On the Dignity of Society: Catholic Social Teaching and Natural Law
Edited by Russell Hittinger and Scott J. Roniger (Catholic University of America Press, $52, 490 pages)
Russell Hittinger and Scott Roniger have edited a compendium of Hittinger’s previously published articles on Catholic social teaching and natural law that is both scholarly and accessible. Collectively, the essays show that human dignity is best protected when there is a proper relationship between the “three necessary societies” of family, polity, and Church. Hittinger shows that each naturally – that is, not made by human will – has a distinctive authority and end. Modern man, by contrast, views them as all man-made and the civil authorities have evolved to a point in which it disregards the authorities of these other institutions (family, Church). Hittinger makes an essential point about this principle of subsidiarity, namely that contrary to the misunderstanding that things should be done at the lowest possible level to the individual – that is, family should attend to what it can, then local governments and charities, and then national governments – subsidiarity means that things are done at the proper level. There is a “unity of order” as Hittinger explains, and when the various societies are properly ordered – the Dignity of Society – it reinforces the dignity of the individual. Parental rights trump state whims because parents have a natural desire to do good for their children.
Hittinger is a philosopher but he is an equally adept historian. He places the origin of Catholic social teaching not with Leo XIII and Rerum Novarum but the French Revolution and the totalizing effects of its aftermath, and the Church’s attempt to delineate the legitimate roles of church and state. Several popes struggled to give a choate instruction on social doctrine until Pope Leo revolutionized the responsibilities of lay people by applying Thomist philosophy to the various societies and their relationships to each other. The second half of On the Dignity of Society Hittinger addresses natural law, examining in-depth the writings of Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI. It could be treated as a separate book. Natural Law teaching is often coded as “Catholic” and Hittinger explains that Benedict came to see it as a way to improve inter-religious dialogue where there are shared or similar concerns.
