Subsidiarity

Much has been said and written lately on the subject of health care reform (or as the Democrats are reframing it: health insurance reform). The Catholic Church has not been silent on the matter, either. And with good reason: there are over 600 Catholic hospitals around the country who deliver health care, with nearly 93 million outpatient visits a year. They have a vested interest in the outcome.

A couple of articles in this week's edition of the local archdiocese newspaper raised good points. I'll start with a quote from the archbishop's weekly column:

I realized that I did not mention another essential Catholic principle that should have been included in my last column: subsidiarity, which posits that health care ought to be determined, administered and coordinated at the lowest level of society whenever possible.

In other words, those intermediary communities and associations that exist between the federal government and the individual must be strengthened and given greater control over policies and practices rather than being given less and less control.

To usurp this 'hierarchy of communities' is terribly damaging in the long run, both to society as a whole and the individual citizen (See Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 1883, Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, No. 185 ff).

Two quotes from Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI are instructive in this regard:

Pope John Paul II has written:

"By intervening directly and depriving society of its responsibility, the Social Assistance State leads to a loss of human energies and an inordinate increase of public agencies, which are dominated more by bureaucratic ways of thinking than by concern for serving their clients, and which are accompanied by an enormous increase in spending" (Pope John Paul II, “Centesimus Annus,” No. 48).

Pope Benedict writes:

"The State which would provide everything, absorbing everything into itself, would ultimately become a mere bureaucracy incapable of guaranteeing the very thing which the suffering person — every person — needs: namely, loving personal concern. 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 . . . . In the end, the claim that just social structures would make works of charity superfluous masks a materialist conception of man: the mistaken notion that man can live ‘by bread alone’ (Mt 4:4; cf. Dt 8:3) — a conviction that demeans man and ultimately disregards all that is specifically human" (Pope Benedict XVI, “Deus Caritas Est,” No. 28).

To neglect the principle of subsidiarity inevitably leads to the excessive centralization of human services, which leads to higher costs, less personal responsibility for the individual and a lower quality of care.

They published what I think is a really helpful comparison document on the various proposals that are being debated in congress, annotated with the opinions of the Catholic Church, which are shaped by the US Conference of Bishops, who lay out eight criteria for health care reform, including respect for life from conception to natural death, priority concern for the poor, cost restraint, pursuing the common good while preserving pluralism, and universal access for every person living in the United States.

And, as usual, the Catholic Church's positions are neither liberal nor conservative. They often offend both sides equally. :) In fact, an editorial in this same newspaper tried to make the point that we need both viewpoints in the church, liberal and conservative.

But a reply posted at the bottom of the article made the point that no, we don't need both conservative Catholics and liberal Catholics... we just need folks who really ARE Catholic, and put their faith above their ideology.

I don't think that happens very often.