Faith brings values to workplace
By Chris Donahue
Staff Writer
BRIDGEWATER — Whether you are an employee of a multi- national corporation or a small bakery, your Christian identity should never be left in the parking lot until the workday is done.
That was the message stressed by presenters of the program, Faith and Ethics in the Marketplace, sponsored by the Men’s Club of St. Bernard of Clairvaux Parish June 10. The day of prayer and reflection included a Mass in St. Bernard of Clairvaux Church and exposition and benediction of the Blessed Sacrament in the chapel.
Some of the ways anyone can do their job without compromising their values and morals include: not taking credit for a co-worker’s idea; treating co-workers and clients with civility; and not using obscene language or God’s name in vain, speakers and participants said.
In his homily, Father Joseph G. Celano, pastor, said everyone should consider the question, “Who or what really forms your life?”
“Is it the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that Gospel that is our light and our salvation, that is the truth or are our lives being shaped by other things that are inconsistent with that word and that truth?” he asked.
During the presentation phase of the program, Father Celano reminded the participants that a job is what a person does, not who they are.
“Our self-definitions have to be a lot larger than whatever our trade or profession is,” he said. “We can always find that with God.”
Father Celano said bringing ethics and morals into the workplace can be done by standing up for your beliefs.
“At some point, as men and women, as a church, we need to take back our lives and we need to say this far and no farther,” he said. “In the words of John Paul II, society is only going to become more humanized if we humanize it. It’s not easy, but it’s only going to happen if you make it happen.”
Ed Neri, featured speaker, said although he works as a school administrator and part-time in a hospital emergency room, he defines himself as a son of God that has been called into the vocation of marriage.
Neri, a member of Little Flower Parish, Berkeley Heights, used a diagram of an inverted pyramid to show what a person’s priorities should be: God as the foundation; spouse because it is a sacramental relationship; children, which are the fruits of that union; and work/community service.
“Daily prayer and reading of the word of God strengthen the family in charity and allow a Christian family to engage in its evangelistic and missionary task,” said Neri, who is the father of 11 children.
“The family is the community in which we learn moral values, begin to honor God and make good use of freedom. Family life is initiation into society,” he said.
Prayer should also be part of our work day, Neri added.
Pray throughout the day
“The church teaches us to pray throughout the day so that we can call back to mind the fundamental reality of who we are as sons of God, what our vocation is, our universal call to holiness amidst the many details of the things we have to do during the day,” he said.
“A priest can get caught up in the administrative tasks of the day and lose sight of the reality of who he is as a son of God; lose sight of the reality of his need to call up on the power of the Holy Spirit to allow him to fulfill his vocation; so can we.
“We can get involved in business meetings, in phone calls, in text messaging and e-mails. We can get so inundated with the things that we do, that we don’t take some time throughout the day to stop and to reflect on who we are, to go back to those baptismal promises that we renew when we say the [Nicene] Creed each Mass on Sunday.”
Sometimes, children get more attention than the spouse, Neri said. Fathers then might begin to wonder if rather than build relationships with their children, they are becoming chauffeurs, who “might be better off in their office at work.”
Light a candle
Neri’s son in-law, Jim Gallic, a member of St. Bernard of Clairvaux Parish, offered examples of how he uses his faith as both an employee with Automatic Data Processing and as a father of four children.
“The expression that I’ve always tried to live by is that it’s better to light a candle than curse the darkness. I try to bring the light of Christ to my work,” Gallic said.
Gallic said he tries to remove the word ‘I’ or ‘me’ from his conversations so the focus is on other people.
Gallic also tries to provide witness to co-workers who may be experiencing emotional difficulties or illness. He still laments once not providing spiritual support to a co-worker who was battling cancer and was searching for the meaning of life.
“I knew the truth and was living the truth, but I was afraid and embarrassed to bring it to the workplace, so he passed away without every hearing what mattered most in life,” Gallic said. “I remember going to his funeral and grieving not only for his loss but my lack of character. If we are not going to stand up for Jesus Christ, what are we going to stand up for? And if we are not going to stand up for God in the workplace, then where will we stand up? It’s real easy to stand up for Christ when we are in church. But it’s difficult to take what we hear on Sunday into Monday and Friday and Saturday.”
Since then, he said, he has helped at least seven people who had fallen away from the Catholic Church return to sacramental life.
Gallic said he tries to attend daily Mass, and he prays before meeting a client even if a co-worker is in the car.
“Over time I started to build a reputation, ‘Oh no, the Jesus freak.’ But I don’t mind it,” Gallic said. “As Father Joe (Celano) said, the light of Christ should come from us.”
Gallic also stressed the importance of relationships. Once, when a home
improvement job did not go well, rather than yelling at the contractor, he told him, “I’m not angry. I’m not upset. You need to come back and fix it and we need to work out something because our relationship matters more than the work you have done. I can have that fixed, but to repair our relationship could take a lifetime.”
Guiding principles
After breakout sessions, group team leaders summarized their discussions. They recommended being supportive of co-workers for jobs well done; elevating a business transaction to a relationship; provide spiritual help for a co-worker who is ill or in need of emotional support; never doing something unethical; and spending more time with a spouse.
Other observations were: it is also possible to live a productive life and follow God at the same time because not everybody loved Jesus, but he did what he was supposed to do; and making money is a good thing because it supports families, parishes and charitable endeavors.
Three participants of the retreat, all members of the parish and residents of Bridgewater, said they try to use their faith every time they go to work.
Bob Bracale, 52, a financial analyst, said integrity is something that is very important to him and the foundation of his Christian faith.
“Respect is very important because you get that in return,” Bracale added. “Sometimes we take that for granted. You would be amazed the type of reaction you get from people by respecting them for what they do, who they are.”
Tom Eckert, 49, said he has a “head start” in bringing values and orals to work because his employer, Johnson & Johnson, has a credo for making ethical decisions.
Eckert, manager of a multi-media services department, said treating both co-workers and clients fairly comes from putting himself in their shoes.
Greg Breck, 58, said he once quit a management-level job with a company because of unethical behavior.
“I try to live by example,” he said.
*The attached/referenced article was originally published in The Catholic Spirit, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Metuchen, and is protected under U.S. and international copyright law