MY CATHOLIC FAITH
LXV. Services of the Church to the State
Of what benefit is the Church to the State? –The Church is essential for the welfare of the State, for it upholds the government, directs its members to obey just laws, prevents crimes, incites to the practice of civic virtues, encourages to noble endeavour, and unites different nations in one brotherhood.
There is no better citizen than a good Catholic. He obeys the State because his religion teaches him that all lawful authority comes from God.
Who can be a more law-abiding citizen than one who looks upon civil officials as superiors that God Himself bids him obey? Plutarch says that religion is a better protection for a city than its walls.
The Church teaches its children to make sacrifices for the common good. Thus it trains unselfish, thrifty, and industrious members of the State. A man with no religion seldom, makes, a good citizen. He is liable to try always to get as much as he can even at the expense of others. A man without religion generally ends without any morality whatever.
The prisons are in general peopled, not by practicing members of the Church, but by people who neglected religion. Only God knows the number of those who have been turned from the paths of sin and crime on account of their connection with the Church. Continue reading