Responsibiity of a Catholic in a Free Society

As catholic Canadians we want to be good citizens, so we look for good policies that align with our faith, that means building a country that respects the dignity and rights of everyone, one where we can have a good job, a safe pace to live, the medical care we need and a good education for us kids, and really everyone agrees these things are important, whether you are catholic or not, where we disagree is how best to achieve these common goals. In particular, what the role of government should be. After all we don't want anarchy that would be chaos, we don't want a powerful government, because then we wouldn't feel free. So as Catholics how do we understand the balance between different levels of authority? how do we know who should be responsible for what and when? The answer is a big idea from the Catholic Church that gives us a way to understand the role of government and the broader effort to build the best country for everyone. It is called the principle of subsidiarity. A lot of times we see problems and say "someone should do something about it", maybe what we need to realize is that someone could be us.That is what subsidiarity is all about. Think about it, and maybe it is time we give it a try.