2. Go out of your way to be nice to those who have low paying jobs - recognize in them their humanity.

3. Learn about "Blood Diamonds" and how that trade negatively affects workers.

4. Learn how the Woman and Infant Children’s Program (WIC) helps working poor mothers. Help to keep it active and viable.

5 Memorize this Catholic belief "the economy exists for people, not the other way around."

Pray about it.

6. Support the working poor in their efforts to earn a living wage. Join or support their strikes or boycotts.

7. Become aware of economic injustice and human dignity relating to working conditions. Use the experience at IBM Endicott to help prevent abuses elsewhere in our country and in developing nations, especially China.

8. Workers deserve environmental protection from harmful chemicals and working conditions. Discover how you can help.

9. Tell local retailers such as Wal-Mart - Target etc. that you oppose exploitation of those who make their products.

10. Our faith tells us that peace comes through justice. Learn how and why, work for it.

11. Speak out in support of those who work for a living.

12. Don’t accept a culture which believes some are lower class than others because of their ability to earn money.

13. Resist a culture that values capital over labor.

16. Help workers in developing countries, buy "Fair Trade" items such as Coffee and Gifts

17. Support or join a union or association that encourages worker rights and dignity.

18. Advocate for just wages at local, state, and federal levels.

19. Work for legislation that insists on safe working conditions.

20. Pray for the women who develop physical problems working in poultry factories (see the Southern US Bishop’s Pastoral letter titled Voices and Choices - Nov. 2000)

21. Pray for the courage to speak out when workers are treated as commodities.

22. Pray for a more just distribution of wealth within and among nations.

23. Pray daily for the working poor who must come to our food-pantries and soup-kitchens to supplement their lack of income.

24. Pray about the fact that in 2006 there are 400 Billionaires and One-Million One Hundred Thousand Millionaires in our country. There are also thirty-two million people living in poverty. Ask your self, is this what God wants?

25. The following ten items reflect the basis for Catholic Teaching on Economic Justice.

Reflect on how to make them a part of your own beliefs.

A. The economy exists for the person, not the person for the economy.

B. All economic life should be shaped by moral principles. Economic choices and institutions must be judged by how they protect or undermine the life and dignity of the human person, support the family, serve the common good and care for the earth.

C. A fundamental moral measure of any economy is how the poor and vulnerable are faring.

D. All people have a right to life and to the basic necessities of life (e.g., food, shelter, education, medical care, economic security).

E. All people have the right to economic initiative, to productive work, to just wages, to decent working conditions as well as to organize and join unions and other associations.

F. All people, to the extent they are able, have a corresponding duty to work, a responsibility to provide for the needs of their families and an obligation to contribute to the broader society.

G. In economic life, free markets have both clear advantages and limits; government has essential responsibilities and limitations; voluntary groups have irreplaceable roles, but cannot substitute for the proper working of the market and the just policies of the state.

H. Society has a moral obligation, including governmental action when necessary, to assure opportunity, meet basic human needs and pursue justice in economic life.

I. Workers, owners, managers and consumers are moral agents in economic life. By our choices, initiative, creativity and investment, we enhance or diminish economic opportunity, community life and social justice.

J. The global economy has moral dimensions and human consequences. Decisions on investment, trade, aid and development should protect human life and promote human rights, especially for those most in need.

26. Pray about how your life reflects the following statement.