Catholic Social Teaching: A Marvelous Gift to Health Care

August 8, 2023

By Dr. Frederick Fakharzadeh

Catholic Social Teaching (CST) offers an effective framework to evaluate the structures of society. The three basic principles: human dignity, solidarity, and subsidiarity all need to be considered as we aim to serve the common good, which is always ordered to the fulfillment of the human person.

Balance is essential to avoid deliberate use of one of these principles as a selective justification for a policy or position which might still conflict with the other principles. As stated in the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church 351, “Solidarity without subsidiarity, in fact, can easily degenerate into a ‘Welfare State’, while subsidiarity without solidarity runs the risk of encouraging forms of self-centered localism.”

This teaching also applies to health care as it affects how we relate with our patients. It calls us to recognize the inherent human dignity in each patient, made in God’s image, and by solidarity, relate to him or her as our brother or sister –– not in an abstract or distant way. Subsidiarity reminds us that at this local level –– the doctor-patient relationship –– physicians can best understand and serve a patient’s needs, as opposed to a more centralized, distant entity.

Taking it a step further, in developing a clinic, it is key to recognize the God-given human dignity in all patients. Solidarity reminds us that we need to provide access for all in need and that we give of ourselves to care for others –– that we are “our brother’s keeper.” Subsidiarity comes into play in working with the local community to provide and build facilities and programs that best serve the needs of that community, as opposed to a directive originating from a more centralized, distant entity. To quote Saint John Paul II, “… [I]t would appear that needs are best understood and satisfied by people who are closest to them and who act as neighbors to those in need” (Centesimus Annus 48).

Further still, Catholic Social Teaching is vitally important in formulating health care policy and delivery systems. Many current policies fail to recognize the dignity of human life at all stages from conception to natural death. The current culture of death advocates for abortion and euthanasia, clearly contrary to human dignity. And despite many laws that suggest otherwise, “The value of human dignity…takes precedence over all political decision-making,” explained Pope Benedict XVI in his article Europe and its Discontents. Solidarity again reminds us of the obligation we have to care for each other, that care needs to be accessible to all, and that it should be a loving, personal care. Pope Francis reminds us, “Without faces and stories, human lives become statistics, and we run the risk of bureaucratizing the sufferings of others.”

Furthermore, we must do no harm. This is crucial when we consider the many contemporary, permanently damaging procedures that are in vogue, such as surgical and hormone interventions for gender dysphoria. And recognizing the role of subsidiarity, health care policy and delivery systems need to promote care that is provided on as local a level as possible, acknowledging that those closest to the direct care of patients will best know and understand their needs. “The State which would provide everything, absorbing everything into itself, would ultimately become a mere bureaucracy incapable of guaranteeing the very thing which the suffering person — every person — needs: namely, loving personal concern” (Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est 28b).

Catholic Social Teaching is indeed a marvelous gift that we have from the Church. May we internalize its principles so that it can always guide us in our approach to decision-making. We can then hopefully best achieve the common good, be it in medicine or any other endeavor.

Frederick F. Fakharzadeh is the chair of the Catholic Social Teaching on Justice in Medicine Committee and is a member of the Health Care Policy Committee. Dr. Fakharzadeh will be presenting on this theme at the 92nd Annual Educational Conference in Phoenix, Arizona Sept. 7-9 at the Arizona Grand Resort.

More information and links to registration can be found here.