Good for the Soul AND Good for Business

Should people check their faith at the door when they go to work? My answer is a resounding no. Now let me say up front that I'm a Catholic Christian. I believe in and try my best to follow Jesus, and Jesus taught very clearly that to be his follower we must take up our cross everyday and follow him. In other words, to be an authentic Catholic, we must be "all in." At baptism, "Christian-ness" becomes our primary identity, our defining characteristic. If we are honest with ourselves and take our faith seriously, this idenity impacts everything we do, think, or say. Everything.

If Catholics cast aside our faith when we walk into the workplace, then we are hypocrites. Now it's true that in one sense every Christian is a hypocrite. A hypocrite says one thing and does the opposite. Christ taught that we are supposed to love God with all our mind, soul and strength, and our neighbor as ourself. But we don't. We all fall short of this (Some of us more than others - haha!). We are all still sinners. Yet in another sense, we are only hypocrites if we don't strive for the ideal. Precisely because of our faith, we should recognize our moral duty to live and act better, to attempt each and every day to live a life of integrity. This means being morally upright. It means doing an excellent job for the people we serve while remaining humble in acheiving excellence. It means treating others exactly how we would like them to treat us.

That's not to say that we should always talk about our faith at work. Discussing religion in the workplace is very often not a good idea. Such discussions may run the risk of distracting us from our common tasks at hand. Worse still, they can create controversy and division. For these reasons, I think it's often best to keep such workplace discussions to a minimum. In the workplace, silence does not minimize the importance of faith, it recognizes how extremely important faith is.

But Jesus said, "Whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven"? (Mt 10:33) So if we don't talk about our faith, then are we denying Jesus?

I don't think so. A distinction needs to be made. I would never counsel anyone to deny their faith at any time or in any place. But that's different than bringing it up and asserting it as a topic of conversation. Oftentimes, the most effective way to witness to one's faith is just by living it. The apostle James teaches us that living the faith is just as important as professing the faith (see Js 2). He points out that faith without works is dead. Think about this:

Wouldn't it be a powerful witness to your faith in Jesus if coworkers noticed that there's something extra good about you and then began to wonder what the source of that goodness might be?

I'll talk about my faith at work if people ask. I have a crucifix in my office and an image of Our Lady too. I'm not saying that we should hide it or never talk about it. I just think that at work it's usually better to simply let our actions to speak for themselves.

Recently Notre Dame Federal Credit Union was a major sponsor for a "Rekindle the Fire" men's conference. Over 900 men spent the day reflecting on how they could be more consistent and genuine in their faith, taking the Light of Christ everywhere they go. These were men from all walks of life. Most of them spend Monday through Friday in a workplace.

Events like these help to make them better Catholics which hopefully helps make them better leaders, better coworkers, and better employees. Who wouldn't want to work with a person who fears God and believes in honesty, fairness, the dignity of each human person, and humble service to others?

Unfortunately, many businesses won't touch this kind of sponsorship because it's too religious. I'm so grateful I work for a credit union that will. Not only is this type of conference good for the soul, but because faith impacts everything, it's also good for productivity, also good for business.