Comments on: Subsidiarity: Where Justice and Freedom Coexist

By: Mary Kochan

Mary Kochan — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 16:10:59 +0000

Of course it is and now it is fixed.

(Louie!)

By: Joe DeVet

Joe DeVet — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 12:11:41 +0000

The USCCB itself often violates this little-known principle. It pretends to be a center of ecclesial authority over the individual bishops and dioceses, when it has no such function. It also advocates for any number of socialistic solutions to problems–basically advocating in many instances what I call “surrogate charity”–you get someone else (government) to extract forcibly the wealth of someone else (the “rich”) to be skimmed off by bureaucracies, and the remains transferred to the needy (characterized by children), who then become dependent on impersonal “charity.” No one’s soul is saved. Having lost their credibility to preach real charity to their flocks, the USCCB bishops put all their energy into surrogate charity.

By the way, it’s “principle” of subsidiarity, not “principal.”

By: Mary Kochan

Mary Kochan — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 05:50:08 +0000

Oh, give me a break. What about making every registered Catholic subscribe to the diocesan paper and then making the diocesan papers get their news from CNS, do you not understand? We have to pay for the paper subs from our parish donations, and the diosecan papers turn around and pay CNS to run the news.

Gives a whole new meaning to “independent” now, doens’t it?

By: noelfitz

noelfitz — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 04:03:18 +0000

I read here:

“Unfortunately, we have come to expect as much from politicians, but when the bamboozlement comes to us courtesy of Catholic News Service — a wholly owned official organ of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, funded by faithful Catholics — it’s high time we sat up and paid attention.”

This seems to me another attack on the USCCB and the bishops of the Church. It implies that the CNS is funded from Church funds. This is not so.

In the CNS web site I see:

“While created in 1920 by the bishops of the United States, CNS is editorially independent and a financially self-sustaining division of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.”

By: goral

goral — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 03:21:04 +0000

“Citizens, for their part, either individually or collectively, must be careful not to attribute excessive power to public authority, not to make exaggerated and untimely demands upon it in their own interests, lessening in this way the responsible role of persons, families and social groups (Gaudium et Spes – 75).”

If I remember anything from this article it’ll be the above paragraph.
It’s interest groups pushing their own selfish agenda that make demands on gov’t, sowing discord and acrimony between citizens.

It’s the gov’t mafia saying: don’t worry, I’ll take care of you.
It’s two possibly three of the seven deadly sins in one demand package –
greed, sloth and likely gluttony.

By: elkabrikir

elkabrikir — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 00:22:35 +0000

Great article. You explained the concept of subsidiarity consisely and accurately.

Yesterday’s The Edge article (George Weigel on health care reform) received comments that dovetail with your article.

I don’t give a dime to any USCCB organizations. I don’t trust that political body. And,yes, it is a political body. The only bishop who has authority over me is the bishop of my diocese and the Pope. The USCCB,as a body, has no canonical authority to speak on behalf of anybody but themselves as individuals.

In my opinion they have done a disservice to Catholics who live in America. (We are NOT American Catholics. We are Roman Catholics.) However, this comment spot is not the place to discuss the issues.

Thanks for spreading the truth CE.