Factory Life

Today’s work-places crucify a man?
With a finger-rosary pray wherever you can.

Here is another good letter from a reader of these “Comments.” He takes a sane view of an insane scene. Readers may be discouraged by what he describes, or they may be encouraged by how he describes it. A number of readers must recognize what they are up against every day when they go to work, and this letter may help them to see why and how their place of work is eroding their Catholic faith. He writes:—

I have worked in a factory building cars for over two years now and while it does pay well the environment is a sort of microcosm of the world at large. Let me explain . . .

1) Mixing up of the sexes – men and women work together in close proximity. Such work completely destroys a woman’s femininity. Of course, there are certain jobs which women cannot do, but because of this false sense of equality, the company needs to allow women to work there. The stories that I have heard about the transgressions against the 6th and 9th commandments are truly disturbing. I need not elaborate. But what else did anybody expect? Why would a woman even want to work in such a place?

2) Men’s minds are incapable of making moral judgments – I generalize of course, but most of the men I have talked to do not think in terms of morality (i.e. good and evil) but in terms of what pleasures can keep them entertained. I have talked to several co-workers and have tried to bring up questions of morality in a way that they might understand, but it seems to go over their heads. When a man has steeped himself in the things of the flesh, he is incapable of thinking of the soul. Worse, some of these co-workers have absolutely no shame in boasting of their sins. Once upon a time men had shame. No longer, it would seem.

3) I am my own god – False liberty is exalted as the guiding principle in men’s lives. I have h ad a few discussions with some of my co-workers and what I get every single time is that truth and morality are purely a subjective affair. What you believe to be truth is fine for you, but you cannot impose your way of thinking on anyone else. I told a supervisor of mine that such thinking is nonsense. I said, what if someone thinks that having more than one wife is fine? He said, belief is up to the individual. If a man denies such a basic principle as that truth is not subjective, then there is no point in talking to him. In essence, every individual becomes his own god because HE has constructed his own reality instead of submitting to something outside of him.

The environment of a modern factory breeds a sort of godlessness. I don’t expect factory workers to be examples of stellar virtue but I would say that modern factories are exponentially worse than what Charles Dickens wrote about in his times. I can go on and on, but the point I am trying to make is this: how can grace operate in lives which are destroyed through sin and a life of seeking pleasure? How does one reach out to men who cannot even grasp the most elementary norms of morality? It is frustrating to say the least. Please pray for us in the trenches.

Woman freeing herself from femininity and family, man freeing himself from objective morality and objective truth – how indeed can one reach out to, or even talk with, such a “faithless and perverse generation” (Lk. IX, 41)? By example, charity and prayer. I advised the writer to take a finger rosary to work to be able to pray discreetly decade after decade to pray for his fellow-workers and to protect himself spiritually from his work environment. But he will need to be discreet.

Kyrie eleison.

Good thread post, good points.  

1) Mixing up of the sexes – men and women work together in close proximity. Such work completely destroys a woman’s femininity.

Imagine what it's like working in a hospital.  The majority of workers are women in their twenties, and thirties.  How do you suppose a full-time job with overtime affects motherhood?  What kind of woman, do you suppose, chooses the lifestyle of work vs home?  

Imagine a Catholic hospital, fully staffed with women, and the men are a minority.  Do you think those women will be practicing Catholic living?  


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I'll say this much.  Do you think you can work in such a place with four or more kids, and not be frowned upon?  

I find that hospitals are factories of people.  And in the wrong hands, it teaches you to dehumanize people even more than your average non-hospital worker.  

I do agree with and recommend a constant prayer throughout the day, especially if need be.  But, for me, it would not involve fingering rosary beads.  I don't want to keep my hand in my pocket all the time to do it, now would I want it public/visual for others to see.  A simple prayer like Lord/Christ/God have mercy or any other famous prayer line taken from our vast traditional selection will do.  You could say hail mary's if you want to.  But, I don't think the beads are needed or advantageous in the workplace.

There is this assumption that things have been this way only recently. Dickens exposed the same attitudes in Hard Times (1854). The dumbed-down masses were in survival mode; the capitalists squeezed every last penny from their enterprises; the leisured classes knew the score and exploited it for maximum comfort. We can say that churches then were far more powerful and preached without fear but their heads were up in the spiritual clouds and turned a blind eye to life on the street if they were not complicit.

The poor and ignorant are easy to condition; why are they all of a sudden expected to exude wisdom and know all the facts of industrialised life in order to find a truly dignified way of existing? After all, are they not factors of production and expected to think and work within certain limitations? The culture of the factory floor and the office is hardly going to produce paragons of virtue? It is dog eat dog. Introducing old moral values inside advanced centres of amorality is on a dead wicket. Those fortunate enough to escape such a scene have the luxury to see it from a distance and philosophise away, calmly devising codes of objectivity if they so desire.

Again, we cannot blame the foot soldiers too much, if at all. The buck stops guess where? Up the hierarchical ladder we must go and apportion blame because it is there where societies are formed. Their structures in the form of institutions, universities and agencies arrive at a political and moral census which we are advised to respect and live with. The bishop as part of a hierarchy imposes an impossible burden on our shoulders. He requires us to monitor the ills which the institutions he personifies encourage!  

   

There is this assumption that things have been this way only recently. Dickens exposed the same attitudes in Hard Times (1854). The dumbed-down masses were in survival mode; the capitalists squeezed every last penny from their enterprises; the leisured classes knew the score and exploited it for maximum comfort. We can say that churches then were far more powerful and preached without fear but their heads were up in the spiritual clouds and turned a blind eye to life on the street if they were not complicit.

The poor and ignorant are easy to condition; why are they all of a sudden expected to exude wisdom and know all the facts of industrialised life in order to find a truly dignified way of existing? After all, are they not factors of production and expected to think and work within certain limitations? The culture of the factory floor and the office is hardly going to produce paragons of virtue? It is dog eat dog. Introducing old moral values inside advanced centres of amorality is on a dead wicket. Those fortunate enough to escape such a scene have the luxury to see it from a distance and philosophise away, calmly devising codes of objectivity if they so desire.

Again, we cannot blame the foot soldiers too much, if at all. The buck stops guess where? Up the hierarchical ladder we must go and apportion blame because it is there where societies are formed. Their structures in the form of institutions, universities and agencies arrive at a political and moral census which we are advised to respect and live with. The bishop as part of a hierarchy imposes an impossible burden on our shoulders. He requires us to monitor the ills which the institutions he personifies encourage!  

   

yes, I remember reading a very disturbing comment made by a Portuguese writer writing in the 1920s about young girls on the streets.

I also remember the Cure of Ars being horrified by the sins he found in the little village of Ars. Without devout pastors and chaste families people go very corrupt, especially in poverty. The rich aren't much better, they are just more discreet.p

What I've never understood about men who brag about fornication is that the women who they are talking about are some man's daughter or sister. Do these men not have sisters? Do they not realise that by treating other men's daughters like this they give all men permission to treat their own daughters in the same way? What are they going to do when men treat their daughters like whores? I don't think they have any concept of family or marriage.

This is something I understood when I was a child, long before I became Catholic.

If only the problem were limited to "baser men" talking about their conquests at work. Unfortunately, it's almost 100% of the media and movies that defines "dating" as "sɛҳuąƖly active with". This is worse, because it affects the whole world, not just male-dominated workplaces.

Watch ANY movie (with a handful of exceptions) or any TV show, and you will see this to be the case. As soon as "dating" is mentioned, sex is assumed. The two things couldn't be linked any closer than they are today.

This sure puts things in perspective.

In particular, I thought about those who want to "go on the offensive" and take back the world for Christ the King.

Yes, you can fight. No, you shouldn't expect any kind of results. When people are this far gone, we're basically waiting on God to "shut off the lights" (i.e., a Chastisement) so these people can be snapped out of it. I don't see any books/talks/lay apostles having the ability to snap these people out of the thick quicksand they find themselves in.

When you have individuals whose minds no longer function, who can't even read a book, and who won't even consider the possibility of objective truth, what can you do? Just pray for them and set the good example, as +W said.

I should clarify: we should be zealous to reach all those Catholics interested in the truth. We should take good care of the Trads around us, and any random person who genuinely is seeking the truth and asks questions of us. But unless God sends someone into your path who really seems to have an open mind for the truth, I wouldn't waste your time. At least don't get your hopes up. Keep your expectations *very low* but you can still try hard -- God grades on effort, not results.

It would seem, though, that "cold-calling" people like the co-workers described at the factory would be a total waste of breath. The expression pearls before swine comes to mind.

To a degree, I think you are right. Only a soul-jarring event can wake people up. People are too far gone - any glimmer of hope though should spurn Catholics to action even if in a humble way.

Quote from: Wessex

It is dog eat dog. Introducing old moral values inside advanced centres of amorality is on a dead wicket. Those fortunate enough to escape such a scene have the luxury to see it from a distance and philosophise away, calmly devising codes of objectivity if they so desire.

Again, we cannot blame the foot soldiers too much, if at all. The buck stops guess where? Up the hierarchical ladder we must go and apportion blame because it is there where societies are formed. Their structures in the form of institutions, universities and agencies arrive at a political and moral census which we are advised to respect and live with. The bishop as part of a hierarchy  imposes an impossible burden on our shoulders. He requires us to monitor the ills which the institutions he personifies encourage!  

What?

What impossible burden? Please explain.

Requires us to monitor the ills? Huh? I don't follow you at all.

The institutions he personifies? You're criticizing the Catholic Church now as being anti-workmen? You know, the Communists would say this. The Catholic Church represents authority, and they want to tear it down to "defend the little guys" working at factories and such, promising them a more just and fair utopia.

You're saying the Catholic Church encourages the existence of factories and other injustices?

I have no idea what you're getting at here, but you have some explaining to do for these wild charges.  

And +Williamson isn't part of any hierarchy. He's not even part of the SSPX anymore, but he's certainly not part of the Conciliar Church hierarchy. Just because he's a true, validly ordained Bishop doesn't mean he's part of the hierarchy. He is an auxiliary bishop, given no jurisdiction, to confer Ordination and Confirmations. End of list.

A UK politician in office recently complained that parents were the cause of children's bad behaviour. He is of course scape-goating parents when for decades official policy has been to undermine their authority. Likewise, the lack of morals in the workplace is well noted and has been noted for some time but this does not also exonerate the supposed guardians of morality comfortably elevated away from these places of sweat and toil.

It has only been relatively recently that traditional Catholics have drawn attention to the cosy relationship that had existed between organised religion and industrialised society. We have to understand that the industrial revolution was a new phenomenon that churchmen had to cope with. But incessantly complaining of the bad habits of the labouring classes need to be compared with the rewards found in currying favour with the owners of capital. Double standards again were to be the order of the day for the men of cloth and be like that for generations.

The debate has to be about how churches co-exist with rapidly changing societies and influence its members. Because this may be an impossibility for the Christianity of the past now limping in the shadows, I sense here a desire for lay initiatives to carry the baton because the institutions we trusted have been heavily compromised. This seems to be Bp. W's conclusion to a limited extent. He may be a maverick but is shy of being identified with anything bold to arrest the decline. Like the other bishops, he insists on acting within the limitations that the failing institution affords him!