Statement from the World Meeting of Families Celebrating Labor Day

The following statement is from Donna Crilley Farrell, Executive Director of the World Meeting of Families – Philadelphia 2015 in celebration of Labor Day:

Sophocles wrote, ‘Without labor nothing prospers,’ and in Philadelphia there are no truer words.   The World Meeting of Families – Philadelphia 2015 begins in 16 days and we could not be more grateful to all of those working so hard to make it a success.   

Every aspect of this historic event is influenced by our unions – from transportation to education, from construction to safety and security by our sworn officers.  We thank them all.   We especially want to thank our labor organizations who are pulling together the many pieces of the Congress at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, the complex transportation plans for our many events especially those on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and at Independence Hall for the visit of Pope Francis.  We also want to thank all of our local unions, even those not working on these events, for their enthusiastic embrace of Pope Francis’ visit to our city. 

In addition, we want to salute all of those Catholic school teachers who are providing support to the World Meeting of Families, and we thank them for their constant dedication year round to our children. 

In a very special way we recognize those who will work arduously in the coming weeks to ensure that the visit of the Holy Father to Philadelphia is both safe and successful, notably the Philadelphia Police Department, Philadelphia Emergency Services,  the Pennsylvania State Police and the U.S. Secret Service. 

All of this work – much of which is quiet and will go unseen – is the foundation upon which the World Meeting of Families and the Papal Events are built and we are thankful, on this Labor Day in particular, for these efforts. 

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