, a devout Episcopalian and the first female cabinet secretary, was the driver behind the FDR’s New Deal and first proposed things like social security. And Dr. King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech happened during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, and he was assassinated while helping lead a strike by sanitation workers.
Labor Day is a poignant time to honor the long journey toward justice and fair treatment in our society, and to try not to take quite so much for granted. Liberty and justice for all is not something we can simply hope into being, but something we have to fight for, sometimes for generations. It’s something that grows over time, as good intentions are transformed into good policies that protect the dignity and welfare of all people. This is how Christians can also be good citizens, when we not only to pray the Magnificat, but work to bring its vision of the upending of injustice to life.
That’s why this weekend I’ll be writing to state officials about a new rule that took effect recently. Transgender Texans can no longer change the sex on their driver’s license to align with their gender identity — even if they present the state with a certified court order or an amended birth certificate. Furthermore, the DPS has been directed by the Attorney General to collect the names of anyone who has requested a change, leading to serious concerns about how this information will be used. Transgender Texans are now effectively barred from obtaining an accurate form of essential identification, making them even more vulnerable to discrimination and harassment than they already are.
We are blessed by the presence and full participation of transgender members at Transfiguration. They enrich our community with skills, faith, and love. We believe they possess equal status to all others in the eyes of God, so shouldn’t they enjoy equal status in the eyes of our government? The attacks against them by state officials are cruel and dangerous, which is causing many trans persons, including our siblings at the Fig, to question whether they can continue to live here. So I intend to use my voice and energy to advocate for them. When something is not right, when we know how to make the world better, we mustn’t stand idle and hope someone else fixes it. As the Book of James says, which we’ll begin reading this weekend, “be doers of the word, and not merely hearers,” so we can bring a bit more of the goodness of God to our world.
Fr. Casey+
[1] https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2001/08/27/introduction-dorothy-day