By Father Joseph Girone, O.S.A.

“Think globally, act locally” is a phrase often used to describe how each of us, in our own way, can do things to make the world a better place. This saying came to mind most recently when I read Pope Benedict XVI’s new encyclical, “Charity in Truth,” that was released on July 7.

Since coming to St. Nicholas of Tolentine Church in 2005, I have been an active member of the Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance (KARA), working to make sure that any commercial development of the Armory meets our community’s needs.

I do this because I support the principles that KARA espouses, particularly the one that has to do with a living wage.  If there is going to be commercial development of the Armory, I want the people who work there to earn a living wage and have the freedom to unionize without fear.

This is in accord with Catholic social justice principles. In terms of the economy, this means it’s not just about the bottom line. It’s about the dignity of work, all work.

We in KARA are blazing a trail to sustainable development. To those who say, as the Armory’s developer, The Related Companies, does, that you cannot ask retailers to pay a living wage in one store while they are paying poverty wages in their other stores, I argue, as Pope Benedict the XVI does, that they cannot afford not to pay living wages.

The Pope writes, “The dignity of the individual and the demands of justice require, particularly today, that economic choices do not cause disparities in wealth to increase in an excessive and morally unacceptable manner….”

Acting on these truths, KARA pushed hard and succeeded in getting the city’s Economic Development Corporation to include language saying, “NYCEDC will view favorably development plans that maximize the number of jobs that meet the City’s living wage and health benefit standards” in its Request for Proposal for the development of the Armory.  A New York City living wage is defined as $10 an hour with health benefits or $11.50 without benefits.

The Related Companies’ plan to buy the historic Armory is now working its way through the city’s approval process. The developer says there will be 1,200 part-time, poverty-wage, no-benefit retail jobs at the Armory. They now say ‘living wage jobs are not on the table, we won’t even talk about it.’

To those who support selling our Armory so that we may have more shopping opportunities and 1,200 part-time, poverty wage jobs with no benefits, the Pope writes: 

“No consideration of the problems associated with development could fail to highlight the direct link between poverty and unemployment. In many cases, poverty results from a violation of the dignity of human work, either because work opportunities are limited (through unemployment or underemployment), or because low value is put on work and the rights that flow from it, especially the right to a just wage and to the personal security of the worker and his or her family.”

The right way to develop the Kingsbridge Armory is to have Related sign a binding Community Benefits Agreement that guarantees living wage permanent jobs with benefits at the Armory and the freedom to join a union without fear.

Pope Benedict XVI’s teachings could not be more relevant to our cause. Join us, as we think globally and act locally at the Armory to make the world a better place.

The author is pastor of St. Nicholas of Tolentine Church in University Heights.