Worker-Priest
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Worker-priest was a missionary iniative by the French Catholic Church for priests to take up work in such places as car factories to experience the everyday life of the working class.
In 1944, the first worker-priest missions were set up in Paris, and then later in Lyons and Marseille. The Church hoped, by "putting young priests into secular clothes and letting them work in factories, to regain the confidence of the French working class, which [had] almost completely abandoned the Catholic faith."[1]
In 1945, Pius XII "approved (reluctantly) the daring social experiment of the French worker-priests."[2]
In 1950, Pius XII in an apostolic exhortation on the priestly life expressed "reservations and suspicions of the worker-priests …"[3]
Many of the priests joined in campaigns for improved pay and conditions and the movement became prominent in the industrial unrest of 1952 and 1953. This resulted in the factory owners complaining to the Catholic Church that the priests were being divisive by supporting the unions.
The French bishops informed the worker-priests that they must return to their parishes. About 50, however, chose to stay on at their work.[4]
Moreover, by 1953, of some 90 priests, 10 had married, and about 15 were working with the communists.[5] "… the Pope sent verbal orders that the movement be suppressed, but the French cardinals managed to persuade the Pope to allow the worker-priests to continue 'in principle,' after some major changes in the setup."[6]
In November 1953, all worker priests were recalled and required to leave their work and unions.[7]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "Urbi et Orbi." Time (14 Dec. 1953), http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,806801-9,00.html.
- ^ "Urbi et Orbi." Time (14 Dec. 1953), http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,806801-9,00.html.
- ^ Holmes, J. Derek, and Bernard W. Bickers. A Short History of the Catholic Church. London: Burns and Oates, 1983. 281.
- ^ Collins, Peter. “The Demise of the Worker Priests.” Uniya Newsletter (autumn 1995): 12. http://home.vicnet.net.au/~cardoner/uniya/un5au12.txt.
- ^ "Urbi et Orbi." Time (14 Dec. 1953), http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,806801-9,00.html.
- ^ "Urbi et Orbi." Time (14 Dec. 1953), http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,806801-9,00.html.
- ^ http://www.catholiclabor.org/gen-art/loew.htm
