TORONTO (CCN) — Catholic professionals can live their faith and values in the workplace while fostering mutual respect for colleagues of other religions or no religion. The key, said lawyer Hugh MacKinnon, is authenticity.
MacKinnon, former chair and CEO of Bennett Jones law firm, was a keynote speaker at a gathering of Young Professional Catholics of Toronto, held at Charbonnel Lounge at the University of St. Michael’s College Sept. 9.
“I think most people are happy to tolerate or even embrace our Catholic sensibilities if they think we’re authentic,” he told the 70 people gathered. “If popular culture doesn’t respect Catholic sensibilities, it’s quite often because Catholics don’t seem to care or they don’t speak up.”’
MacKinnon said the three priorities guiding his work ethic are “faith, family and firm” — in that order. He also highlighted how a “Catholic view of the workplace” helped him, since “knowing where to draw the line was freedom.”
“In dealing with a large, diverse group of partners with competing views, it was helpful to know where to draw the line,” he said.
MacKinnon spoke about how the Catholic principle of subsidiarity informed his management style. He defined subsidiarity as “encouraging independent decision-making by those closest to the action without micromanaging or second-guessing.”
For example, when dealing with “competing rights and visions” was “confounding” and his associates suggested terminating junior employees or service workers, he asked: “Do you really think we should fire our most vulnerable people?”
“Properly framing the question provided the answer,” he said.
His approach instead was to encourage those whose positions were precarious to “find a way to be helpful.”
“They figured it out themselves and ended up playing a vital role. Subsidiarity in action,” he said. “No one was fired.”
In the brief Q&A portion that followed his remarks, MacKinnon highlighted that Catholic professionals are called to “live the faith” in the workplace, so that it is reflected in their ethic rather than in outright proselytization.
MacKinnon was joined by Cardinal Thomas Collins, archbishop emeritus of Toronto, as a keynote speaker.
Collins offered ways young Catholic professionals can “flourish and not just survive a world which is sometimes not very conducive to our faith.”
These included awareness of the shortness of life; the importance of the sabbath to remember one’s worth in being rather than in doing; seeking absolution and forgiveness through the sacramental life of the Church; surrendering to Divine Providence; and private forms of prayer.
“We can’t use our religion as an excuse to be sloppy,” Cardinal Collins told Canadian Catholics News in an interview after the event. “We need to be the very best.
“We do it not just in order to ‘get ahead’ … but for the glory of God. Because God gave us these talents, we should use them to the full to help other people,” he said. “So that leads, actually, to being really good at what you do.”
The event, co-sponsored by the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute for Eastern Christian Studies at the University of St. Michael’s College, concluded by offering the young professionals an experience of an Byzantine Catholic prayer service and a visit to Sheptytsky House on campus.
