Church and State: Distinctions and relatedness

"The Almightly… has appointed the charge of the human race between two powers, the ecclesiastical and the civil… each of which has fixed limits which are defined by the special object and province of each" (Leo XIII, Immortale Dei, State and Church are distinct in origin, end and constitution). The end of the state is the realization of the earthly common good; the end of the Church is the supernatural salvation of man.

In spite of all distinctions, Church and state are related to one another in manifold ways so that it would be erroneous to deny "every bond between the two societies" and to see "the cool and separating atmosphere of mutual ignorance and indifference" as the normal relations between Church and state (Pius XII, Church and state, October, 1947).

In today’s Gospel, the Pharisees pose the question to Jesus: "Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?" And Jesus answered, "Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and repay to God what belongs to God" (Mt. 22:17, 21). The Pharisees meant to test and trap Him. But Jesus, evading the issue about the lawfulness of the tax, raises the debate to a new level. Those who have hypocritically asked the question in respect to its relation to the law of God should be concerned rather to repaying God with good deeds which are His due.

There are so many Pharisees in our times who would interpret "what belongs to Caesar and what belongs to God" as a rigid separation of Church and State. So our lawmakers, government officials, political and military top-brass, nay, even tycoons in business, powerful citizens claim government rights to do their own thing. So let the Church do their own business and no stepping into each other’s territory. So they dictate on how many children a couple is allowed to have or practice abortion or take abortive contraceptives to help in population control, or euthanasia or ending the life of a patient seriously ill to spare him further suffering, make divorce legal at any time and circumstance a couple would like it, rule against religious instruction in public schools and other non-sectarian institutions.

"Rendering to Caesar" does not mean independently of the law of God. A threefold relationship between Church and state can be distinguished: (1) Church and state go back to the same origin, namely God (Pius XII, October 29, 1947). In consequence of the Christocentrism of all creation, all natural law orders are also related to Christ. (2) Church and state occupy themselves "with the same man, with his personal, natural or supernatural dignity" (Ibid). In many questions such as the sequence of holy days, marriage law, and the school system, the field of duties of Church and state touch upon one another ("mixed concerns"). Inasmuch as each of these two powers has authority over the same subjects related differently, but still remaining one and the same thing… the course of each" must be "in right correlation with the other" (Immortale Dei). The form of relatedness between Church and state that results from the commission of the Church to be the guardian and preacher of the moral order is particularly full of tension. On November 9, 1903, Pius X declared that he foresaw "that some will take offence when we declare" that we are obligated to protect "the principles of order, authority, justice and fairness" and to do so "in private and public life", and also "in the social and political realms". Along the same lines, Pius XII says: "It belongs to the indisputable jurisdiction of the Church to determine in those concerns of social life which approach or already touch… the realm of morality whether the foundations of the current social order agree with the eternally valid order that God, the creator and redeemer, has made manifest through natural law and revelation" (June 1, 1941).

If the State, then, contradicts the Christian doctrine of faith and morals, Catholics are forbidden to participate in or vote for it. The superficial catchword, "religion has nothing to do with politics", is false. Pius XI responds appropriately that there is a kind of politics that infiltrates the churches and overturns the altars. Political entities therefore determine their nearness to or distance from the Church by their platform and by their policy. We should be vigilant in watching that nothing in politics or government offends against the Christian doctrine of faith and morals in platform or policy.

Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Matthew 22:15-21.