Call to Family, Community
and Participation
CST principle #2
Principle of Subsidiarity
• Subsidiarity: justice and human welfare are
best achieved at the most immediate level.
• It’s about order, and discerning (prudence)
who is best suited to be responsible for
which tasks.
• The person or group closest to a problem
holds the greatest responsibility for
addressing it.
Principle of Subsidiarity
Examples:
• International trade
• Disciplining children
• Curriculum
• National security
• Curfew
• Cops
• Interstate highways
• Post office
• Taxes
• Minimum wage
• Saving for retirement
• Groceries
Principle of Subsidiarity
• Pius XI: It is “a grave evil and disturbance of right order
to assign to a greater and higher association what lesser
and subordinate associations can do.”
– Attempts to maximize or centralize the power of the state at the
expense of local institutions is discouraged.
• The Church warns about the tendency of the state to
usurp authority to control persons, which destroys
individual liberty and initiative.
Principle of Subsidiarity
• There are times when it is not possible for justice
to be obtained because of prejudice or local
laws/customs.
• A higher power must sometimes get involved to
ensure basic human rights.
– Examples: Segregated schools, UN Peacekeepers, Foster
care
– What temptations do those high powers then face?
• “This institutional substitution must not continue
any longer than is absolutely necessary, since
justification for such intervention is found only in
the exceptional nature of the situation.” (CSDC)
Principle of Subsidiarity
• When the principle of subsidiarity is followed, a
harmony of relationships flow between the
individuals and societies.
– Think about a band or orchestra, a football team,
rowers, etc.
• Getting “in the ballpark” may be relatively
simple, however, it takes great effort to establish,
maintain, adapt, and reevaluate specific
responsibilities.
Responsibility
• Responsibility: The duties and obligations
you have towards yourself and to society
as a whole
• In a group of 3 or 4: read Luke 14:15-24
• Try to solve:
– What does this Gospel passage teach about
responsibility?
– How does it teach this?
Responsibility and Participation
• Mt 22:1-14 Parable of the Wedding Feast
• Why is it important to be responsible
participants in our societies?
• Invitation cannot lead to complacency.
– Smugness, self-righteousness, inaction, being
unprepared or irresponsible
• Responsible stewardship
Responsibility
• Though we are invited to participate in various
societies, we are still responsible for our behavior
within those societies.
• Ultimately, the society we are invited into is the
Kingdom of God.
• How do we participate in the Kingdom of God
here and now?
– By living out the gospel in society in our daily lives.
(CST)
• Do we find other, “better” things to do with our
time that will keep us from this Kingdom or are we
grateful for the invitation and show it in acting as
responsible stewards of God’s gifts?
The Common Good
• It is the primary role and goal of a state to promote and
protect the common good of its members.
• Common good: “the sum of those conditions of social life
which allow social groups and their individual members
relatively thorough and ready access to their own
fulfillment” (Gaudium et Spes)
• The common good seeks to protect the welfare of each
individual who must in turn be concerned with the
welfare of each other person.
– St. Paul’s image of the Body of Christ
The Common Good ¶1907-1912
1.
Respect for the person
–
By respecting fundamental and inalienable rights such as
respecting individual conscience and religious freedom.
2. Social well-being and development
–
–
Enabling groups to develop: socially, economically, politically,
culturally, and spiritually
Ensure the necessities of a full human life: food, clothing, health,
education, work, etc.
3. Peace
–
–
•
Ensuring the stability and security of a just order
Security through morally acceptable measures
How is the common good achieved in this classroom
setting?
The Common Good
• The common good is always oriented
towards the authentic development of the
human person. It should help us become
saints.
• This applies to future generations as well.
– We cannot deprive future generations of their
ability to prosper.
– http://www.usdebtclock.org/
– $57,200/citizen fall 2014
– $60,786/citizen fall 2016
Responsibility and Participation
(CCC ¶1913-1914)
• Participation is the voluntary and generous
engagement of a person in social interchange.
• It is necessary that all participate, each according
to his position and role, in promoting the
common good.
• This is achieved first of all by taking charge of the
areas for which one assumes personal
responsibility.
Participation in Public Life
CCC ¶1915, 1917
• As far as possible citizens should take an active
part in public life.
• It is acknowledged that this will vary greatly
depending on one’s state in life.
• Participation begins with education and culture.
• “One is entitled to think that the future of
humanity is in the hands of those who are
capable of providing the generations to come
with reasons for life and optimism.” –Gaudium et
Spes
The Common Good and
Participation
• What challenges do you think your
generation faces because of a failure of past
generations?
• What are some other challenges that future
generations may face because of the way
we act today?
• In what ways are you a full participant in
the societies you are involved in?
• In what ways could you, or should you,
work to increase your participation?
• Why don’t people participate?
• What can we do to change this?
Eschatological Principle
• Definition: living in this world for the sake of the
next.
• Eschatological: end times (the eschaton)
• Two goals/ends:
– Proximate end: to build up the Kingdom of God on
Earth (never ends)
– Ultimate end: to get all people to heaven (never ends)
• What happens if we ignore the proximate end?
• What happens when we lose track of the ultimate
end?
Eschatological Principle
• The resurrection is a future event (ultimate goal) that should
impact and influence the way we live our daily lives (proximate
goal).
• Our daily actions, or inactions, good choices and bad have an
ultimate weight to them. They are a part of our history, for better
or worse.
• If we do not believe in the resurrection, then we do not have the
courage to act as Christians today.
• It is the resurrection that enables us to live courageous lives of
action, applying ourselves fully to today knowing that there is,
nevertheless, something more important.
Eschatological Principle
• I look forward to the resurrection of the
dead and the life of the world to come…
• Salve Regina (Hail Holy Queen):
– “poor banished children of Eve”
– “mourning and weeping in this valley of tears”
– “after this our exile”
• 2 Maccabees 7:1-14
• What sustains us?
Universal Destination of Goods
• Definition: God destined the earth and its resources
to meet the needs of all people.
• This principle is based on the fact that the original
source of all that is good is the very act of God, who
created both the earth and man, and who gave the
earth to man so that he might have dominion over it
by his work and enjoy its fruits (Gen 1:28-29).
• God gave the earth to the whole human race for the
sustenance of all its members, without excluding or
favoring anyone. (CDSC 171)
Universal Destination of Goods
• Universal destination of goods does not mean
that everything is at the disposal of each
person or of all people, or that the same
object may be useful or belong to each person
or all people.
• If it is true that everyone is born with the
right to use the goods of the earth, it is
likewise true that, this needs to be done in an
equitable and orderly fashion by an authority.
Private Property
• By working, and using their gifts, humans make
part of the earth their own. This is the origin of
private property.
– This right is based on your duty to take care of
yourself, your family, and the poor.
• Private property is essential to societies and
economies, but is not an absolute or untouchable
factor. It is a limited right.
• Private property is supported in as much as it helps
to ensure the universal destination of goods and
works to that end. Private property is not the goal.
• Increased wealth or property increases the
obligations that you have.
Social Sin
• Definition: social structures, institutions, and
attitudes which foster unjust treatment of
others.
• Sins against the common good.
• What work can we do to overcome social
sin?
– First, we need to look at our structures,
institutions, and attitudes in light of the Gospel.
– Then, we look at our own sinful nature and work
to change it.
– Then, we address the concrete social issues.
Confucius
To put the world right in order, we must first
put the nation in order;
To put the nation in order, we must first put
the family in order;
To put the family in order, we must first
cultivate our personal life;
We must first set our hearts right.
St. Augustine
“The times are bad! The times are
troublesome!” This is what humans say. But
we are our times. Let us live well and our
times will be good. Such as we are, such are
our times.
Vocabulary
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Subsidiarity
Common Good
Social Sin
Participation
Responsibility
Eschatological Principle
Universal Destination of Goods
Private Property
Quiz…
• Making part of the earth your own in order to serve others
• Voluntary but necessary involvement in society
• Justice and human welfare are best achieved at the most
immediate level
• Building up the kingdom of God on earth now for the sake of
getting all people to heaven
• The earth’s resources were meant as a gift for all people
• Unjust structures, institutions, or attitudes
• All of the conditions of society that allow groups and
individuals to grow and develop.
• The duties and obligations you have towards yourself and to
society as a whole
Pope Francis on Subsidiarity
Address to U.S. Congress:
“Building a nation calls us to recognize that we
must constantly relate to others, rejecting a
mindset of hostility in order to adopt one of
reciprocal subsidiarity, in a constant effort to do
our best. I am confident that we can do this.”