What Is Subsidiarity?

Our blogger Vince Miller has pledged to take up this question in his next blog post, but meanwhile here is a reflection from Stephen Schneck at Catholic U:

The root of the word subsidiarity is the Latin subsiduum, which is also the same root for our English word subsidy. Subsiduum was used, among other things, in reference to the morally weighted giving from those who had to those who had not, much like we still understand the old French term noblesse oblige. Its context is a traditional understanding of society, arranged hierarchically, wherein the various classes each had obligations to the other…..

Subsidiarius, thus, hints at the moral issue at the heart of any correct understanding of subsidiarity, especially in application to questions about the proper role of government in executing public policies. Subsidiarity requires that policies be performed by the most appropriate level of the social order to achieve results without too much overage or too much underage in the application of power or resources. Overage creates unwanted dependency. Underage fails to fully satisfy needs relative to the common good…..

In truth, nothing in Catholic social teachings, including the ethic of subsidiarity, requires that America’s moral responsibility to the care for the unborn, the poor, or other vulnerable populations be addressed at one or another level, whether by national government, state governments, private enterprise, voluntary associations, or anything else. The Church has been quite happy with governmental arrangements that have leaned toward a larger national government role than has been the historical case in the United States—and even Vatican City’s own approach is quite similar to what one finds in Italy or other European countries. This is not at all to say that an approach that emphasizes more responsibility for such matters at the level of local government or private charities is inappropriate. Rather, it is to say that the interpretation of subsidiarity (like solidarity and the common good) may vary prudentially as long as needs are being met relative to the common good that avoids moral dangers of over and under support.

Tim Reidy