Every year, Patty and I deliver Angel Tree Christmas gifts to the children of prisoners. And I’ll never forget one year in particular, when Patty and I drove into a housing project to deliver our gifts.

We saw broken windows and grim-faced gang members lounging in doorways. After parking our car, we found our way to an apartment and knocked on the door. A boy, about 9 years old, cautiously opened the door.

“Merry Christmas,” I said, holding out the presents. “These are from your Daddy.”

Immediately, the door swung wide open to let us in. The boy’s mother was on her way home from work, and as we waited for her, we saw that the apartment inside was a wreck. The furniture was torn, the stuffing falling out. A scraggly Christmas tree leaned up against the wall, bare of any presents.

When I asked the boy his name, he replied, “Emmanuel.”

“Emmanuel,” I said, “Do you know what your name means?” I opened my Bible and read from Matthew: “And they shall call him Emmanuel—which means ‘God with us.’”

Just then, his mother came to the door. Emmanuel threw his arms around her thighs, crying, “Mama, Mama, God is with us!”

In Emmanuel’s clear voice, I heard the message of Christmas afresh: that God is indeed with us always—and in a special way at Christmas, when He entered history through Jesus Christ.

I was particularly reminded that He came for the prisoner who turned His back on Him. He came for the mother who can’t make ends meet. And He came for the child who cries himself to sleep at night because he’s never known his daddy. function fbs_click() {u=location.href.substring(0,location.href.lastIndexOf(‘/’));t=document.title;window.open(‘http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=’+encodeURIComponent(u)+’&t=’+encodeURIComponent(t),’sharer’,'toolbar=0,status=0,width=626,height=436′);return false;}

God is with us. And He has given us the rare chance to be with those who desperately need Him.

Each year, Angel Tree brings this message of hope to hundreds of thousands of children of inmates. Church volunteers deliver Christmas gifts—and the Gospel message—in the name of the incarcerated parent. Think what this means—not only to the children, but to the moms and dads in prison as well.

But this year we are facing an unprecedented crisis. Although churches have committed to delivering gifts to some 300,000 children, due to the slow economy and some other factors, there are 50,000 children as of today who remain unclaimed. They have no sponsors.

And so I’m doing something I’ve never done before. Please go to our website, AngelTree.org , as soon as you’ve heard this broadcast, and sponsor one child for a donation of $35.20—enough to send a gift, Gospel materials, and a message from mom or dad to that child. Or maybe you could take two or three, or more, as God leads you.

And you could ask your church to help as well. Maybe they can adopt a group of children in an area. The thing is, we must not fail. No child should be forgotten this Christmas.

God showed us that first Christmas that He is with those who have no hope. And we have the rare privilege of taking that message to these children. Sign up, please, at AngelTree.org today. Please, we need your help desperately.

Given the anti-Catholic bias in many circles, I must point out that the Catholic Church has no desire to gain power over the State, or even impose its teachings on those who do not share our Faith. Nevertheless, the Church offers her various social teachings, such as the Principle of Subsidiarity, as guiding principles in order to do Her part to promote reasonable dialogue and to make the Church’s own contribution toward the common goal of a just solution to social issues such as healthcare.

We do not need a State which regulates and controls everything, but a State which, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, generously acknowledges and supports initiatives arising from the different social forces and combines spontaneity with closeness to those in need (Pope Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est , 28).

The Principle of Subsidiarity, which has been an integral part of Catholic Social teaching for over a century, states that only things that need to be done at the national or “federal” level should be done by a “federal” government; and allows for things that can be done at the local or smaller level to be done at the more local and smaller units of society. Where individuals, intermediary groups, or small private groups of persons can address the particular exigencies and realities of a given situation, it is best to defer to such smaller groups because human beings need some flexibility and autonomy in order to effectively address their particular circumstances.

As with all things Catholic, Pope Benedict XVI describes it best when he summarizes the Principle of Subsidiarity as “the coordination of society’s activities in a way that supports the internal life of the local communities.” As if he were acutely aware of the genius of our American system (i.e., a system which has successfully balanced federal, state and private initiatives for over two hundred years) the Holy Father observes that the principle of subsidiarity helps governments at the national level “attune themselves to the natural human desire for self-governance.” The Holy Father most recently pointed out that the principle of Subsidiary prevents a completely dehumanizing and “all encompassing welfare state,” which inevitably leads to a form of “paternalist social assistance that is demeaning to those in need” (Caritas In Veritate , 57, 58).

Thus, the Principle of Subsidiarity can serve as a guiding principle in the Healthcare debate because it comports with our American history of governance and provides a means by which we can somehow find a middle ground between an all encompassing welfare state and a laissez fare system with no safety net for its citizens.

Moreover, the Principle of Subsidiarity provides a refreshingly non-partisan principle, as it is rooted in the common good and thus ultimately transcends political affiliations. If nothing else, the Principle of Subsidiarity offers a means of discussing healthcare in a non-caustic and principled manner. Whether we are really in a “cultural war” or not, we could use a guiding, non-politicized criterion upon which we can ground true dialogue and reasonable discussion about healthcare. Because it is a guiding principle rooted in natural law and the common good it necessarily eschews simplistic slogans and avoids the temptation of prioritizing votes and reelections over principles and justice.

Furthermore, applying the Principle of Subsidiarity to healthcare can help local communities and smaller governments better coordinate their healthcare issues with other societal issues such as generating sufficient revenue for other societal and human needs. Some local communities might coordinate their approach to healthcare with their approach to immigrant workers who not only thankfully provide value and enrich their communities but obviously greatly increase societal costs such as healthcare.

Although I do not have a prediction as to where the dialogue will end, I believe that if we apply the Principle of Subsidiarity to healthcare issues, we will most fully ensure that competition in the marketplace, human and charitable initiatives and creativity can all flourish. As Pope Benedict XVI reminds us, when those responsible for the common good allow people to govern themselves and address their own problems, those public officials “leave space for individual responsibility and achievement.”

The Principle of Subsidiarity should serve as our national GPS in the healthcare debate, pointing the way for countless groups of Americans. Through their genius and hard work, attuned to their own local and unique realities, they will yield true and genuine reform of our healthcare system. It is only in this way that we can meaningfully address the healthcare needs of persons of all ages and illnesses and yield surprising and innovative solutions that an all-encompassing welfare state simply can’t produce.