Bogoslovska smotra, Vol. 79 No. 1, 2009.
Izvorni znanstveni članak
Possibilities of Subsidiarity in Church Life
Stjepan Baloban
orcid.org/0000-0002-3138-3222
; Katolički bogoslovni fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Sažetak
Catholic social thought (Pope Pius XI in Quadragesimo anno, 1931) disclosed subsidiarity as a principle that is applicable to »social life at all levels«. Through the social teachings of the Church, the principle of subsidiarity entered into the way of thinking and a way of organising European society, at least as an ideal. Time shows that the notion and principle of subsidiarity is gaining a growing significance in European society.
It is less known that there are some disputes over the application of the principle of subsidiarity in the Church. In this article, the author deals with precisely this topic, still insufficiently discussed.
The first point, »Social teachings of the Church unclose subsidiarity«, offers an answer to the question of how subsidiarity came to be included in the social teachings of the Church which, due to confidentiality, was not known until Johannes Schasching (1994) spoke about it based on his investigations of documents from the Vatican Secret Archives. This is particularly interesting for Croatian speaking regions and offers an historical framework that helps to comprehend the second point of the article, »Does Subsidiarity refer to the life of the Church!«. Until now there has been scarcely any discussion on this topic in Croatia. The author starts from the »classical text of the Magistery«, i.e. Pope Pius XII speech to newly appointed cardinals (20 February 1946) in which he claims that subsidiarity refers to the »life of the Church without bringing any harm to her hierarchical structure«. After that, the author outlines briefly the history of »forgetting« this topic and its revival at the Second Extraordinary Synod of Bishops in Rome in 1985. Based on two classic authors - Oswald von Nell-Breuning and Walter Kasper - the author points out that the application of subsidiarity in Church life is possible.
The third point, »Possible areas of applying the principle of subsidiarity in Church life« shows that, on the one hand, it is possible to apply subsidiarity in various areas, which is something the two mentioned authors deal with. On the other hand, not only is this application analyzed but there is very little discussion of it in recent times. In Croatia this emerges as a completely new topic. The author concludes that the arguments presented by Nell-Breuning and Kasper are convincing and that more attention should be paid in the future to applying subsidiarity in Church life regardless of this being a sensitive topic in the Church and theology.
In order to ensure an efficient debate of this topic in Croatia, it is important to know the historical context of the inclusion of the principle of subsidiarity in the social teachings of the Church as well as the conflicts that surround the application of subsidiarity in the Church.
Ključne riječi
subsidiarity; application of subsidiarity in the Church; hierarchical structure; area of jurisdiction; respect of freedom and human dignity; share of Christifideles
Hrčak ID:
35260
URI
Datum izdavanja:
18.3.2009.
Posjeta: 3.167 *