Thousands of labor leaders and union members, representing dozens of labor organizations, processed into St. Patrick’s Cathedral on September 6 for the Labor Mass, ahead of the annual Labor Day Parade on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue.

Banners from groups including the New York Central Labor Council AFL-CIO, SAG-AFTRA, Ironworkers Local No. 40, and many more lined the aisles next to the altar, as the leaders and workers took their seats in the cathedral’s sanctuary.

Monsignor Kevin Sullivan, 75, is the outgoing executive director of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York since 2001, served as the Mass’ principal celebrant and homilist. He moves to the new role of executive director emeritus on Monday, September 8. 

Monsignor Sullivan apologized on Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s behalf for being unable to attend. However, he said that he was not disappointed. “I’m delighted that [Cardinal Dolan’s] schedule didn’t permit it. Because I get to pray with some of the best people in New York. So I get the privilege, the honor to pray with you, and I thank you for being here this morning.”

In a final, emphatic homily, Monsignor Sullivan called upon organized labor to help society return to the idea of “collective bargaining.” “We no longer collectively bargain with one another. We shout at one another. We do things unilaterally. We decide what an authoritarian action should be because we think it is right. We decide what is politically correct, and we do what is politically correct without any sitting down at the table, talking to those with whom we maybe disagree, and maybe those with whom we have to reach an agreement to foster the good of all,” he said. 

“Those of you in this room have figured out how to [negotiate] to further the dignity of workers, and you have done it so well. We need you now more than ever to step up. And I’m going to use an extreme phrase: to save our nation. So that as a nation, not merely within workers and labor, but as a people, we promote the dignity of every single person, and we advance that dignity because each person is made in the image and likeness of God,” Monsignor Sullivan said. 

“Labor has a mission that we need more than ever: to figure out that people who disagree can sit down, can talk to each other, maybe even respect one another, and move in a way that advances the dignity and the humanity of every person. It’s not an easy challenge. But labor has never shirked from hard challenges. It is a challenge that we need you to take up this year,” he said in conclusion, to applause from those in attendance. 

Monsignor Sullivan introduced Catholic Charities’ new executive director, J. Antonio Fernández, and his family. Fernández is joining Catholic Charities of New York from Catholic Charities of San Antonio, Texas.

Father Brian Jordan, pastor of St. Francis of Assisi parish on West 31st Street in Manhattan, who has been chaplain to the building trades for more than 20 years, concelebrated the Mass.

Martha Hennessy, granddaughter of Servant of God Dorothy Day, attended the Mass. “Dorothy was very much a journalist, reporting on the condition and the plight of the workers,” she said. “I’m part of the Catholic Worker movement. My heart is with the Church, with the Catholic Workers here. With the laity, with the workers, and I’m grateful to be here.”

The Mass is a traditional opening for the Labor Day Parade, a secular event that in recent years has fallen on the weekend after the public holiday.