Prose and Con

Summary of a Fr. Gerry Creedon homily from Labor Day, September 3, 2006

"Those who do justice will live in the presence of the LORD." Psalm

Butte,
Sucking out breath bead by bead
From oxygen tubes, Sarsfield
Suddenly found the freshening draught of memory;
It was a call he made to a college student
whose ancestor had married Honey Fitz,
Making her a distant cousin of Rose;

Yet better still, a daughter of Hanna, a daughter of O'Brien, a daughter of
Con O' Neill-- hero unremembered.

The Orphan Girl Mine had
Caved again, quartz and gas
Closing the throat of burying miners.
Con saw in his mind the vein
Beyond the rescue workers.
"Who will come with me?"
Despite his bulk and sinew
None would come but Fraily.
Twenty-one men he brought
The twenty- second he failed,
Nor could Fraily carry Con.

LAST WEEK I RETRACED THE FOOTSTEPS of my grandfather to Butte Montana, where he had worked in the mines between 1900 and 1912.

The visit was occasioned by the remark of a neighbor who had visited Butte. She met an old priest who asked if we had any Irish priests in Arlington. When she mentioned my name he answered; "If I am not mistaken, his father and my father were good friends!"

She then asked me if my father's name was Con. I answered, "No, my father's name was John, But his father's name was Con." I was amazed that anyone living in Butte would still have connections with someone who had left the USA in 1912.

When I met Fr. Sarsfield O' Sullivan last week, he regaled us with stories of Con Creedon and his companions. He told about Con O'Neill a strong, burly Irishman. When the miners were trapped in a cave-in at the Orphan Girl Mine, the rescue workers were stopped by the gas and quartz. He sensed that the trapped miners were down farther in the vein. He asked for volunteers. Nobody volunteered but Fraily, a little fellow as the nickname suggests. Con brought out 21 miners, who owed their life to him. The 22nd he did not bring, and Fraily was too weak to carry Con.

The miners were working in these perilous conditions for 3 dollars a day while the Copper kings were earning 17 million a month.

This kind of inequity strikes us as strange, yet it continues. One man currently owns a third of the state of Montana. The top 5% of our population earns 50% of the nation's income. While many service workers struggle to survive on $5.15 an hour, Tiger Woods earns $3,000 for every swing of a golf club!

This Labor Day is a time to honor the struggle of those who went before us and worked hard in mines, in railroads and arduous tasks with the help of church and union, with the AOH as their insurance. This weekend is a time for us today to rededicate ourselves to the value of all work and a new respect for every type of job.

The Eucharist is an offering of the fruits of the earth and the work of human hands. May we work for a society that more adequately reflects the dignity of all human labor.