THE USCCB AND SUBSIDIARITY - WHY THE HEALTH CARE BILL VIOLATES CATHOLIC TEACHING

If you want to understand why it is so wrong for the USCCB to back this giant government take over of our health care system use the link and read the entire article below. Subsidiarity is a foundational principle of Catholicism and the understanding of the role of government that was put forth by the Founding Fathers. The fact that the USCCB seems to be so anxious to abandon this principle speaks volumes about where their real interests lie.

An example of subsidiarity and its proper role in society is clearly displayed in Matthew 18:

15 And if thy brother sin against thee, go, show him his fault between thee and him alone: if he hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.

16 But if he hear thee not, take with thee one or two more, that at the mouth of two witnesses or three every word may be established.

17 And if he refuse to hear them, tell it unto the church: and if he refuse to hear the church also, let him be unto thee as the Gentile and the publican.

The Principle of Subsidiarity
by David A. Bosnich

"One of the key principles of Catholic social thought is known as the principle of subsidiarity. This tenet holds that nothing should be done by a larger and more complex organization which can be done as well by a smaller and simpler organization. In other words, any activity which can be performed by a more decentralized entity should be. This principle is a bulwark of limited government and personal freedom. It conflicts with the passion for centralization and bureaucracy characteristic of the Welfare State.

This is why Pope John Paul II took the “social assistance state” to task in his 1991 encyclical Centesimus Annus. The Pontiff wrote that the Welfare State was contradicting the principle of subsidiarity by intervening directly and depriving society of its responsibility. This “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.”

In spite of this clear warning, the United States Catholic Bishops remain staunch defenders of a statist approach to social problems. They have publicly criticized recent congressional efforts to reform the welfare system by decentralizing it and removing its perverse incentives. Their opposition to the Clinton Administration’s health care plan was based solely upon its inclusion of abortion funding. They had no fundamental objection to a takeover of the health care industry by the federal government."

Acton Institute