Archbp. Lefebvre: The Rights of the State are not unlimited
May 22, 2020 13:48:24 GMT
Post by Admin on May 22, 2020 13:48:24 GMT
This was forwarded to me in an email and is rather prophetic and certainly apropos to the situation we are witnessing on a nearly daily basis for the last several weeks, in particular (though it has been quietly working in the background for decades):
From Pastoral Letters, 1947-1968 Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre (pages 28-29)
"The rights of the State, then, are not unlimited. God created the public authority for the sake of the family, and the family for the perfecting of the individual, not the other way around. The role of the civil power is, therefore, to assist and to encourage free enterprise, to promotes its creation and development, and above all to keep a zealous watch over the progress of the family, which is the true source of the wealth and prosperity of societies.
Dakar, January 25, 1951
"The rights of the State, then, are not unlimited. God created the public authority for the sake of the family, and the family for the perfecting of the individual, not the other way around. The role of the civil power is, therefore, to assist and to encourage free enterprise, to promotes its creation and development, and above all to keep a zealous watch over the progress of the family, which is the true source of the wealth and prosperity of societies.
"This progress, however, must be total--physical, intellectual and moral. The role of the state is to make good any deficiencies in the private initiatives of the family, not to take those initiatives over, and when doing its rightful share it must take the wishes of the family into account: parents are by right the first educators of their children. If the government were to take the place of the family and private enterprises, not only would it be exceeding its rights, but it would also be assuming responsibilities which would necessitate constant tax increases, to the point where the country's economy would become disrupted." [Emphasis mine.]