Whose Labor Law Do We Follow? St. Louis’s Jesuits and Labor Justice

Abstract

In this essay, Br. Ken Homan, SJ explores how Jesuits in St. Louis varyingly referred to Natural Law and statutory law when addressing questions of labor rights and justice. Homan provides three categories of engagement before turning to the present-day relationships between mission-oriented institutions, workers, and the state. Homan argues that all three parties are at their best and can avoid state-religion entanglement when they actively seek to promote worker justice