Reform Labor Practices of the Roman Catholic Church

We the undersigned respectfully urge His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI

To reform the labor practices of the Roman Catholic Church regarding the employment of priests, religious and church workers who must be provided coverage of Social Security, Medicare, Disability and other safety nets like reasonable job accommodation during period of disability. The Church, as an employer must conform to U.S. labor laws that protect workers from exploitation.

We urge His Holiness to assure that Overseas Foreign Workers (OFWs) be treated with respect as to their civil rights and not be subjected to oppressive working environment like unreasonable work schedule, denial of access to their salary, passports, entry permits and other personal belongings, as well as limitation in reasonable personal contact with the outside world.

We urge His Holiness to immediately address the situation surrounding the termination of the health insurance, homelessness and other labor issues of Rev.Eusebio Maghari, formerly of New York Archdiocese. Kindly alleviate the suffering of Rev. Maghari and other similarly situated individuals.

We urge His Holiness to review the circumstances surrounding the past employment of BLB, a Filipina OFW in the Saipan Diocese with the purpose of preventing such incident from happening again to other similarly situated individuals.

We the undersigned not only appeal to His Holiness sense of Justice and Charity, but more important we urge the Roman Catholic Church to practice what it preaches in terms of respect for human rights and concern for social justice.

We urge His Holiness to listen to our plea and recognize the truth in our petition

Believing that our cause is just and rooted on conscience, we hereby sign this petition in solidarity based on the circumstances that are known to us without any malice on our part

(THE UNDERSIGNED)
‘Ecclesia Semper Reformanda’ (The Church Must Always Be Reformed)