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Christian Social Order

1. The Christian Social Order rests upon the natural law implanted in every man and expressed objectively in God's Ten Commandments. In addition it recognises the obligation to the one and only religion, instituted by God, the Catholic Church with its Deposit of Faith and its treasure of grace; for indeed every since the fall of Adam and Eve, the supernatural order of salvation is binding absolutely upon each single human being, and morally binding upon society for it to attain its goal, the common good, even just in the natural order.

2. Power in the state and in society has for its origin not the people, but God. (Rom. XIII, I). Consequently, when the people vote, they are merely determining who shall rule, they are not bestowing on their rulers any authority nor may they remove their rulers from authority whenever they like.Moreover, there are legitimate forms of government not based on any popular vote, for instance a hereditary monarchy.

3. Does today's principle of "One man, one vote", truely correspond to the natural order? A family father normally has more sense of responsibility and also a deeper insight into his society's well-being than even a grown-up son; a businessman with a thousand employees carries more responsibility than his latest apprentice. Would not a right to vote based on heads of families produce for the family - which is society's basic cell - a quite different situation?

4. In addition, one may well ask whether political parties really contribute to the people's welfare, and not rather to their division. Could not the place of political parties be taken by those Christian men distinquished by their experience and moral maturity, by their sense of justice and their concern for the common good?

5. Excessive centralisation leads to an inflated civil service with a multitude of offices, countless forms to fill in and, above all, impersonal authority. A federal system of decentralisation, intermediate social groups, the principle of subsidiarity delegating downwards, and above all personal responsibility, correspond far better to human nature and so to the will of God. The latest outgrowth of centralism is internationalism swallowing up independent peoples and cultures.

6. A Christian Social Order grants, of course, civil recognition to marriages celebrated in Church, whereas it gives no recognition to civil divorce. the indissolubility of marriage is even one of its basic pillars. Thus it declares war on unmarried couples living together as on relations prior to or outside of marriage. It forbids the sale of contraceptives.

7. Likewise it bans blasphemy, homosexuality and pornography from public life; it punishes abortion and proscrbers both euthanasia and drugs. It also closes masonic lodges and forbids secret societies.

8. Since there is only one true religion instituted by God, Christian society forbids false religions and cults, or at most tolerates them according to the principles of prudence, granting them no natural right to exist. The Christian state does all it can to further the Church's work, protecting and defending the Church, because without supernatural faith and grace it is, practically speaking, impossible to obtain the temporal welfare of society.

9. In what does society's welfare or common good consist? Certainly not in material well-being alone, but primarily in the virtous life of the citizens, in the tranquillity which is the essence of peace, whether inward or outward.

10. The Christian State protects and promotes the family, especially the large family; it lends its support to the schooling and education which are in the first place the concern of parents and the Church; it encourages private enterprise and property which ensure for man true room for liberty, and shilds him from being dangerously dependent.

11. Good must be called by its name, as must evil; virtue is to be praised and rewarded, sin and vice to be punished. Punishment has a primarily vindictive character, to restore an order which has been upset. It contains also within it a medicinal aspect, seeking to make the criminal better, to convert him. For this purpose imprisonment must last a certain length of time and, more important, be accompanied by serious pastoral care with lectures, spiritual exercises, interviews, and frequent access to Confession.

12. Capital punishment for severe crimes (murder, drug-dealing) is vindictive to nature, but prison chaplains testify that it brings many criminals to repent. In addition it is an important deterrent.

13. Away with the tyranny of High Finance and the big banks! Money is and remains no more than a means of exchange; it is neither an end in itself nor is it by itself fruitful. That is why the Church has at all times forbidden speculation.

14. To overcome trade unions and strikes polarising employers and employees, it would be wise to form guilds, that is to say, groups bringing together employers and employees within the same trade to safeguard their common interests.

15. Employers are always fathers of their workmen. They must not only pay them a just wage but also take moral and even spiritual responsibility for them. So they must care for their workmen's families, and give them a good example of attending Mass and receiving the Sacraments. Would it not also be reasonable for a Christian employer, at the start of work in the morning, to gather together with his employees before a crucifix, or an image of the Sacred Heart, to offer to God the coming day's toil, and to call down His blessing on their labours?

16. Agriculture is the basis of any nation's life. Amongst other problems, unbalanced subsidies granted year after year have led to such over-production that now subsidies are being paid to leave the earth fallow. This promotion of infertility is unique in the history of mankind, and it is altogether opposed to God's command: "Increase and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it." (Gen. 1:25). So an interesting parallel can be drawn between government promotion of the earth's infertility and government destruction of the family farm and to the formation of agricultural factories on the model of the communist collective farms.

17. A people with no will to defend their country or its inhabitants, frontiers or culture, especially to defend its faith or the Kingdom of God, is in the process of dissolution. Between the missionary and the soldier there is a close connection; the first proclaims the faith and builds up God's Kingdom, the second defends both against enemies at home and abroad. The soldier's profession is therefore an honourable one; we find numerous Saints who were soldiers, e.g. St. Sebastian, the Theban Legion, etc.

18. To a Christian Social Order belongs in particular, love of the earth, love of nature, love of one's people, love of work, love of one's homeland with its customs and traditions. The up-rooting of men, the flight from the land and into the big cities with their high-rise apartments where the children have no room to play and no contact with God's creation, are not a blessing but a curse.

(Source: Society of Saint Pius X's Newsletter, December 1993)

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