CatholicCitizen.Com: Why Do Catholics Give Government So Much Power?

Monday

Why Do Catholics Give Government So Much Power?

Just a question to ponder. Why do so many in the Catholic Church feel our Christian duties are the responsibility of the government?

Jesus, told us to feed those that hunger, to provide clothing to the needy, and provide healing for the sick. We should be a church who is compassionate and willing to offer assistance to a world in need. This is our duty as children of God, to share His love with the world.

However, Jesus never commanded the Apostles or the church to look to Rome (The Government), to perform these duties. Jesus, never commanded us to establish government programs for health care, housing, welfare, and art.
Yet, so many in the Catholic Church empower government and expand its role in our lives, by giving government more responsibility to do the things we as Christians should be doing or donating to.

So, while some may think Jesus was a Socialist, and that Liberation Theology (Communism),and the Catholic Worker Movement is true Catholic teaching, it may be time for revival in the Catholic Church, and among our bishops here in the United States.

What do you think?

2 comments:

AnonymousJun 16, 2011 01:51 PM
Because we are taught to look to the government for answers and for help with problems that arise in our lives. Some in the Church believe that as well. They castigate those of us who do not agree and shame us as heartless and cruel. The Catholic Universities, Churches, Religious Orders of Nuns and Priests, have all been infiltrated by these Progressives. Last Sunday my church used Sister Dorothy Stang as an example of saintly inspiration. Sister Stang was a proponent of Liberation Theology, and Direct Action. What chance does the ordinary believer have against the influences of all these institutions. If we are going to succeed, we need a good housecleaning.
ReplyDelete
Patron saint medalsSep 7, 2011 06:36 AM
The patron saint medals are very popular among the Catholics. They are the st medals which characterize the features of a particular saint. Patron saints are the protectors or negotiators before God.
ReplyDelete

Add comment

Please Share Your Comments And Opinion. All Comments Will Appear Once They Are Approved By The Moderator.

We Want To Hear From Our Readers

Feel free to click any article and leave your comments. We also have links to multiple news sources around the globe. Please enjoy these articles and participate in any online discussions they may have.

As American citizens of Catholic faith we need to make our voice heard in our church, family, community, and around the world.

Know the principals and traditions of our church, which reject:
1. Progressive ideology
2. Communism
3. Socialism
4. Liberalism

And seeks a nation of free people, that have moral leadership, and a fair and just economic system with sound money.

CATHOLICCITIZEN.COM ALERT

BEWARE: The following organizations claim to be Catholic and yet support or promote one or more destructive belief(s) that are contrary to church teaching such as: (pro-abortion, gay rights, ordination of women, socialism, communism, liberation theology, and a progressive-liberal political agenda):

Association for the Rights of Catholics in the Church
Call to Action
Catholics In Alliance
Catholics For A Free Choice
Catholics For A Free Choice/ Canada
Catholic Network For Women's Equality
Catholics for the Spirit of Vatican II
Catholic Association for Lesbian And Gay Ministry
Catholics Speak Out
Catholic Coalition for Church Reform
Catholic Pastoral Committee On Sexual Minorities
CORPUS
DignityUSA
Dignity Twin Cities
Ecumenical Catholic Communion
Federation of Christian Ministries
Fellowship of Southern Illinois Laity
FutureChurch,
Good Tidings Ministry, Joe Grenier & Cait Finnegan
International Movement We Are Church
Irish Women's Ordination (B.A.S.I.C.)
National Catholic Reporter (Independent Newsweekly)
National Coalition of American Nuns
Network or NetworkLobby.org
New Ways Ministry
Pathfinder Community of the Risen Christ
Pax Christi Maine
Quixote Center
Save Our Sacrament (SOS):Reform of Annulment & Respondent Support
Roman Catholic Womenpriest
Southeastern Pennsylvania Women's Ordination Conference
Spiritus Christi Church
Women's Ordination Conference
Women - Church Convergence
American magazine

RECOMMENDATION: Do Not Support These Organizations or Publications.

Does The Catholic Church Encourage A "Welfare State"?

With the debate about national health care and the growing power of the federal government, citizens are fearful of high taxes and a loss of liberty. We have also heard the voice of Catholic social service agencies cryout for government intervention. However, is government the solution to all our social problems? What does the Catholic church teach about the welfare state, or social assistance state?

Here are three quotes from a Vatican Encyclical that talks about this subject and gives a clear opinion from the church:

"In recent years the range of such intervention has vastly expanded, to the point of creating a new type of State, the so-called "Welfare State". This has happened in some countries in order to respond better to many needs and demands, by remedying forms of poverty and deprivation unworthy of the human person. However, excesses and abuses, especially in recent years, have provoked very harsh criticisms of the Welfare State, dubbed the "Social Assistance State". Malfunctions and defects in the Social Assistance State are the result of an inadequate understanding of the tasks proper to the State" (1)

"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." (2)

Some have mis-quoted church teaching by stating that if business or the private sector is not able to handle health care than its the obligation of the state to take over. However, this is what the true teaching is:

"The State can also exercise a substitute function, when social sectors or business systems are too weak or are just getting under way, and are not equal to the task at hand. Such supplementary interventions, which are justified by urgent reasons touching the common good, must be as brief as possible, so as to avoid removing permanently from society and business systems the functions which are properly theirs, and so as to avoid enlarging excessively the sphere of State intervention to the detriment of both economic and civil freedom." (3)

Government can provide subsitute relief until the business community can gear up to its mission. However, we already have a viable health market, that needs free-market reforms.

Conclusion:

The church teaches us that people , social service groups, non-profits, and even local governments are best at dealing with social issues like health care. We should avoid looking to create a powerful federal agency to run our health system. Lets instead add more free market options to compete with national insurance companies and federal programs.

(1), (2), and (3) taken from the following:

Ioannes Paulus PP. II
Centesimus annus
To His Venerable Brothersin the Episcopatethe Priests and DeaconsFamilies of Men and Women religiousall the Christian Faithfuland to all men and women of good will on the hundredth anniversary of Rerum Novarum
1991.05.01

All from paragraph 48

9 Principals & 12 Values of The American Catholic Citizen

The 9 Principles

1. America Is Good.

"The course of American history demonstrates the difficulties, the struggles, and the great intellectual and moral resolve which were demanded to shape a society which faithfully embodied these noble principles (Principals of the founding fathers). In that process, which forged the soul of the nation, religious beliefs were a constant inspiration and driving force, as for example in the struggle against slavery and in the civil rights movement. In our time too, particularly in moments of crisis, Americans continue to find their strength..." Pope Benedict XVI, 2008 White House Speech

2. I believe in God and He is the Center of my Life.

3. I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday.

"In a society in which truth is neither mentioned nor sought, every form of authentic exercise of freedom will be weakened, opening the way to libertine and individualistic distortions and undermining the protection of the good of the human person and of the entire society." DOCTRINAL NOTE on some questions regarding The Participation of Catholics in Political Life, Nov 21, 2002, Pope John Paul II

4. The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government.

"....The family needs to be safeguarded and promoted, based on monogamous marriage between a man and a woman, and protected in its unity and stability in the face of modern laws on divorce: in no way can other forms of cohabitation be placed on the same level as marriage, nor can they receive legal recognition as such. The same is true for the freedom of parents regarding the education of their children; it is an inalienable right recognized also by the Universal Declaration on Human Rights." Instruction by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, November 24, 2002

"The task of educating belongs fundamentally and primarily to the family. The function of the State is subsidiary: its role is to guarantee, protect, promote and supplement. Whenever the State lays claim to an educational monopoly, it oversteps its rights and offends justice. It is parents who have the right to choose the school to which they send their children and the right to set up end support educational centres in accordance with their own beliefs." INSTRUCTION ON CHRISTIAN FREEDOM AND LIBERATION, March 22, 1986, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, signed by John Paul II

5. If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.

2266 "The efforts of the state to curb the spread of behavior harmful to people's rights and to the basic rules of civil society correspond to the requirement of safeguarding the common good. Legitimate public authority has the right and the duty to inflict punishment proportionate to the gravity of the offense. Punishment has the primary aim of redressing the disorder introduced by the offense. When it is willingly accepted by the guilty party, it assumes the value of expiation. Punishment then, in addition to defending public order and protecting people's safety, has a medicinal purpose: as far as possible, it must contribute to the correction of the guilty party."
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd edition

6. I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results.

"From the dawn of the Republic, America's quest for freedom has been guided by the conviction that the principles governing political and social life are intimately linked to a moral order based on the dominion of God the Creator. The framers of this nation's founding documents drew upon this conviction when they proclaimed the "self-evident truth" that all men are created equal and endowed with inalienable rights grounded in the laws of nature and of nature's God." Pope Benedict XVI 2008 White House Speech

7. I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable.

"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. In fact, it would appear that needs are best understood and satisfied by people who are closest to them and who act as neighbours to those in need." Centesimus annus, May 01, 1991, Pope John Paul II

8. It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion.

---"..One cannot passively accept, still less actively support, groups which by force or by the manipulation of public opinion take over the State apparatus and unjustly impose on the collectivity an imported ideology contrary to the culture of the people."

---"One must condemn with eciual vigour violence exercised by the powerful against the poor, arbitrary action by the police, and any form of violence established as a system of government."

---"Nor can one accept the culpable passivity of the public powers in those democracies where the social situation of a large number of men and women is far from corresponding to the demands of constitutionally guaranteed individual and social rights."

All quotes from: CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH INSTRUCTION ON CHRISTIAN FREEDOM AND LIBERATION, March 22, 1986, signed by Pope John Paul II

9. The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me.

1901 "If authority belongs to the order established by God, 'the choice of the political regime and the appointment of rulers are left to the free decision of the citizens'."

1902 "Authority does not derive its moral legitimacy from itself. It must not behave in a despotic manner, but must act for the common good as a "moral force based on freedom and a sense of responsibility"

2235 "Those who exercise authority should do so as a service. 'Whoever would be great among you must be your servant.' The exercise of authority is measured morally in terms of its divine origin, its reasonable nature and its specific object. No one can command or establish what is contrary to the dignity of persons and the natural law."

quotes from the:Catechism of the Catholic Church

The 12 Values
* Honesty
* Reverence
* Hope
* Thrift
* Humility
* Charity
* Sincerity
* Moderation
* Hard Work
* Courage
* Personal Responsibility
* Gratitude

CatholicCitizen.Com

Monday

Why Do Catholics Give Government So Much Power?

2 comments:

White House.gov Press Office

Introduced Legislation -- Tracked by GovTrack.us

Political News

Catholic Business Journal

Featured Commentary...by Jim Garton of CatholicCitizen.com

Contact Us

Catholic News Service Movie Reviews

Web Rings

We Want To Hear From Our Readers

Let Your Voice Be Heard

CATHOLICCITIZEN.COM ALERT

Social Action Groups With Catholic Values

Lesson on Politics and Social Issues

Does The Catholic Church Encourage A "Welfare State"?

Blog List

Additional Links

FREE Catholic Items

The SaintCast - Catholic Saints on Call

367,000 Have Signed Petition Against Pres. Obama From Being Given A Honorary Degree At Notre Dame

9 Principals & 12 Values of The American Catholic Citizen