Magliano not quite right

Tony Magliano (CR, Dec. 10) makes a plea for Catholics to get off the sidelines of the health care debate. He frames it as a “life-and death struggle”. Life, I presume, is the good that will come from its passage; death is the abortion and end of life provisions currently within it. He states that Catholic social teaching mandates that the church support universal health care. He insists that because millions of Americans and non-Americans cannot afford health care that the church is obligated to support the current mess now before Congress.

He rather blatantly fumbles on the principal of subsidiarity, stating that higher levels of government “must” take action and do what individuals cannot. This is not an accurate statement. The Catechism of the Church, 1883, actually warns against excessive socialization of a community. It further reads subsidiarity according to which “a community of 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 … always with a view to the common good.”

Therein lies the real debate on health care in America. All of the current proposals in congress will destroy individual responsibility and initiative by creating a one size fits all big government solution. Catholics need to get off the sidelines. We need to stop letting Tony Magliano and the social justice crowd from leading us down the path of destruction.

Catholic Review

The Catholic Review is the official publication of the Archdiocese of Baltimore.