IgKnighted #1

By Brendan Dugan

Marian students accompanied local organizers and community members in support of a city budget amendment, Proposition 241 at the October 17 City Council budget meeting. The amendment sought to channel nominal funds to hospitality workers in Indianapolis who often work extensive hours with minimal benefits.

Outsourcing companies fill positions at hotels with workers they hire temporarily – temporarily, that is, for over a decade, with no guarantee of a pay raise, vacation or sick days, promotions, or job security; in essence, hospitality workers suffer financially and struggle to provide for their families.

This speaks to a greater issue regarding both the city and Marian University students, particularly in light of the Catholic Franciscan values. The systemic injustice prevalent in the nature of this sector begs for action from the Catholic community.

It is one thing to tip the hat to those virtues – peace and justice, dignity of the individual, reconciliation, responsible stewardship – but it is another to embody them, to put them into practice systemically and locally.

Community involvement means more than volunteering once a week, or as part of a club requirement – it can, and arguably should, mean working to change the systems that preclude our Catholic, Franciscan values. No saints were made by occasional volunteering.

The point is not that all responsibility be tossed aside so the Marian community may wholly devote itself to serving humankind. That borders irrationality. Rather, a community espousing such values should take responsibility to ensure those values are embodied and enacted in this world.