More than 1,500 members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 3, their families, and other labor representatives woke up early Sunday to participate in the annual Construction Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.  

“We welcome in a particular way the members of IBEW Local 3. We are grateful to all of you for the work you do for the working families of our state,” principal celebrant Bishop Edmund J. Whalen, vicar general of the Archdiocese of New York, said at the beginning of his homily. Bishop Whalen recognized New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli as one of the special guests in attendance at the June 7 Mass. 

Bishop Whalen connected the celebration of Corpus Christi with the Mass’ theme. “It’s what the Eucharist is about: how the Eucharist nourishes us and brings us all together in one family, praying around the one table of the Lord,” he said.  

He pointed out that the National Eucharistic Revival, launched on Corpus Christi Sunday in 2022, was beginning to bear fruit. “We asked God for a renewal of our faith, and our faith is only possible, and is lived best, in the Eucharist. So it’s not rocket science that God actually did it. It is through the grace of the Eucharist that we’re seeing this remarkable revival. But why? Because God’s grace is moving people, and they know they’re hungry for something.” 

As is his custom, Bishop Whalen asked attendees to speak to the Lord Jesus about three things: where they hunger for his presence, what it is about the Eucharist that sustains them, and a genuine act of thanksgiving for the gift of himself. 

Attendees processed to the annual communion breakfast 

The Mass preceded the Catholic Council of IBEW Local 3’s annual communion breakfast, held this year at the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel. Hundreds of attendees of the Mass, including Bishop Whalen, processed from St. Patrick’s Cathedral to the hotel on Manhattan’s Seventh Avenue, led by a pipe and drum band. 

Among the Mass’ concelebrants and procession participants was Father Brian Jordan, OFM, who has served as chaplain to the building trades for more than 20 years. 

“The link between Church and labor is very important and very sacred,” Fr. Jordan told The Good Newsroom during the procession. “The Catholic Church, as Pope Leo XIII said, the economy should serve the people, the people do not serve the economy. So Church and labor go hand in hand. That goes back to the beginning of Catholic Social Teaching in 1891. And we continue that wonderful tradition 135 years later.” 

James Mansfield, a member of IBEW Local 3 who carried the Catholic Council’s banner during the procession, told The Good Newsroom why he thought his faith and work go together. “We try to keep the same values that we have with our faith at work as well. Especially since, as the priest said before, Jesus worked with his hands. So we try to incorporate a lot of those same qualities into what we do at work.”