A bigger 'big brother'.Robert K. Vischer ("All in the Family," March 23) creates the false impression of a dichotomy di·chot·o·my n. pl. di·chot·o·mies 1. Division into two usually contradictory parts or opinions: "the dichotomy of the one and the many" Louis Auchincloss. between the sacred role of the family in rearing children and the intervention of the state on the basis of individual rights. This dichotomy then becomes a dilemma between two unwholesome alternatives; but at the same time it provides fuel for debate between advocates from each side, which can only lead to ever starker lines being drawn and ever finer distinctions being defined. This situation is divisive di·vi·sive adj. Creating dissension or discord. di·vi  sive·ly adv.di·vi and misleading, and it will tend toward over-legislated and over-regulated solutions--all unnecessary. As Vischer points out, state intervention is a modern invention; but human societies have never been content to grant total autonomy to the nuclear family. Heads of nuclear families (usually, but not always fathers) were always held accountable for the exercise of their duties by members of the extended family, the clan, the tribe, or the village. Children could appeal to these local and known authorities, and these authorities could intervene if necessary. It is an aberration of the modern state that it has welcomed the industrial disruption of extended families and villages, rather than lending support to some kind of healthy community policy. And it has done this, as Vischer points out, by attaching ever greater weight to individual rights. But one need only read Jane Jacobs's The Death and Life of Great American Cities to see that this path is not a formula for healthy family life. Rather, some form of subsidiarity subsidiarity Noun the principle of taking political decisions at the lowest practical level Noun 1. subsidiarity - secondary importance subordinateness is needed, with graduated and interrelated in·ter·re·late tr. & intr.v. in·ter·re·lat·ed, in·ter·re·lat·ing, in·ter·re·lates To place in or come into mutual relationship. in spheres of authority operating from nuclear families below, through clans and communities, to the impersonal norms of the state above. This lies entirely within the rich humanist tradition of Catholic social thought, and it avoids the politicization of false dichotomies which can only feed ever more radical solutions that dissect dissect /dis·sect/ (di-sekt´) (di-sekt´) 1. to cut apart, or separate. 2. to expose structures of a cadaver for anatomical study. dis·sect v. the human family and community into unsustainable fortresses surrounded by scrupulous scru·pu·lous adj. 1. Conscientious and exact; painstaking. See Synonyms at meticulous. 2. Having scruples; principled. police. FRANK SCHWEIGERT St. Paul St. Paul as a missionary he fearlessly confronts the “perils of waters, of robbers, in the city, in the wilderness.” [N.T.: II Cor. 11:26] See : Bravery , Minn. |
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