Working with Dignity:
Participating in God’s Creation
Mr. Garcia
Religion 10
1. List five ways that Free the Children works to end child labor.
•
Provides education to poor children the world by raising
money to build or support schools
•
Buys cows, land, and machinery so poor families can support
themselves without sending their children to work
•
Works for social change by speaking about child labor around
the world
•
Works for social change by urging consumers to boycott
products made by children
•
Works for social change by lobbying government to take
action against child labor
2. What does Catholic social teaching say the value of work is?
Work is valuable because it is necessary for human life, it enables
people to participate in the life of the community, and it is an
expression of the creativity we posses as images of God. An
alternate view is that work is valuable only for what it
produces.
3. Write a paragraph discussing how the story of Iqbal
and Craig reflects elements of the paschal mystery—
the dying and rising of Christ.
4. In your own words, restate the four purposes of work
identified in Church teaching.
• Supports families by enabling them to maintain a
home, buy food and clothing and educate children.
• Enables people to realize their dignity because it
allows them to grow as people, learning and putting
natural talents to use.
• Promotes the common good by providing good and
useful products and services for others.
• Enables us to share in God’s creative work because
as images of God, we make the world a better place
and thus reflect the work of God.
5. Why do people have a responsibility to work?
Because work necessary to maintain the basic relationships needed for justice:
the relationship with one’s dignity, family, community, and God.
6. What does it mean to treat workers as a means of production?
It is an attitude that regards workers merely as a way of producing goods and
services—as tools, not as persons. Their treatment is determined solely by
economic considerations.
7. Name at least three ways people are prevented from having good work.
• Discrimination based on race
• Discrimination based on gender
• Poverty
• Lack of education
• Lack of skills
• Jobs that are located far from people who are unemployed
• The nature of welfare programs
• Low wages
8. Create a relationship map (either by drawing or writing) describing the
conditions necessary for Maria Ortega to get and maintain good work.
9. What does the parable of the laborers in the vineyard
say about human work.
The worker is more important than the work being done.
10. Explain the different between the subjective and the
objective aspects of work.
The subjective aspect of work is what the worker
experiences. The objective aspect of work is what the
worker produces.
11. Which aspect does Catholic social teaching say is
more important, and why?
The subjective aspect of work is more important
because the basis for determining the value of human
work is not primarily the kind of work being done.
12. List the rights of workers, including a brief explanation of each.
• The right to work means that people can take care of their families, find
fulfillment, and benefit others.
• A just wage is a living wage, means that workers can support a decent life
for themselves and their family.
• Respect for the worker’s family means that a worker’s home life is taken into
consideration, so that he or she has enough leisure time to develop talents
and to take part in the life of the community.
• A safe work environment means that workers are not given more work than
they can do, work that is not suited to their age, or work that harms their
savings.
• Permission to join unions means that workers then have a voice in corporate
decisions.
• Equal treatment means that everyone is treated the same regardless of their
citizenship or the presence of a disability—immigrants should be treated
decently, and people with disabilities should be enabled to participate in
work to the extent of their capabilities.
• Because all people have the right to work, all people have the right to
economic initiative and private property.
• All people have the right to a good education.
13. How does inadequate education affect work?
Inadequate education prevents people from developing their talents and finding
work that is needed by their community.
14. Choose one of the stories about work in this chapter. In
several paragraphs, explain whether the objective or the
subjective aspect of work is emphasized, and why. Support
your argument by explaining how the rights of workers are
respected or denied. Answers will vary.
15. Explain the term indirect employer.
Any policy-making institution that help regulate what employers
may or may not do.
16. What are three ways that people can cooperate to change the
policies of employers?
• People can engage in political activism by voting or by lobbing
public policy makers to protect workers through legislation.
• People can use purchasing power to support companies that
defend human life, treat workers fairly, protect creation, and
respect other basic moral values. They can boycott
manufacturers that do not have these values.
• In the workplace, people can ask questions about the way their
workplace affects the workers and the environment, and they
can suggest just alternatives.
17. Define globalization of the economy, and explain its implications
work.
Globalization of the economy is a term that refers to the fact that the
economies of different nations are increasingly tied together by
interdependent relationships, with the result that working conditions
in one country are often influenced by business practice in another
country.
18. Briefly explain the role that solidarity should play in good business
practices.
Because they have a good deal of power to shape the working
conditions of their employers and the structures of society as well,
business leaders have a responsibility to work for justice in solidarity
with workers, the rest of the human community, and God’s creation.
Solidarity can take the form of taking care of workers, enabling poor
and vulnerable people to become more fully who they are meant to
be, or ensuring that people in developing countries benefit from
partnerships with First World corporations.
19. Discuss how just work supports and contributes to these other
aspects of justice : human like and dignity, participation in family and
community, rights and responsibilities, solidarity, the option for the
poor and vulnerable, and care for God’s creation.