Prof. Franz Josef Stegmann Bethlehem Social ... - Ordo Socialis

Stegmann
From this principle of solidarity, as a principle of existence, a principle of being, the moral
obligation and moral principle follows that each human being should behave accordingly and
should take on responsibility for his/her fellow human beings, for the community; ie, should
practise solidarity. Christian Social Teaching therefore emphasises the importance and
necessity of commitment to the community and, in a global view, attaches much significance
to development issues.
4.2 The principle of subsidiarity
The principle of subsidiarity is age-old. In 1931 subsidiarity received its classical formulation
by Pope Pius XI in the Encyclical Quadragesimo Anno, but it expresses human experiences
from time immemorial. I mention just a few examples.
When Jethro saw that Moses, his son-in law, was kept busy from morning till night settling
disputes and quarrels among the Israelites while they were wandering through the desert, he
gave him some good advice:
"You will wear yourself out. This is too much for you to do alone. You should choose
some capable men and appoint them as leaders of the people: leaders of thousands,
hundreds, fifties, and tens ... They can bring all the difficult Gases to you, but themselves
shall decide all the smaller disputes. That will make it easier for you, as they share your
burden of responsibility. If you do this you will not wear yourself out" (Ex 18, 18-23).
Abraham Lincoln, the great 19th century United States president (1809-1865) who abolished
slavery in his country, clearly expressed the political dimension of the subsidiarity principle:
“The legitimate object of government is to do for a community whatever they need to have
done but cannot do at all, or cannot so well do for themselves in their separate and
individual capacities. In all that people can individually do as well for themselves,
government ought not to interfere."
Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859), one of the great French political philosophers of the 19th
century, was a strong supporter of the subsidiarity principle. According to him, democratic
states should enjoy a powerful central authority; one must, however, not give all areas of
responsibility to it, but rather "as many areas as possible to lower bodies". 27
These few examples stand for many others. Therefore, the Pastoral Letter Quadragesimo
Anno did not proclaim a new principle:
"It is indeed true, as history clearly shows, that owing to the change in social conditions,
much what was formerly done by small bodies can nowadays be accomplished only by large
organisations. Nevertheless, it is a fundamental principle of social philosophy, fixed and
unchangeable, that one should not withdraw from individuals and commit to the community
what they can accomplish by their own enterprise and industry. So, too. it is an injustice and
at the same time a grave evil and a disturbance of right order to transfer to the larger and
higher collectivity functions which can be performed and provided for by smaller and lower
bodies. Every social activity should, by its very nature, prove a help to members of the social
body, it should never destroy or absorb them." 28
The principle of subsidiarity implies three main aspects:
27 Alexis de Tocqueville, Das Zeitalter der Gleichheit. Ed. by Siegfried Landshut, Stuttgart 1954, 102‐103.
28 Pius XI, Quadragesimo Anno (1931), No. 79.
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