Date: May 12, 2002 Location: University of Dayton, Alumni Hall Room 101 Meeting Topic: Subsidiarity Speakers: Father Jack Kelley Host: Judy Baker SUBSIDIARITY (The principle of subsidiary function) Here is a summary
statement meant for concerned Jewish and Protestant friends: A key issue of
our times is the exercise of power, and in a special way, the empowerment and
creativity of our laity. A sense of powerlessness is one of the most
destructive realities of our contemporary society. Present structures tend
to make persons more and more dependent, rather than self-reliant. A new idea
has been born in our times, very compatible with the biblical and Jewish
tradition, but not yet formulated within Protestant or Jewish social philosophy.
It is called the principle of subsidiarity or the principle of subsidiary
function. It is a natural law function. "Subsidiarity" is a response to
the dilemma of power, a new concept to enable all our people to come into a more
vibrant relationship with their own creativity. The idea has grown within
Catholic social thought for more than seventy years, not without difficulty.
It reaches a high point in the Declaration on Religious Liberty (Dignitatis
Humanae Personae) and The Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes, par 86.)
Both are documents passed in 1965 at Vatican II. Due to the limited
interaction of our faith communities in the past, the idea has been left
undeveloped. This concept perceives social structures as "subsidiary" to the
person and to the primary groupings within which the persons live out their
human existence. The larger social structures should serve to enable, to
empower the person and the small unit (such as the family, the congregation, and
the neighborhood) to live in greater liberty, that is to say, more humanely.
This new image of service, of ministry as a Servant, is inspired by the songs of
the servant in Second Isaiah. The image is becoming a liberating symbol to
the people of the world showing the presence and concern of the people of God.
Footnote. From the viewpoint of an eminent economist, this insight has
been expressed in SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL, Economics as if People Mattered
(E.F.("Fritz") Schumacher, 1973). From the viewpoint of the Catholic
sociologist, it has been described as NO BIGGER THAN NECESSARY (Andrew Greeley,
1977). From the viewpoint of political theory, it is supported by Berger and
Neuhaus in TO EMPOWER PEOPLE, The Role of Mediating Structures in Public Policy
(1978). Subsidiarity, a neologism, is well documented in Catholic papal
documents since 1931, and in the AMERICAN PASTORAL, Economic Justice for All
(1986). Because it has not been well understood, it deserves to be studied
and applied against the current sense of helplessness. It is also the
principle upon which the European Union is built.