Stephen White on Balancing Aspects of Catholic Social Teaching for the Common Good

"Catholics self-styled as 'progressive' have enjoyed a virtual monopoly on the more communal terms in Catholic social teaching: common good, solidarity, social justice, and preferential option for the poor. These principles are integral to a fully Catholic understanding of society and the role of the state. Meanwhile, Catholics of a more conservative bent have emphasized other aspects of the Church’s social doctrine: subsidiarity, the dignity of the individual, and the creative power of markets.

"While these latter, personalist principles are essential to a genuine Catholic social teaching, without the communitarian dimension, the view from the Right tends to devolve into a quasi-libertarian and, often, overtly ideological imitation of Church teaching. At the same time, the Left's approach underemphasizes subsidiarity and the rights of mediating institutions; its old statist habits tend to subsume everything under the crushing embrace of government."

In a recent commentary, Stephen P. White (coordinator of the Tertio Millennio Seminar on the Free Society in the Catholic Studies Program at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C.) reflects on different elements of Catholic social teaching and how they must work together, balancing the common good with the dignity and proper autonomy of the individual person. He also considers the difficulties of achieving such a balance in political conversation.

To access Mr. White's complete post, please visit:

The Catholic Thing: Catholic Conservatives and the Common Good (26 MAY 11)