The Kingship of Christ

[a83192]

I have heard in many Traditionalists circles especially in SSPX ones about this concept of the Kingship of Christ. As I understand it means that all civil governments must or should make Catholicism the State Religion giving it special protections and privileges as well as laws that conform to Catholic moral teachings.

Is that the correct interpretation of that concept? correct me if I’m wrong.

How can this be reconciled with Dignitatis Humanae?

 

[YoungTradCath]

I really hate this myth perpetuated by some Catholics that somehow Dignitatis humanae invalidates all pertinent doctrine that came before it. It doesn’t and it didn’t and it never will. It complements it. It is an extension of it. It is in no way opposed to it. The common understanding of DH in my experience is, “We have to leave everybody alone, therefore we must necessarily have a secularistic government.” This is not true. Of course, I am not saying that you are saying these things or espouse these views. But many Catholics do. I regard these as some of the very worst misconceptions about Vatican II because I think they seriously endanger the evangelical enterprise on a local level. That is to say, while bishops may understand these points well, a whole lotta regular Catholics don’t, and that can lead people into thinking that religious freedom, which is quite a complicated thing, simply means that “all roads lead to heaven and hey, if that’s true, then let’s spend our efforts doing other things.”

Governments do have obligations toward the Church, obligations they don’t have toward other religions.

The government can make it illegal to have an abortion or to distribute literature saying it’s okay to have an abortion even if some people claim it’s “part of our religion.” It really doesn’t matter if it’s part of their religion; this goes against the natural law and the common good. On the other hand, the government cannot raze Episcopal churches or make it illegal to be an Episcopalian or charge them more in taxes just because they’re Episcopalian or refuse to hire them for government jobs just because they’re Episcopalian. I use these just as examples to help show boundaries.

And nota bene: there is a gigantic chasm of a continuum between a robotic secularistic atheistic government and a theocracy ruled by cardinals and papal legates. Let’s not go down that “USSR communism, schizophrenic US type government [regarding religion], and super duper theocracy are the only options” path in the thread, please.

OP I don’t know the SSPX’s specific use of social kingship so I won’t comment on that bit.

 

[dmar198]

I have heard in many Traditionalists circles especially in SSPX ones about this concept of the Kingship of Christ. As I understand it means that all civil governments must or should make Catholicism the State Religion giving it special protections and privileges as well as laws that conform to Catholic moral teachings.

Is that the correct interpretation of that concept? correct me if I’m wrong.

How can this be reconciled with Dignitatis Humanae?

First, my understanding of the Kingship of Christ is basically the same as yours. But the Kingship of Christ is not an SSPX idea. Because SSPX people want the nations to adopt their schism, they are actually urging against the Kingship of Christ.

Second, the Kingship of Christ is a Catholic idea and is found in the Catechism: CCC 2105 - The duty of offering God genuine worship concerns man both individually and socially. This is the traditional Catholic teaching on the moral duty of individuals and societies toward the true religion and the one Church of Christ. By constantly evangelizing men, the Church works toward enabling them “to infuse the Christian spirit into the mentality and mores, laws and structures of the communities in which [they] live.” The social duty of Christians is to respect and awaken in each man the love of the true and the good. It requires them to make known the worship of the one true religion which subsists in the Catholic and apostolic Church. Christians are called to be the light of the world. Thus, the Church shows forth the kingship of Christ over all creation and in particular over human societies. source Third, Dignitatis Humanae supports the Kingship of Christ in two ways. The first is by stating in paragraph 1 that the nations have “[a] moral duty…toward the true religion and toward the one Church of Christ.” Thus the Council does not oppose making Catholicism the State religion, but in fact calls for it.

The second way Dignitatis Humanae supports the social Kingship of Christ is in paragraph 6, where the Council shows that this does not go against the idea of religious liberty: “If, in view of peculiar circumstances obtaining among peoples, special civil recognition is given to one religious community in the constitutional order of society, it is at the same time imperative that the right of all citizens and religious communities to religious freedom should be recognized and made effective in practice.”

I recommend reviewing the Catechism paragraphs 2104-2109, which explain the social Kingship of Christ in more detail: scborromeo.org/ccc/p3s2c1a1.htm#2104

Let me know if that is helpful. God bless!

 

[a83192]

First, my understanding of the Kingship of Christ is basically the same as yours. But the Kingship of Christ is not an SSPX idea. Because SSPX people want the nations to adopt their schism, they are actually urging against the Kingship of Christ.

Second, the Kingship of Christ is a Catholic idea and is found in the Catechism: CCC 2105 - The duty of offering God genuine worship concerns man both individually and socially. This is the traditional Catholic teaching on the moral duty of individuals and societies toward the true religion and the one Church of Christ. By constantly evangelizing men, the Church works toward enabling them “to infuse the Christian spirit into the mentality and mores, laws and structures of the communities in which [they] live.” The social duty of Christians is to respect and awaken in each man the love of the true and the good. It requires them to make known the worship of the one true religion which subsists in the Catholic and apostolic Church. Christians are called to be the light of the world. Thus, the Church shows forth the kingship of Christ over all creation and in particular over human societies. source Third, Dignitatis Humanae supports the Kingship of Christ in two ways. The first is by stating in paragraph 1 that the nations have “[a] moral duty…toward the true religion and toward the one Church of Christ.” Thus the Council does not oppose making Catholicism the State religion, but in fact calls for it.

The second way Dignitatis Humanae supports the social Kingship of Christ is in paragraph 6, where the Council shows that this does not go against the idea of religious liberty: “If, in view of peculiar circumstances obtaining among peoples, special civil recognition is given to one religious community in the constitutional order of society, it is at the same time imperative that the right of all citizens and religious communities to religious freedom should be recognized and made effective in practice.”

I recommend reviewing the Catechism paragraphs 2104-2109, which explain the social Kingship of Christ in more detail: scborromeo.org/ccc/p3s2c1a1.htm#2104

Let me know if that is helpful. God bless!

So laws against gay marriage and contraception are correct things the state should pursue. That’s good. Catholicism should and can be the state religion.

 

[dmar198]

So laws against gay marriage and contraception are correct things the state should pursue.

I certainly think so, yes.

That’s good. Catholicism should and can be the state religion.

I agree.

And we ought to develop a workable strategy for how to get to that point. Al Kresta talks about this frequently on his radio show, “Kresta in the Afternoon,” which is on EWTN every Monday through Friday from 5-6 pm. One thing he emphasizes is that the American culture is not Catholic, and it won’t follow Catholic social doctrine until it is Catholic. Therefore, his proposal is that we “build the Church” in order to “bless the nation.”

We must do what we can to support policy proposals that reflect Catholic values when we see them, and explain to others why our social doctrine is what it is, but our main effort should be to make the culture more Catholic in its media, TV shows, movies, schools, newspapers, magazines, and other influences on people’s viewpoints. The politics will follow.

It is basically impossible to infuse the law with Catholic values unless we have the support of the culture, and we won’t have the support of the culture if it remains secularist and anti-Catholic. Build the Church, bless the nation. I think that’s the most effective way to bring about a reformation of American law that reflects Catholic values.

 

[YoungTradCath]

We must do what we can to support policy proposals that reflect Catholic values when we see them, and explain to others why our social doctrine is what it is, but our main effort should be to make the culture more Catholic in its media, TV shows, movies, schools, newspapers, magazines, and other influences on people’s viewpoints. The politics will follow.

I want to talk about this for just a moment because I think this is extremely important. Look how the decay was jumpstarted in the US: through culture and media. Those who are opposed to the Church, either directly through hatred or indirectly through their blind actions, infected the institutions. That is how they succeeded. (They did succeed.) Certainly, there have been giant defects in the American culture and government going all the way back to 1776 and way before, but it’s clear that these things didn’t take off until, basically, the 20th century, slavery aside (which in my opinion is an anomaly). Let’s look at the tactics of those who perpetrated these things and see if we can utilize their techniques. We should forcefully but quietly plant seeds of Catholicity in the culture, government and institutions.

 

[Genesis315]

Everyone else gave good answers, but I just wanted to point out one more Catechism paragraph on this topic which is often missed because it found under the section on the 4th Commandment, rather than the 1st.

CCC:

2244 Every institution is inspired, at least implicitly, by a vision of man and his destiny, from which it derives the point of reference for its judgment, its hierarchy of values, its line of conduct. Most societies have formed their institutions in the recognition of a certain preeminence of man over things. Only the divinely revealed religion has clearly recognized man’s origin and destiny in God, the Creator and Redeemer. The Church invites political authorities to measure their judgments and decisions against this inspired truth about God and man:

Societies not recognizing this vision or rejecting it in the name of their independence from God are brought to seek their criteria and goal in themselves or to borrow them from some ideology. Since they do not admit that one can defend an objective criterion of good and evil, they arrogate to themselves an explicit or implicit totalitarian power over man and his destiny, as history shows.51

(the summary paragraph: ** 2257** Every society’s judgments and conduct reflect a vision of man and his destiny. Without the light the Gospel sheds on God and man, societies easily become totalitarian.)

There’s a reason why the Pope instituted the Feast of Christ the King when he did in 1925 and subsequent history has proved the principles above correct.