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  • Strangers in a Foreign Land: The Organizing of Catholic Latinos in the United States
  • Patrick J. Sullivan, C.S.C.
Strangers in a Foreign Land: The Organizing of Catholic Latinos in the United States. By George E. Schultze, S.J. (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007. Pp. xii, 175. $52.95 clothbound, ISBN 978-0-739-11745-3; $24.94 paperback, 978-0-739-11746-0.)

George Schultze, S.J., has made a timely contribution to contemporary writings on the Catholic Church, Latino workers, and U.S. labor movement. Chapter 2,"Catholicism and Worklife," provides a very readable and substantive overview of scriptural, patristic, medieval, and post-Reformation reflection on Christian and Catholic teaching on work. Much of it could be useful to Protestant and Catholic organizers as well as labor activists and secularists.

Chapter 3, "U.S. Labor History and Catholic Participation," introduces the continuing tension between a more focused economic-political tactic of skilled trade unionism and a wider communal-societal tactic of unskilled service unionism. This tension between two types of unionization manifested itself in AFL-Samuel Gompers' rejection of Fr. Peter Dietz's attempt to create a formal relationship between the AFL and the American Federation of Catholic Societies so that joint positions on strikes, industrial education, social services, and other concerns could be formulated. Schultze said it well: "[The] labor movement valued the support of sympathetic Catholic clergy, but it did not [End Page 859] want to lose its autonomy or cause sectarian divisions within its ranks"(p. 64). The record of "the support of sympathetic Catholic Clergy" about the U.S. bishops' 1919 letter on social reconstruction and Msgr. John A. Ryan's relationship to "Progressives" and "Social Gospelers" is a striking rebuke to authors alleging that later Catholic involvement in labor-management issues was more an anticommunistic crusade than a sincere dedication to the improvement of workers' livelihood, especially by effective and unimpeded unionization.

Chapter 5, "U.S. Labor 1940 to 2000," documents some of that sincere and effective dedication of labor priests and labor schools. The section "Farm Workers" is a comprehensive, insightful, and honest account of the monumental achievements of Cesar Chavez, head of United Farm Workers (UFW).

No punches are pulled about some failings of labor leaders and even Chavez. It is pleasant to see long-overdue credit given to other labor priests and California and Texas bishops. However, more would have been welcome about Sister Mary Beth Larkin and other women religious who worked often with little or no recognition. Jesuits should be very proud of Fr. James Vizzard, S.J., legislative director for the National Catholic Rural Life Conference, and of Chavez, for their significant work in the passage of much federal legislation so beneficial to farm workers. Schultze lays out the significant role of community organizations in Chavez's crusade and their significant potential to assist the labor movement in support of Latino workers throughout the nation.

In chapter 6, "A Swing to the Cultural Left Leaves the Catholic on the Sidelines," and chapter 7," A Need for Change," Schultze criticizes some service unions supporting abortion and gay marriages, opposing school vouchers, yet attempting to attract devout Catholic Hispanic workers to their ranks. Apparently, he is unaware or unappreciative of the resolute practice of labor priests not to attack unions publicly on issues crucial to the Church, often after private conversations had occurred. Examples include the behind-the-scenes efforts of Bishop Francis Haas to offset the split of the CIO from the AFL in the 1930s and Msgr. George Higgins's attempt to have the AFL-CIO Executive Council withdraw support for abortion, despite the pressure of some international unions to do otherwise. Can the reader assume that Schultze has been in private discussions with some of the service unions he has criticized?

As a friend of the labor movement, Schultze wants it to grow, to succeed in organizing Hispanic and other workers, to see the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, to educate a wide audience about past glories of the labor movement and its relationships with the Catholic Church, and to honestly critique failures of the labor movement. He also wants to...

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