Conferences on the Virtues
By Fr. Bruno Cocuzzi, ocd
Number 85
Duties of Superiors and Subjects
Question
4 – The Duties of Superiors and Subjects…
The term Superiors
refers not only to those who hold and exercise highest authority within a
Society, such as Emperors, Kings, and Presidents of Republics, but those also
who share the responsibility of governing our society. It includes governors, cabinet heads, judges
and magistrates, and members of legislative bodies, etc. Subjects, of course, are the ones who
are governed.
In order for
this system to work, it is necessary that both the Superiors and
the Subjects nourish a sincere love of their Country and of their Local
Community. Superiors ought to be
distinguished for their special love of the subjects, and by a sincere
dedication to their protection and well being.
In turn, the Subjects owe loyalty, reverence and obedience to the
Superiors, as well as a contribution to defray the costs of government.
What has just
been said concerning Civil Superiors and Subjects holds true also for
Ecclesiastical Superiors and Subjects.
The former have jurisdiction in supernatural, spiritual matters with a
view to guiding the latter to the attainment of eternal life.
Since all
lawful authority on earth comes from God, such that even civil superiors rule
in the place of God (Proverbs 8:15; Romans 13:1-7), they are under a serious
obligation to govern in conformity to natural Law and Divine Positive Law. Though first and foremost their duty is to
foster and promote the temporal welfare and happiness of all the citizens,
Civil Superiors must do so in subordination to the eternal welfare of
their subjects.
Hence, civil
Superiors are obliged to:
1. Strive
to discern what constitutes the material and spiritual
welfare of the entire community, as well as the means best able to attain it,
taking into consideration the circumstances of persons, places and times.
2. Do
the utmost possible to avert evils of any kind, but
especially the evils of war, factions, hunger, contagious diseases, poverty,
and the like.
3. Foster
justice in relationships. With
regard to commutative justice, this is done by safeguarding the rights
of citizens and of lawful associations of citizens. With regard to distributive justice, this is done by fairly
distributing burdens and responsibilities, that is, showing no favoritism nor
yielding to the pressure of powerful private interests.
4. Protect
and promote the practice of Religion and decency of morals,
since these contribute most powerfully to, and guarantee, the temporal welfare
and happiness of all the members of society.
5. See
to it that there is a just and healthy economy
whereby all citizens have access to a sufficiency of those goods and resources
that are essential to satisfy basic human needs, since these are the instruments
through which the common good is achieved.
With regard to
those things which the subjects owe to their superiors:
1. Loyalty
requires that the subjects acknowledge the lawful authority of their
superiors by standing behind them and willingly submitting to that
authority. This means that subjects
must not unjustly seek to escape the jurisdiction of the lawful superior, nor
do anything unlawful to diminish his/her authority or to force him/her out of
office.
2. Reverence must be internal
as well as external, because as we said, lawful superiors share in the
excellence and authority of God Himself.
This requires that subjects refrain from both harboring and manifesting
contempt for the person or an image of the lawful superior, such as making fun
of him in any way (spoken words, deeds or writings). Without a just cause,
subjects are not to deny their superior the ordinary, external signs of
respect.
3. Obedience
extends only to what lawfully pertains to the office of governing. These include not only laws, but also
judicial decisions and administrative decrees.
The duty to obey does not extend to laws, decisions and decrees that are
clearly unjust or immoral.
With
regard to obedience, it must be said in all honesty that the mere deliberate
failure to obey a civil law is not necessarily a sin. That is because many laws are merely
penal in nature. Most penal laws
are intended to do no more than to introduce orderliness into
society. Such, for example, are the
traffic laws. To fail to stop at a stop
sign, or to fail to wear a seat belt while driving, are not of themselves
morally evil acts. But they do require
that the violator, if caught, pay the penalty or fine that is meted out as
punishment. But, because of
circumstances, violations of merely penal laws can be sinful as well,
especially when failure to observe them endangers self and others in life and
limb.
4. Contribute
to support the cost of government. Most of the time this is done by a citizen
paying his fair share of taxes. In time
of war this could require service in the military. In time of natural disasters that afflict whole regions of a
country, this could require going in person to assist the victims, if ordered
to do so by the lawful authority.
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