ABSTRACT
As a procedural principle, subsidiarity is conservative in political terms. In assessing the potential of the Catholic Church in the United States to contribute intellectually and institutionally to social policy, this chapter begins with the attention given during the 1990s to a principle of Catholic social ethics, the idea of subsidiarity. Part of the problem with Andrew Greeley's assertion is that it bypasses or is silent about the foundation and structure of the social tradition which has produced the idea of subsidiarity. Subsidiarity is a relatively recent addition to Catholic social theory. It emerged as one dimension of a broader, longer process of development encompassing the last two centuries of Catholic social teaching. Subsidiarity is designed to produce a pluralist structure of power in society; while acknowledging and endorsing the unique role of the state in society, subsidiarity seeks to engage the potential and the responsibility of other actors.
