Day 251: Authorities in Society (2025)

eighteen ninety seven to nineteen oh four. 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 slash CIY and lastly, you can click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates.

And daily notifications because today is day two hundred fifty one. We're reading, as I said, paragraphs eighteen ninety seven to nineteen oh four. We're in a new article, article two, participation in social life. Remember, we're talking, we talked. I mean, we maybe this little review is redundant for the third time in a row, maybe even fourth time in a row.

What we talked about is human dignity and the dignity of the human individual, the human person, but now we've been talking about community and the need for community. Yesterday we kinda dived deeply, maybe dive deeply into conversion in society that society's essential. Remember, we we need to live in community. We need to live in a in a society, but that society

and conversion go hand in hand. That while human beings, individuals, live in community, That individual has to, has to, we all have to allow our hearts to be converted because the society can't convert our hearts, but our converted hearts can change our society. That's kind of a brief way to put it. Maybe I should have said that yesterday. But today we're talk we're talking about authority. And so participation in social life beginning with

this notion and the reality that we belong to an authority. Now tomorrow we'll talk about the common good. So today we're gonna note a number of times the phrase the common good. The authority that exists in societies, because societies have to have some kind of authority. This is just what it is. And it says here in paragraph

eighteen ninety seven it says by authority one means the quality by virtue of which persons or institutions make laws and give orders to men and expect obedience from them. That's that's what authority is and I really appreciate the clarity of that definition because we're talking today all about authority, specifically when it comes to participation in social life and being in a society, being in a community. And so in order to open our hearts, open our minds to this

truth about what is authority, what's the role of authority, what are the limits of authority, because authority does have limits. Let's just ask our Father and God in heaven to to bless us and to be with us right now. So we pray. Father, you are good and you are God and we love you. You are the one who has ultimate authority over all of us. You are your truth and you are reason. You are good, you're just you're merciful.

You are all powerful and all knowing, and you are God, and therefore you are the ultimate authority, to which every one of us answers. Lord God, we ask that you please help us to acknowledge you as our ultimate authority, but also we ask that you please guide those who are in authority over us. Guide those of us who have authority over others so that we can always act with justice, we can always act in truth, we can always act in right reason in our judgments and in our decisions.

Lord God, every one of us is beholden to authority and every one of us wields some kind of authority. Help us to be obedient to right authority and help us to be right authority to those who are obedient to us. 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 two hundred and fifty one. We are reading paragraphs eighteen and ninety seven to nineteen oh four.

Article two Participation in Social Life Authority. St. John the twenty third stated. Human society can be neither well ordered nor prosperous unless it has some people invested with legitimate authority to preserve its institutions and to devote themselves as far as is necessary to work and care for the good of all. By authority, one means the quality by virtue of which persons or institutions make laws and give orders to men and expect obedience from them.

Every human community needs an authority to govern it. The foundation of such authority lies in human nature. It is necessary for the unity of the state. Its role is to ensure as far as possible the common good of the society. The authority required by the moral order derives from God. Scripture says, Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.

Therefore, he who resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. The duty of obedience requires all to give due honor to authority and to treat those who are charged to exercise it with respect, and insofar as it is deserved, with gratitude and goodwill. Pope Saint Clement of Rome provides the Church's most ancient prayer for political authority.

Grant to them, Lord, health, peace, concord, and stability, so that they may exercise without offense the sovereignty that you have given them. Master, heavenly King of the Ages, you give glory, honor, and power over the things of the earth to the sons of men. Direct, Lord, their counsel, following what is pleasing and acceptable in your sight, so that by exercising with devotion and in peace and gentleness the power that you have given to them, they may find favour with you.

If authority belongs to the order established by God, the choice of the political regime and the appointment of rulers are left to the free decision of the citizens. The diversity of political regimes is morally acceptable provided they serve the legitimate good of the communities that adopt them.

Regimes whose nature is contrary to the natural law, to the public order, and to the fundamental rights of persons cannot achieve the common good of the nations on which they have been imposed. Authority does not derive its moral legitimacy from itself. It must not behave in a despotic manner, but must act for the common good as a moral force based on freedom and a sense of responsibility. As St. Thomas Aquinas stated.

A human law has the character of law to the extent that it accords with right reason, and thus derives from the eternal law. Insofar as it falls short of right reason, it is said to be an unjust law, and thus has not so much the nature of law as a kind of violence. Authority is exercised legitimately only when it seeks the common good of the group concerned and if it employs morally licit means to attain it.

If rulers were to enact unjust laws or take measures contrary to the moral order, such arrangements would not be binding in conscience. In such a case, authority breaks down completely and results in shameful abuse. It is preferable that each power be balanced by other powers and by other spheres of responsibility which keep it within proper bounds. This is the principle of the rule of law, in which the law is sovereign and not the arbitrary will of men.

All right, that's it. Paragraphs eighteen ninety seven to nineteen oh four. Authority. And I know I I know that in so many ways. We talked about this before when when it comes to the role of the church, but here is the role of essentially the state, or here's the role of the the society in which we live.

that we can kind of have a resistance to authority, which makes sense because we've all experienced authority that has been unjust. We've all experienced authority that has kind of wielded its power over us in an unjust way. Also, also, let's face it. We all even if we have a just authority, even if we have uh and they're wielding their their authority well.

When we have to obey, we don't want to obey. And so I understand that this topic for today can be one in which we just kind of naturally have this resistance. But let's Let's let's launch into this. We realize that there is a necessity for authority. Paragraph 1897 lays it out really clearly for us. It says human society can be neither well ordered nor prosperous.

unless it has some people invested with legitimate authority to preserve its institutions and to devote themselves as far as is necessary to work and care for the good of all. So I mean that is that is kind of obvious, but at the same time, Again, if I just hear the word authority, I can resist it. I can kind of say I can bristle at this. And yeah.

We recognize human society, the way in which we live, anarchy doesn't work. That's that's all we have to say. Human society can be neither well ordered nor prosperous unless it has some people invested with legitimate authority to preserve its institutions. Right. That's that's part of this. This is to hold it together. And and not only hold it together, but to enforce.

the institutions, right? There's laws here, and the authority has to not only have the ability to create just laws, but also the ability to enforce just laws. And goes on to say, and to devote themselves as far as is necessary to work and care for the good of all. Right. So there's a limit there too. Again, when it comes to authority, when it comes to society, when it comes to governance,

There is legitimate power, but there's also legitimate limit. There's a limit to that power. It goes on to say, we already highlighted this line, but at the very beginning, by authority, one means what? Okay. It's the quality by virtue of which persons or institutions Make laws, and give orders to men and expect obedience from them.

That's that's all. That's it. It's not it it's not anything more than that and probably isn't anything less than that, because we realize that every human community needs an authority to govern it. And that just is I don't want to I don't want to just say a tautology, right? It's tautology is when you define a something by the thing same thing. If you say like love is love.

That's not a definition, that's just a tautology. So if I say authority is necessary because authority is necessary, that's also a tautology. So I don't mean I mean to just say that. And yet I would imagine that as we're listening today, we would recognize that yes.

There is a natural hierarchy in just any, any kind of society. particularly in human societies. Now we have to make sure that that hierarchy is based off of legitimate things, not just based off of power. When hierarchy is based off of mere power, then you don't know. It could be good. But it might be accidentally good, right? If a hierarchy, though, is based off of truth. Okay, now we're getting closer. If hierarchy is based off of competence.

Like, okay, there's and competent in in discovering the truth, competent in working with others, competent in preserving those institutions and helping that society oriented towards the common good. No, that would be healthier kind of authority, right?

We have to recognize that authority, paragraph eighteen ninety nine says this, authority required by the moral order derives from God. Now scripture says this. First Peter as well as Saint Paul's letter to the Romans says let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Now that's again not necessarily God's perfect will that will be along God's permissive will in many cases.

And yet at the same time, this is what God has allowed. This is the authority that God has given to us. And so, because of that, the duty of obedience, this is paragraph 1900. The duty of obedience requires all to give due honor to authority and to treat those who are charged to exercise it with respect, insofar as it is deserved with gratitude and goodwill. We recognize that

That yes, every human being deserves our respect just because they have human dignity, right? There's a next level where certain human beings will deserve our respect not because of their character, but because of their role in our lives. And so I recognize that there are there are some parents. That yes, because

This is Joe and this is June. This is mom and dad. That Joe deserves respect because he's human being and June deserves respect because she's a human being. If Joe and June are mom and dad or dad and mom, then also their role is deserve some kind of degree of respect. Now, Joe and June can be horrible people, and so I don't need to respect them in their character. But insofar as they are exercising, legitimately exercising the role as father and mother, then they are

They deserve my obedience. The same thing is true for my mayor, the same thing is true for our governor, depending where you live, your prime minister or your president. That every human being as an individual deserves our respect, just to human dignity, and those roles that they have over us.

and that authority they have over us, because of the virtue of the roles, the roles deserve that respect. Now, they might be horrible people, and so I don't necessarily need to respect their character. And I don't necessarily need to respect all of their decisions, because as the catechism goes on to say,

Paragraph nineteen oh two Authority does not derive its moral legitimacy from itself. It doesn't mean that just because the someone's in authority over another that They're always right. So someone's parent.

Just because someone could say, Well, I'm the father or I'm the mother doesn't mean that every one of their decisions is legitimate. Goes on to say nineteen oh two, it must not behave in a despotic manner, but must act for the common good as a moral force based on freedom and and a sense of responsibility.

I think what's really, really well balanced, the catechism gives us this picture of saying, Yes, there are roles that are necessary. Those roles of authority over us in family life, those roles and authority over us in civil life or community life. They deserve our respect and we owe them obedience. At the same time Those who are exercising authority, they must act for the common good.

They must not behave in a despotic manner. In fact, Saint Thomas Aquinas, I love this extended quote here in paragraph nineteen oh two, where he says, A human law has the character of law To the extent that it accords with right reason, and thus derives from the eternal law. Okay, so keep that in mind: that if a human law goes against right reason,

Then it's no law at all. In fact, goes on to say, insofar as it falls short of right reason, it is said to be an unjust law, and thus has not so much the nature of law as a kind of violence. And that's so important for us. Okay, here on one hand, the church is acknowledging the role and the legitimate authority of authority over us and that we again, as we said, owe legitimate authority, obedience at the same time.

It is the duty of those in legitimate authority to make legitimate laws. And if they don't, this is not a law, but it's a kind of violence. If it doesn't accord with right reason, it is an unjust law. And I I think this is so wise. The church has the paradox, right? The the both and of the Catholic Church is We owe our authority obedience at the same time, only as in so much as it is legitimate authority. Paragraph nineteen oh three goes on to say.

Authority is exercised legitimately only when it seeks the common good of the group concerned and if it employs morally illicit means to attain it. This is hm this is if you were like what what's the criteria for whether an authority is legitimate or not? Well, A

only it's exercised legitimately when it seeks the common good of the group concerned. So if this is, you know, the despot, right? This is the tyrant. Or this is even even the oligarchy who just serves themselves. Or they serve, you know, when it doesn't serve the common good. And if

it employs morally illicit means to attain this, then that is no longer authority exercised legitimately. He goes on to say, if rulers were to enact unjust laws, Or take measures contrary to the moral order, such arrangements would not be binding in conscience.

And so that would mean that if this is an unjust law, remember an unjust law is no law at all. An unjust law does not need to be followed. Even if this is issued by legitimate authority, it would be legitimate authority acting illegitimately. So keep that in mind. An unjust law would go against right reason, unjust law could go against the common good, and unjust law could employ morally illicit means to attain this.

In such a case, authority breaks down completely and results in shameful abuse. That's all it is. So, therefore, what we need is paragraph 1904. This is the conclusion. It is preferable that each power be balanced by other powers. By other spheres of responsibility which keep it within proper bounds. You know, the catechism wasn't written by a bunch of Americans, and yet.

I am grateful that I get to live in the United States of America because we have these three branches of government, which are meant to do what? They're meant to provide checks and balances on each other. And so here's what paragraph 1904 says. It's preferable that each power be balanced by other powers.

And by other spheres of responsibility, which keep it in the proper bounds. So we have the legislative branch, you have the judicial branch, you have the executive branch. And all three of those are meant to keep each other in checks and balances. Cause if it's true, what Lord Acton said, the power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, maybe that's true. If it is true, then we recognize, okay, maybe no one should be given absolute power.

Goes on to say nineteen oh four, this is the principle of the rule of law, in which law is sovereign and not the arbitrary will of men. So important. What do I mean by that? What does the catechism mean by that? What it means is truly just laws are in accord with right reason and not simply the dictates of the person in power.

How does that make sense? So if there's a person who has authority, their authority extends over others inasmuch as the laws that they enact are in accordance with right reason, with the common good. and have legitimate and licit means to that end. They are not based on their own will to power. Something is not good or true simply because the person with power declares it so. Those laws are not true or good because the person in power declares it so.

Those laws are true or good to the degree that they accord with right reason, are oriented towards the common good And there's a morally licit means to achieve those ends. Does that make sense? Hopefully it makes sense because it just

We we we have to be wise Catholics, right? We have to this is not a policy thing. This is really important, I think, as we as we continue to talk about community and you know, in a couple days we'll talk about salvation, which is a whole nother issue. But when we talk about community. There's something really, really powerful that the church is setting before us principles, not policies. And so when it comes to being Catholics, yeah, we can we can disagree on policy.

But we all agree on principle. So we can disagree on policy. Yeah, absolutely. We can be this political party or that political party. We can think that this is the best way to move forward economically or this is the best way to move forward socially or whatever the thing is.

But we must be united on principles. And that's what we're talking about here. We're not talking policy. We're simply talking principle. Now tomorrow we'll talk more and more about the common good. So what is the common good? If we said that authority is exercised legitimately as long as it

Provides for the common good. What is the common good? Well, camper, stick around tomorrow and you will find out. I am praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.