Talk Radio for Catholic Life. Powered by you. Listener supported. Welcome to the relevant radio spring pledge drive. Give hope. Buenos days and much enchiladas. Welcome back to the Patrick Madrid Show. Thank you for listening. And we'll begin in prayer. Today is the third day of our five-day pledge drive. It's a regular program. You can be on the air.

I'll tell you what that number is in a minute.

But first, let's bow our heads in prayer. In the name of the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit, amen. Remember all most gracious Virgin Mary that never wasn't known, that anyone who fled to thy protection implored thy help or sought thine intercession was left unaided. inspired by this confidence I fly I fly into the, O Virgin of Virgins, my mother. To thee do I come before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O mother of the word incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy, hear and answer me, amen. The name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit amen so here's that number to call to be on

the program i'm here for you if you need a second opinion or you'd like to talk something through

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we'll start off with tris in Washington, D.C.

Good morning, Tris. I understand you've been waiting a while, so thank you for your patience.

Thanks for taking my call.

I was wondering if you could comment for a few moments on the Catholic teaching of subsidiarity

was expressed in the catechism and whether or not you, I guess, personally think that our

federal government does a good job abiding by this teaching, you know, with respect to its ever-expanding

size and programs and policies.

Yeah, so two different questions. So I'll define it first. And in the simplest terms,

subsidiarity is a principle in which you handle problems at the localist level, so at the most

immediate local level. So to use an example, let's say you were overcharged for something at the local hardware store.

We wouldn't want the federal government to come into that situation and settle it for you.

You'd rather have that taken care of between you and the store manager, for example.

Or let's say there's a homeowners association dispute about what kind of paint you can paint your house

or what kind of items you can put in your yard.

Well, you don't want the federal government coming in and telling you what you can and can't do.

You want to settle it at the localest, smallest level.

And then as necessary, you work your way up higher. So subsidiarity, in essence, is that principle.

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