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Book Review
Author promotes John Paul II's vision of work
Reviewed by Andrew Junker, ajunker@catholicsun.org
May 1, 2008
It’s nothing new that many Americans view their jobs as something to be endured, rather than as an expression of their vocation.
There’s an entire genre of comedy built around this feeling — exemplified by sitcoms like “The Office,” or cartoon strips like “Dilbert.”
But it doesn’t have to be this way, writes William Droel in his new book “Pope John Paul II’s Gospel of Work.”
“Work is a vocation,” Droel writes. “It is something that you do to glorify God. A vocation is not just personal ambition. It is matching your unique gifts to objective needs in the family and in society.”
Granted, this understanding of vocation might be difficult to square when someone’s job is unfulfilling, or worse, when his or her employer is acting unjustly.
That’s why Droel describes his book not as a panacea, but as part of a larger process that asks Americans — both employees and employers — to rethink how they view work.
The book starts with short quotes from John Paul II’s speeches mentioning work. The quotes are all relatively brief and can be read easily in one sitting.
Droel intersperses reflections and discussion questions among the quotes. He suggests the book be used for groups, either at a job or in a parish.
“This book is a contribution to an ongoing conversation about business ethics, spirituality in business, faith in daily life, the meaning of work, and the like,” Droel writes.
That meaning can often surprise Catholics who aren’t as familiar with the Church’s social teachings. Early in the book, Droel quotes from John Paul II’s encyclical Centesimus Annus.
“The purpose of a business firm is not simply to make a profit, but is to be found in its very existence as a community of persons who in various ways are endeavoring to satisfy their basic needs and who form a particular group at the service of the whole society,” the pope writes.
At the heart of all of the late Holy Father’s writing about work is the centrality of the human person’s dignity. “Work is for people, not people for work,” he repeated on multiple occasions.
And with the proper disposition and environment, work can be viewed as contributing to God’s plan of creation, no matter how trivial or un-spiritual it seems.
“We are images of God not only because we can reason and exercise free will, but also because we work,” Droel writes. “Our creation, [the pope] insists, includes boilers, highways, computer programs and all of our technology.”
The latter part of the book presents the encyclical Laborem Exercens in full. John Paul II wrote it on the 90th anniversary of Leo XII’s famous encyclical Rerum Novarum, also concerned with work and justice.
It’s nice that the book segues into presenting a longer document. It allows John Paul’s teaching to present itself more fully and in a cohesive context.
At the same time, Droel does a good job of interspersing the encyclical’s sometimes-dense prose with reflections and questions. It makes the encyclical more manageable and more readily comprehended.
All in all, “Pope John Paul II’s Gospel of Work” is a helpful introduction to the social teaching of the pope — who himself was no stranger to physical labor as a young man in Poland.
It shows that there’s a different way to view work, its meaning and, Droel writes, its “spirituality.”
“John Paul II’s spirituality of work (no, it is not an oxymoron) is more like a way of life that integrates business, family life, and civic involvement with fidelity to Jesus’ Gospel,” he writes.
“Spirituality, John Paul II seems to say, is not entirely something one does,” Droel concludes. “It is to some degree something that is already embedded in the culture of your city, your workplace and your home.”
Andrew Junker is a staff writer for The Catholic Sun. Comments are welcome. Send e-mail to letters@catholicsun.org.
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