CHAPTER 10: GOD AS OUTSIDE AGITATOR (excerpt)

One Decatur religious leader soon became a leading figure in the clergy group. Father Martin Mangan had been deeply moved by the sight of locked-out workers picketing at the Staley gates. He would often stop by the line to offer his support and prayers and to ask questions about the union’s stance. When he heard that the union was planning a rally, he would stop by to listen and give support. Soon he was asked to lead prayers and to speak at union events, and he began to give invocations at the weekly meetings at the union hall.

“The Catholic church has always had a strong written history in support of workers,” said Mangan, referring both to Vatican encyclicals Rerum Novarum and Quadragesimo Anno and to the writings of Pope John Paul II. “I believe Jesus would appear more often in union halls than in the boardrooms of multinational companies because Jesus identified with those less powerful.” Added Mangan, “The Roman Catholic Church has taught that workers have the right to organize, the right to collective bargaining, and the right to a just contract. I felt these rights could be in jeopardy, not only here in Decatur, but elsewhere. It is our duty in the church to defend these rights. I have to stand on the side of the union.” …

Father Mangan opened the doors of his rectory to the union, especially when the Kandy Lane activists wanted to hold strategy sessions but suspected that the union hall was bugged. Midwest solidarity activists dubbed the rectory “Hotel Solidarity” when Mangan repeatedly welcomed them to spend the night. When Doug Kandt, a Labor Notes intern, moved from Detroit to Decatur in the summer of 1994, Mangan allowed him to live at the rectory. And when Dan Lane launched a sixty-five day hunger strike in September 1995 (see Chapter 17), he accepted Mangan’s invitation to make the rectory his haven.

For the duration of the 2½-year lock-out, and throughout the 1994-95 Caterpillar and Bridgestone/Firestone strikes, Father Mangan was as much the public face of the workers’ struggle as the presidents of the three embattled locals. "I really hope Decatur can be the Stalingrad of the labor movement,” he declared, “where they dig in and say: ‘Enough is enough is enough.’”

In September 1994 several thousand people marched through downtown Decatur, culminating with a rally at the County Courthouse featuring speeches from union leaders. At the end Father Mangan asked the crowd to kneel before he prayed. This moment became one of the most emotionally powerful moments in Decatur labor history, etched in the memory of those who were there. Father Mangan recounted the events:

All the Caterpillar, Firestone, and Staley people came together in front of the courthouse [in the shadow of a grand statue of President Lincoln.] They were all in bright red solidarity shirts. Leadership knew what was going to happen, but the people didn't. The police were nervously looking around. It started with short talks from the leaders. Then they asked me to say a prayer. I said, ‘I'd like this to be an action prayer. First, I'd like you to all kneel down in front of God to ask his blessing on our struggle.’ Well, I didn't know that 5,000 people would kneel down in red shirts. But they did. ‘The second prayer action,’ I said, ‘is to raise your right hand if your are willing to lay down your life for your brothers and sisters in the union struggle.’ They all raised their hands. ‘The third action is to join your hands as brothers and sisters in the struggle.’ They did. ‘The fourth and final prayer action is to please stand and walk in silence from this rally as a sign of our solidarity.’ Some 5,000 people got up and all you could hear was the shuffle of feet. They just walked by the police in silence.

The thousands of unionists, so used to chanting at the tops of their voices, stood as one, turned, and walked away without a word. “They thought we were going to be violent,” said Mangan. “But you can't deal with life by violence of any kind. So we stood and walked away.” Everyone who participated was deeply moved by the event. ”I could feel the pain and the hope of so many,” recalled Staley spouse Terri Garren. “Only [Father Mangan] could have gotten that many people to walk away silently,” said Judy Dulaney. “The police did not know what to do. He is the only person in the world that many people would have done that for.”

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