St. James and the Cry of the Exploited

London in the 21st Century

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

As Superior-General of the Institute of the Canons Regular of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and as your brother in the shared mission of Eucharistic reverence and pastoral mercy, I write to you with deep urgency, drawn by the Spirit to reflect on the often-overlooked Epistle of St. James. His voice pierces through centuries with prophetic clarity, exposing the hidden wounds inflicted upon the poor and those ensnared by economic injustice.

“Behold, the wages of the labourers

who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out…”
(James 5:4)

This cry, I believe, resounds today more than ever. It echoes from the quiet desperation of the salaried class living in precarity, from the dehumanised gig worker stripped of dignity, and from the exhausted caregiver who labours without recognition. It is a cry rising to Heaven—and the Lord hears.

St. James, often named the “Amos of the New Testament,” stands not as a moral commentator but as a spiritual witness to divine justice. His epistle is brief, but it burns: not with rage, but with righteous urgency. He reminds us that unjust economic systems are not merely flawed—they are an affront to divine mercy and eschatological hope.

As a Canonry, and as an Institute consecrated to the Heart of Jesus—a Heart pierced not only by sin but by silence in the face of suffering—we must respond. Not with mere analysis, but with Eucharistic action. Our devotions must animate our justice. Our liturgies must become the healing of labourers’ wounds. Our policies must reflect the Beatitudes, not boardroom pragmatism. Not Government complicity.

All the ecclesial family—priests, religious, lay collaborators—in the One Church of Christ around the World are called to task and must respond:

 1. Discernment of Complicity

Let each community examine whether ministries, investments, or partnerships enable unjust labour practices. This is not a judgment—it is an invitation to purification. We must confess not only personal sins, but social ones.

2. Witness of Dignity

Let our pastoral care prioritise the hidden poor: the working mother buried in rent arrears, the staff member quietly struggling, the faithful who labour unnoticed. We must make space for their voices, liturgically and communally.

3. Cultivation of Prophetic Imagination

I urge everyone to explore cooperative economies, ethical finance, and fair wages not as abstract ideals, but as concrete outgrowths of our Eucharistic life.

Let us be inspired by those who walk this path—movements like the Catholic Worker and those living Fratelli Tutti in daily solidarity. Let us also forge our own, rooted in our charisma and structure.

Dear friends, the cry of the harvesters has not ceased. It grows louder. And Christ hears it. Let us, as His Church, become the echo, not of silence, but of solidarity. In doing so, we fulfil St. James’s exhortation and manifest the Gospel as not only proclamation, but incarnation.

May our hearts be established, as James writes, for “the coming of the Lord is at hand.”

With brotherly love and in Christ’s mercy,

✠ Fr. Lewis Greenville-Walker

Superior-General of the Canons Regular of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Vicar-General, Church of the United Temple of the Spirit