ABSTRACT
Authentic pro-family policy provides a legal and financial framework for social health and renewal. The flesh, blood, and spirit of a culture animated by the natural family ideal comes from those young persons ready to commit themselves to this vision of life. In addition, the policy prescriptions rest on the closely related principles of federalism and subsidiarity. Federalism dictates that political power should be divided between a central authority and smaller political units, such as provinces, states, cities, and townships. This division of powers marks each entity as both co-ordinate with and independent of the others, so that no one authority can claim the same level of power as found in a unitary state. Subsidiarity has received fullest expression in Catholic social teaching. The increasing complexity and intrusiveness of the law and the increasing fragility of family relations argue strongly for a mechanism that maintains the core unit of society.
