Subsidiarity in Action

My daughter was quizzing me from a set of Brainquest cards the other day (it's nice to know I'm so good at 5th grade questions). One of the questions was something like "This organization improves conditions for employees in the workplace." And the answer on the card was "labor union".

So we had a little discussion about labor unions and how they were very important and are still, except that they have been corrupted by power and seem to have lost their mission. In addition, we discussed how labor unions actually give a great deal of money to anti Catholic organizations, such as abortion providers like Planned Parenthood. Our children know what Planned Parenthood is because they have prayed for an end to abortion in front of a local Planned Parenthood clinic as part of a local 40 Days for Life campaign. Anyway, after the discussion went back and forth for awhile, my daughter said, "Oh, I wish I wouldn't have asked that question!" Clearly, she had enough, but it was a good discussion to have with her.

Anyway, in talking to a friend (H/t Suzanne) about this, she told me about Rerum Novarum, Pope Leo XIII's encyclical on Capital and Labor. I have it bookmarked, but have not had a chance to read it yet. She also told me about the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty, which is named for Lord Acton, who said, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power absolutely." The Acton Institute looks like a helpful place to sort through all the news reports regarding the Pontifical Council for Peace and Justice call for a central World Bank. Many of these news reports say the Vatican is calling for this, when in actuality it is not the Vatican itself, but the Pontifical Council.

So thus, this post about subsidiarity. But as the mother of 5 young children, I cannot write as much as I would like about this subject (lucky for you, especially if you have already made it this far into this post). If you are interested in learning more, I would recommend The Acton Institute, and with all the labor disputes that seem to be occurring around the globe, it would be good to read Rerum Novarum as well.

I thought when soccer ended, there would be more time to write posts here, but, alas, it is not so. Michael has started crawling!! It looks like he may be an artist (when he is not sailing of course) as he loves paper and has a blue face this morning after finding our 3 year old's marker.

So, I leave you with the principal of subsidiarity in our house right now: "Whoever is closest to Michael is responsible for making sure there is nothing around him to put in his mouth." We are in zone defense right now, that is the only way to survive.