The Priest and the Worker

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXII, Issue 3, 21 January 1904, Page 13

The Priest and the Worker

John Mitchell, the great American labor leader was interviewed in Boston a few weeks back by a representative of the 'Republic' In speaking of the condition and hopes of the miners, of whose association he is at the head, Mr. Mitchell laid much stress upon the influence of the sympathy of the Catholic clergy. ' You must bear in mind,' he said, ' that over 90 per cent, of the miners are Catholics, penetrated with a traditional fealty to the Church that is as chivalrously tender as the love which a son gives a devoted mother. This could not be unless the priest was an important factor in the lfe of the people. That he is unquestioned. Out of this large sentiment~bf helpfulness and spiritual guidance there issues a sympathy on the part of the Catholic clergy for the aspirations and the struggles for wider opportunities which havu been the essential proposals of the Labor movement. I have Know only two priests in my whole experience who were not friendly to the miners in their battle for better conditions. And these men were not representative of the type that spells widened influence for the Catholic conception of life. ' The priest knows thfc working man. He does not look at himi from the study where he browses over academic and anaemic discourses on the condition of Labor. His sympathy is a wellspring of living waters. It is prompted by intimate contact It is not a sterile devotion to an unreal working man conjured up by the weaving of many phrases.' When the ' Republic's ' representative mentioned Bishop Spalding's name, Mr. Mitchell's eyes kindles with, enthusiasm : ' One of the greatest intellectual forces in the NewWorld, 1 he said, .with emphasis. 'An economist, a keen

student of social problems, a wonderfully flexible mind, open to the sunlight -in all directions ! You know it ' was I who suggested to Mr. Roosevelt the -advisability of appointing him a member of the coal strike commission. I am an ardent admirer of his works, and never tire of that richly sonorous style that is so closely packed with suggestion. He is a most stimulating thinker— one of the strongest single forces for social betterment in the land.