Subsidiarity

"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/or industry."

Pope Pius XI

Subsidiarity is the social justice principle that presumes each of us is capable of making decisions that stretch us towards our potential.

A ‘higher authority’ may only intervene to assist us to overcome an obstacle that prevents them from advancing towards their potential.

The ‘higher authority’ must then withdraw.

Parent to child. Family to parent. Community to family. Society to community. Government to society.

The elegance of Subsidiarity and its application towards personal growth depends on two things:

Each person taking responsibility for advancing towards where we want to be, and

The higher authority only intervening when lower entity capabity is exhausted AND withdrawing afterwards.

The more we fail to take personal responsibility for our decisions and their consequences, the more higher authorities will intrude into our lives.

Once they have intruded, higher authorities almost always weaken our personal agency, meaning the higher authority has an excuse for remaining, and eventually becoming permanent and relied upon.

Each time I look to ‘the boss’ or ‘the government’ to address my personal, family, community, or society deficits, I invite the boss and the government into my decision making, and the more my decision making muscles atrophy.

We only identify our need for the help from a higher authority if we attempt to lift the weight of a decision. With each decision rep, we increase our decision muscle.

The stronger we are at making decisions, the more capacity we build to look outwards for opportunities to serve others.

By advancing towards where we want to be - we invite others to accompany us on the journey.