by Randall Smith

Imagine you've worked for a company for over twenty years. Your record of employment has been stellar; you've received numerous awards; and you are widely considered one of the top people in your field. Now imagine that one day, your manager calls you into his office and says: "We've decided to go in a different direction."

What direction would that be? The direction of less competent, less experienced people without a proven record of accomplishment? Do you fire your winning quarterback and say, "We're going in a different direction"? Wouldn't that be the direction of losing games?

Now imagine that you have a multi-year contract with your employer, something you needed to ensure security for your family. Your first reaction to this "new direction" might be: "But you're still going to respect and pay my contract, right?"

At this, your weaselly manager balks and says, "Well, we'll work out the details later," a comment which could only mean, "Probably not." For you, getting your salary is not a "detail," it's your livelihood. It's how you support yourself and your family.

If you're a Catholic, you might think:

(A) I wish this guy understood the principles of Catholic social justice, such as those requiring employers to pay a living wage (enough to support a family) and demanding respect for the dignity of the worker, and;

(B) Injustices like this are why the Church has long supported the formation of unions.

Having worked general labor jobs when I was younger and belonged to several different unions, I can say with certainty what those unions would do in this situation. That manager and that company would have reaped the whirlwind. "Oh no, you don't!" The union exists to keep stupid managers from thinking they can do whatever they want to workers.

But what if the manager who lacks respect for these principles of Catholic social justice, the one who doesn't seem to know what a union would insist on, is a Catholic bishop? Then would we not be forced to conclude that, for this man, "Catholic social justice is for thee but not for me"? It's for those greedy, evil "corporations," not for bishops, especially not the good ("progressive") ones.

Which brings me to the case of the recently appointed archbishop of Detroit and his precipitous termination of three highly competent, extremely dedicated professors of theology - Ralph Martin, Eduardo Echeverria, and Edward Peters - all of whom have been teaching with distinction at Detroit's Sacred Heart Seminary for many years.

These terminations without cause or explanation are not only unwarranted - and thus of concern to men and women of good will who actually care about observing the principles of Catholic social justice in employment - they also bode ill for anyone who cares about the future of lay involvement in the Church.

Why? Because the message the Archbishop's ideological mugging of these three faithful men sends to all sensible, faithful laypeople is: Never work for the Catholic Church.

Your bishop now might be great; he might be doing wonderful things you want to be part of. But if he is replaced with a "progressive" bishop, then even if you've been a faithful servant of your bishop and of the Church for years, it won't matter, even if you have multiple years left on your contract.

You'll be out on the street, looking for a job, when jobs, especially for professors of Catholic theology, are few and far between.

Archbishop Edward Weisenburger's actions tell everyone that you work for the Catholic Church the way you swim on a dangerous beach without a lifeguard - at your own risk.

If a new bishop comes along and you're dragged out to sea by a powerful rip tide of progressivism, you can struggle, you can cry "clericalism," you can appeal to "synodality," you can say, "But I have a family!" but you'll soon discover that all that language about "listening" and "dialogue" and "synodality" were a pose.

Synodality means they do what they want, and you do what they te...