Speeches by Secretary Elaine L. Chao

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U. S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao
Funeral Service for Monsignor George G. Higgins
Tuesday, May 7, 2002
Chicago, Illinois

Your Eminence, President Sweeney, Rabbi Marks, friends and family of Monsignor Higgins, I appreciate this opportunity to join you in commemorating the life and work of a remarkable American.

I know I speak for all prior Secretaries of Labor who admired Monsignor Higgins’ concern for working men and women, and his courage in speaking out for their rights.

Regardless of whether we agreed with him on every issue, my predecessors and I all had great respect for his powerful convictions, his warm compassion, his commitment to principle, and his legendary ability to communicate all those heartfelt sentiments in clear, persuasive prose.

What stands out about Monsignor Higgins’ life is how effective he was in advancing the causes he believed in:the freedom of workers to organize, civil rights for minorities, the working conditions of farm workers, and reconciliation between Catholics and Jews.

As we take the measure of this man, we realize how much we still need voices like his, and can learn from his ways.

No one could ever accuse Monsignor Higgins of writing bland columns on timid topics.That simply wasn’t his style.

Instead, like a prophet, he confronted challenging issues head-on – and used words of fire to sear his message into people’s hearts and minds.

But like the priest that he also was, Monsignor Higgins made the effort to reach out.He castigated, but he also cajoled.He used strong language to persuade others, not to belittle them.And he always appealed to our shared values – instead of inflaming divisions.

One of the recent tributes written about him made this easily overlooked point: that this remarkably successful man “did much of his important work out of public sight, in small meetings, in judiciously worded speeches…or in simply building personal relationships.”

It strikes me how Monsignor Higgins grasped the higher truths we so often miss.

That most of what is worth accomplishing invariably takes place on the personal level, not in the public arena.

That we can achieve a great deal by sitting down and shaking hands, instead of standing up and shaking our fists.

That principles mean something more than politics, and ideals are something bigger and more inclusive than ideology.

In part, Monsignor Higgins’ world view was shaped by a perspective much longer than the next paycheck, or the next election, or even the length of his life.

Saint Paul wrote, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart…”, for Paul pointed out, we look ahead to our reward.

Monsignor Higgins did “work at it with all his heart,” and he has received his reward.

Let us now honor his life – and his spirit – by reaching out…by challenging ourselves to find common answers that help the working men and women of America, whom he loved and served.

May God bless his soul and May God bless all of us.

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