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Bishop G.E. Patterson, Friend of Working People |
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Working families and people of faith who support workers are mourning the death of Bishop G.E. Patterson, who was presiding bishop of the Church of God in Christ (COGIC), the nation’s largest African American Pentecostal denomination with more than 6 million members.
Patterson, 67, died last week in Memphis, Tenn., where COGIC is headquartered. He was a strong supporter of workers’ rights and had spoken out in favor of the Employee Free Choice Act and the freedom of workers to join unions. Patterson also spearheaded COGIC Charities, which raised more than $1 million to help the survivors of Hurricane Katrina. In a letter to Patterson’s family, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney wrote:
It is my belief that there is an unbreakable bond that exists between the church and labor unions, one that remains undisturbed with the passing of time, and we are grateful to Bishop Patterson for strengthening that bond.
AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer William Lucy praised Patterson for coming to the aid of striking sanitation workers in Memphis in 1968.
He was one of the first to allow his church to be used by the strikers and he lent his ministry and pulpit to the strikers and other workers. The nation has lost a great leader.
One of Patterson’s messages was building on faith to bridge cultural and racial differences. “I don’t know why we ever got stuck on that thing that we’re only supposed to give witness to black folks,” he told a 2005 church convention, according to The New York Times.
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