← The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
Day 249: The Person in Society (2025)
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Man is made for communion. God created man in his triune image, making us naturally social and communal beings. We learn that various societies weave us together: the family, the state, our professions, and recreational activities, among others. Fr. Mike explains how the Church promotes the principle of subsidiarity to protect the goodness of the various levels of society as each level pursues the common good. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 1877-1885.
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Hi, my name is Fr. Mike Schmitz and you're listening to the Catechism in a Year podcast where we encounter God's plan of sheer goodness for us revealed in Scripture and passed down through the tradition of the Catholic faith. The Catechism in a Year is brought to you by ascension. In 365 days, we'll read through the Catechism of the Catholic Church, discovering our identity in God's family as we journey together toward our heavenly home. This is day 249. We are reading paragraphs 1877-1885. As always, I am using the Ascension edition of the Catechism, which includes the Foundations of Faith approach. But you can follow along with any recent version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. You can also download your own Catechism in a Year Reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com ciy and you can click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications. Today is day 249. We are reading chapter two. So we've been on this pillar of three for quite a while now. It's been a number of days talking about human dignity today. And for the next number of days, we're going to talk about community. And this is, I think this is pretty remarkable because we're kind of taking a step. I don't have say we're taking a step back, but we're taking a kind of a macro perspective. You know, I think when we look at human person, human dignity, that comes along with the human person. We have freedom. We need to develop our virtues. That's one thing I think we're. I think I could be wrong. Maybe it's just me. I think that as Christians, as Catholics, we're like, yeah, that makes a ton of sense. The human person, we need to grow, we need to develop. We need to use our freedom for good, right? That freedom is the ability, the power to do what I ought. And so I develop virtues. But we are also called to be living in community. As human beings, we're made for community. And this is paragraph 1879 says the human person needs to live in society. Goes on to say, society is not for him an extraneous addition, but a requirement of his nature. So this is, this is necessary for us to live in community. And we're going to talk about that again for the next number of days before we talk about salvation. And I just want to kind of set the stage for us. So we're talking today about the person in society. We're going to go on to participation in social life in the next couple days. And like looking at authority and the common good, we're going to look at, do I have a responsibility to participate in governance? Do I have a responsibility to participate in the way that my society is run? And the answer is yes. We're looking at social justice. As we continue to look at this dimension of the fact that we're called to live in community, we're going to look at equality and differences. We're going to look at human solidarity, that we're all connected. And then we're going to start talking in chapter three about God's salvation. And I believe, I just think this is cool because the way in which the catechism has laid this out, the way the church has laid this out for us is so essential. We started with looking at human dignity, right? The human person. We're also looking at now the human community, and then we're looking at salvation. Why? Because I think in many reasons, for many reasons, but one is because God saves each one of us as individuals, but he saves us in community as well, right? So we have a personal relationship with God, but that personal relationship means also we're brought into relationship with other people. And it is just so remarkable. I think the beautiful. Does that make sense? So we have the individual, which is super important. We have community, which is necessary for the individual. Therefore, salvation is going to be individual, but also communal. And I just. I marvel at the brilliance. And so as we launch into today, let's. Let's take a moment and just ask the Lord to bless this time, to ask the Lord to open our minds and open our hearts to what it is he wants to reveal to us about the human community today. So we pray, Father in heaven, we thank you, we give you praise. And we ask that you please. We ask that you please help us to not only acknowledge but also rejoice in the fact that you've made us communal beings. You made us like yourself. And Lord, you are. You are a community of persons. You are a communion of persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And you are a unity. And you are a unity of love. You are a trinity of love. And we ask that you please help us to be an image of that love. Help us to be an image of you in this world, with each other. We make this prayer in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. It is day 249. We are reading paragraphs 1877-1885 Chapter 2 the Human Community the vocation of humanity is to show forth the image of God and to be transformed into the image of the Father's only Son. This vocation takes a personal form since each of us is called to enter into divine beatitude. It also concerns the human community as a whole. Article 1. The person and Society the communal character of the human Vocation all men are called to the same end, God Himself. There is a certain resemblance between the unity of the divine persons and the fraternity that men are to establish among themselves in truth and love. Love of neighbor is inseparable from love of God. The human person needs to live in society. Society is not for him an extraneous addition, but a requirement of his nature. Through the exchange with others, mutual service, and dialogue with his brethren, man develops his potential. He thus responds to his vocation. A society is a group of persons bound together organically by a principle of unity that goes beyond each one of them as an assembly that is at once visible and spiritual. A society endures through time. It gathers up the past and prepares for the future by means of society. Each man is established as an heir and receives certain talents that enrich his identity and whose fruits he must develop. He rightly owes loyalty to the communities of which he is a part and respect to those in authority who have charge of the common good. Each community is defined by its purpose and consequently obeys specific rules. But the human person is and ought to be the principal, the subject, and the end of all social institutions. Certain societies, such as the family and the state, correspond more directly to the nature of man. They are necessary to him to promote the participation of the greatest number in the life of a society. The creation of voluntary associations and institutions must be encouraged on both national and international levels, levels which relate to economic and social goals, to cultural and recreational activities, to sport, to various professions, and to political affairs. This socialization also expresses the natural tendency for human beings to associate with one another for the sake of attaining objectives that exceed individual capacities. It develops the qualities of the person, especially the sense of initiative and responsibility, and helps guarantee his rights. Socialization also presents dangers. Excessive intervention by the state can threaten personal freedom and initiative. The teaching of the Church has elaborated the principle of subsidiarity, according to which a community of a higher order should not interfere with the internal life of a community of a lower order, depriving the latter of its functions, but rather should support it in case of need and help to coordinate its activity with the activities of the rest of society, always with a view to the common good. God has not willed to reserve to Himself all exercise of power. He entrusts to every creature the functions it is capable of performing according to the capacities of its own nature. This mode of governance ought to be followed in social life. The way God acts in governing the world, which bears witness to such great regard for human freedom, should inspire the wisdom of those who govern human communities. They should behave as ministers of divine providence. The principle of subsidiarity is opposed to all forms of collectivism. It sets limits for state intervention. It aims at harmonizing the relationships between individuals and societies. It tends toward the establishment of true international order. All right, and there we have it. Paragraphs 1877-1885. This is. I don't know about you, but this is fascinating to me. Really incredible. Okay, let's start off. Why is it fascinating? Paragraph 1877 makes it so clear. What's our vocation? The vocation of humanity, all of us, is to show forth the image of God and be transformed into the image of the Father's only Son. That is your vocation. That's my vocation. That's the reason why we exist is to reveal. To show forth the image of God and be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ on this earth. Okay, now going on. This vocation takes a personal form. Since each of us is called to enter into the divine beatitude. We just talked about that, right? Human dignity. It's very personal. We have the freedom to choose. We are called to choose love. We are called to choose to be that. Respond to God's grace and be the image of God in the world. To become. Become like the sun more and more at the same time. As it says here. This is the setup for the whole rest of the next couple days. At the same time, it also concerns the human community as a whole. And so. Got it. Roger that. Because individuals. Yes, we're individuals with great dignity. It can't be taken away. That's not given to us by our community. It's not given to us by each other. That's not given to us even by ourselves. It's given to us directly by God. We have an innate dignity. At the same time, remember, you and I are made in the image and likeness of God. And what is the image of God? The image of God is. He is an eternal exchange of love. He is a community, a communion of persons. And so because God himself is a communion of persons, and because you and I are made in God's image, and likeness. That means we must live in fraternity, we must live in society. We must live in relationship with others. Does that make sense? That's why it says in paragraph 1879, which is, I think, so powerful. The human person needs to live in society. Society is not for him an extraneous addition, but a requirement of his nature. Now, on the most basic level, you probably have heard of the stories of back in the day, man. Was it, I think, 150, 200 years ago? It was not too long ago, but there were some folks who had. I think they came to the. To the United States. I think they came across the. Across the pond, you know, from. From England, from Europe. And they had this idea about the. The penal system, right, the prison system. And they said, you know, there's a lot of violence in prisons. What if we just did this? What if we just protected prisoners from each other by putting them in solitary confinement? I think that was invented here in the United States, but it might have been somewhere else. They had the idea. And the idea behind solitary confinement was not extra punishment. The idea behind solitary confinement was this is protection. That's it. We just have cells, and everyone just gets to live in their cell. And they're not going to hurt each other and they're going to be kept away from society. It was not intended, as far as I've read, not intended to be extra punishment. But they realized that when people lived in solitary confinement, they went crazy. They lost grip on reality. Why? Well, for many reasons. But one of those reasons being, I think the core reason being, is that human beings, we need each other, that we need to live in some kind of relationship with each other on a regular basis. And goes on to say in paragraph 1879, through the exchange with others, mutual service, dialogue with his brethren, man develops his potential. He thus responds to his vocation. We actually, you know, yes, there have been a history of hermits, you know, men and women who have gone off into the wilderness, into the desert, and they've lived in isolation. But that's not the rule. That is the great, great extreme exception. That hermit life is not the rule. It is the great exception. And even hermits, the hermits. I've only known one hermit in my life. That hermit, he lives alone, but he lives in relationship with others. I mean, I am his spiritual directee. He has a bunch of other spiritual directees. He is a spiritual director. He lives in relationship, even if he lives in isolation. Does that make sense? And so, yeah, we need each other. Now, going on in paragraph 1880, which is good because we're extending the terms. It says a society is a group of persons bound together organically by a principle of unity that goes beyond each one of them. I think this is really important now, talking about a society. We're bound together organically. This is not forced from the outside, this is not manufactured. But we're bound together organically by a principle of unity that goes beyond each of them. So there's an individual right, the dignity of the individual. But we're united by something both interiorly that goes beyond us, if that makes sense. I just think this is remarkable because it goes on to say, as an assembly that is at once visible and spiritual. You can see the gathering. But also there's something bigger here. A society endures through time. It gathers up the past and prepares for the future by means of society. Each man, like each individual right, is established as an heir and receives certain talents that enrich his identity and whose fruits he must develop. So think about the fact that, you know, family is the core of this whole thing. So as members of a family, we are an heir. Like we inherit something from those who have gone before us. We receive certain talents, right? We receive certain, certain gifts. Now, talents here is putting quotation marks. So it doesn't mean just like talents like you can sing or you can dance. It means it's reference to that gospel parable about the talents, right? They're. Each person is given a certain number of talents and what do they do with those? So each of us is established as an heir and receives certain talents that enrich our identity and whose fruit we must develop. And so we owe loyalty to the communities of which we are a part and respect to those in authority who have charge of the common good. That is a challenge, I think, in a very hyper individualistic society like maybe the one in which many of us live. It says here we rightly. It says he rightly, but I'll just make it personal. We rightly owe loyalty to the communities of which we are a part. We owe loyalty to the communities of which we are a part. That is remarkable. That's a big claim. Especially again, maybe, generally speaking, over the course of the last couple thousand years, that's not a big claim. But for those of us, as I said, who live in a hyper individualistic society, that's a challenge. It goes on to say, and respect to those in authority who have charge of the common good. So we owe loyalty to our community and respect to those in authority who have charge of the common good. And that we're going to be. We're going to be challenged by that over the next couple of days, which I think is a really great, great challenge. So, 1882, certain societies, such as the family and the state, correspond more directly to the nature of man. They are necessary to him. And this is so important. The family is the core. The family is the building block of society. We've talked about this many times before. I used to think that the individual was the building block of society because, like, yeah, the individual human dignity. That's wonderful. Human dignity is 100% real. The individual is greater than any society. Yes. And yet society is not a bunch of individuals. Society is individuals who have united to form something. And the first thing human beings form, first thing individuals form that replicates itself, that builds beyond itself, is family is a mother and a father with child or children. That is, that is it. And that's the definition of family, right? A mother and a father with child or children. That is the only definition of family that is actually workable and usable across time. Now, we can say in this one snapshot of moment in our history, like, oh, there's all definitions of family. Maybe, maybe. But the only definition that works across time is family as a mother and a father with child or children. That is all. That is it. Now, at the same time, we need to have society, we need to have family. We need to have the state. Paragraph 1882 states, this socialization expresses the natural tendency for human beings to associate with one another for the sake of attaining objectives that exceed individual capacities. The family allows us to do what we couldn't do on our own. The state allows us to do what we couldn't do on our own. This is so, so good. I don't know how to pave roads. And the state, the state can do that, right? I don't know how to make a chair. And we live in community, we live in society. And so the people around me, they know how to do that. I know how to, you know, grow crops, and I can do that. See, I'm not saying I actually know how to grow crops, but we can see how belonging to a society, the socialization allows us to attain objectives that exceed individual capacities. It develops the qualities of the person, especially the sense of initiative and responsibility, and helps guarantee his rights. This is the goodness of society. This is the goodness of socialization. At the same time, the church then says, socialization or society also presents dangers. Excessive intervention by the state can threaten personal freedom and initiative. Okay, so let's look at this, because this is completely true, he goes, the church highlights something called the principle of subsidiarity, which basically it says this. Technically speaking, a community of the higher order should not interfere in the internal life of a community of a lower order, depriving the latter of its functions, but rather should support it in case of need and help to coordinate its activities with the activities of the rest of society, always with a view to the common good. What's it mean? It means essentially, if a thing can be done at a more local level, it should be left to that local level to do that thing, right? So if someone's in need and the family, their family can take care of them, then their family should take care of them. Like who should raise children? Well, at the most local level, right? The principal subsidiary says that the family should raise the child. If that family is incapable of raising that child, then the next level would be okay. How about extended family, right? Aunts, uncles, cousins. If they're incapable of doing it, then it extends to the next level, which might be the neighborhood, right? The village kind of a situation. If that's incapable, then it goes to the next level. So it doesn't immediately go to. Let's call the federal government, right? It doesn't immediately say, this person's in need. Let's call the president. It says, we have a person in need in our society. Can their family care for them? If not okay, can this local community care for them? If not okay, Then you see how that goes. That's the principle of subsidiarity. If a situation, if a problem, if a person can be helped and assisted at the most local level, then it should be the job at the local level. And the higher levels should not subvert the authority of that local level. Does that make sense? As long as they can do their thing. And I love this. There's an explanation of why this is in paragraph 1884. It says God is not willed to reserve to himself all exercise of power, right? God can do all of it. If God wanted to, he can make sure that down to the last detail, he is in complete control. But he is not in complete control in the way that we can imagine. He entrusts to every creature the functions it's capable of performing according to the capacities of its own nature. God allows us to be free. He allows us to choose. This is the way God acts in governing the world. He gives great, great power to human freedom. He has great regard for human freedom. And the catechism says that should inspire wisdom for those who are governing human communities is that we should also have that respect for human freedom. And the last thing is in paragraph 1885, the principle of subsidiarity is opposed to all forms of collectivism. It sets limits for state intervention. And that's a good thing to note because there are going to be some forms of government that the church is going to talk about here in the Catechism. There are some forms of government that are absolutely prohibited. We're opposed to all forms of collectivism. Things like communism, things like socialism. Those are prohibited. And Catholics may not advocate for those because it subverts the human dignity that belongs to every individual and goes against the principle of subsidiarity. More on that later. But today, wow. We just got to jump in today to this chapter two, Human community and begin to realize. Begin to hear about. Okay, yes, we have. Human nature has great dignity. Individuals have great dignity. The individual will outlast any society. At the same time, we also need our societies. And it's a. It's not just want. It's not just a good idea. It is necessary. That's what we'll be talking about in the days to follow you guys. I'm telling you, I'm excited about this. This is going to be a great challenge for a lot of us. And I'm praying for you. Please pray for me. My name's Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.