United States Catholic Catechism for Adults

24 LIFE IN CHRIST— PART TWO

THE PRINCIPLES OF THE CHRISTIAN MORAL LIFE —CCC, NOS. 1691-2082

HE IS A GOD-FEARING, CHRISTIAN GENTLEMAN

His Catholic faith led Cesar Chavez to improve the lives and livelihood of America’s farm workers. Chavez was born on March 31, 1927. Raised in the grinding poverty of the Great Depression, he was trained by his parents to remember that there was always room for one more needy person at their dinner table. He served in the Navy for two years during World War II. After the war, Chavez met a priest who minis tered to the Mexican American migrant workers. The priest told Chavez about Catholic teachings con

cerning the rights of workers. Chavez said, “I would do anything to get Father to tell me more about labor history. I began going to the bracero (guest worker) camps with him to help with the Mass, to the city jail to talk to the prisoners, anything to be with him.” Chavez soon became active in drives for voter registration and in countering abuses against Mexican immigrants and Mexican American immigrants. During the 1960s, his organizing efforts gave birth to the United Farm Workers. But federal laws exempted the agriculture industry from the requirement of allowing free exercise of the right of farm workers to organize a union. Chavez had to find a unique way to get the growers to recognize his union. He resorted to the strategy of consumer boycotts. In 1968, he led the nation’s first grape boycott. At one point, 17 million Americans honored the boycott. Chavez went further and asked the American bishops to support the boycott. In response, they intervened to mediate the conflict.