(LifeSiteNews) — An increasing number of people are waking up to the power that unaccountable international organizations have over nation states and over the members of the Catholic Church.

These bodies include multinational corporations that are often wealthier than nation states; media organizations that create false news narratives; international bodies like the United Nations and European Union; and influential groups like the World Economic Forum (WEF) whose former head, Klaus Schwab, boasted that his disciples – such as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau – “penetrate the global cabinets of countries.”

How did we arrive at this position, where our lives are subject to increasing control by unknown and shadowy forces?

As is so often the case, the nature of the problem becomes clearer when we examine it in the light of the teaching of the Catholic Church, and of traditional philosophy.

This body of doctrine tells us that three societies were established by God and are essential to human flourishing. These are the family, the state, and the Catholic Church.

READ: Globalists are attacking Africa’s families, but this Catholic man is pushing back

All other societies – such as corporations, international bodies, and media organizations – ought to be at the service of the family, the state, and the Church.

However, in the modern world the situation is reversed, and these three societies are made to serve man-made societies, with catastrophic results. As a result of this inversion of the proper order of things, we see families destroyed, governments acting against the best interests of their people, and members of the ecclesiastical hierarchy abandoning the service of Christ for the service of the world.

To defeat the globalist world order, and to bring peace, freedom, and prosperity to the world, we must restore the family, the state, and the Catholic Church to their place of preeminence.

In order to do this, we must have a clear understanding of the nature of each of these societies.

What is a society?

The word “society” can be a defined as follows:

A union of intelligent beings, entered into for the purpose of attaining a common good, by united efforts.^[1]

Let’s look at each part of this definition more closely. A society is:

1. “A union of intelligent beings” – only rational beings can be members of a society.
2. “Entered into for the purpose of attaining a common good” – every society is founded to attain a particular end, otherwise there would be nothing to hold it together. A hospital exists to heal the sick, a business for the purpose of providing goods or services in order to make a profit, a seminary for the education and formation of clergy, and so on.
3. “By united efforts” – every society involves members who work together to achieve a common end; they do not work alone, but as a collective.

It follows from this definition that a society can only exist if it possesses both members and an end towards which they work. We call the members the material element of the society, and the union of their wills towards a common end the formal element.

For example, the individual seminarians and teaching staff are the material element of a seminary, and the union of their wills towards a common end is the formal element. The end to be attained – the formation and education of clergy – is the external formal element.

In order for the individual members to be consistently united in pursuit of a common end, there must be an authority which directs them. In the absence of authority, a society would dissolve into a loose collection of individuals. A seminary, for example, is led by a rector, who has the responsibility of directing the members of the society towards their shared end of forming priests.

A final necessary element is that the society must have the means to reach its end. A seminary must have at least certain basic elements to exist, such as teachers who possess the Catholic faith, spaces in which teaching can take place, and so on.

A society must therefore have the following elements:

1. Members
2. A common end
3. A union of wills towards that common end
4. Authority to direct the members to an end
5. The means to achieve the end

There are many different societies, pursuing many different ends. However, as stated above, there are three societies which are absolutely essential to human flourishing.

As Fr. Edward Cahill S.J. wrote:

[T]here are three types of human association that form a class apart, namely, the Church, the Family, and the State or Nation. The existence and scope of these, the essential principles of their structure, the fundamental rights and duties of the members are determined by God’s law, and cannot be altered by human authority.^[2]

Yet today it is these three societies that are most under attack by globalist forces.

READ: NATO’s globalist campaign at the service of murderous terror must be stopped

What is the family?

Fr. Edward Cahill S.J. describes the family as follows:

The family in its wider signification means an assemblage of individuals, dwelling in the same house under a common superior or head, and united by ties founded on the natural law.^[3]

1. Members of the family

The family is a composite of individuals held together by one or more of these bonds: 

• Husband and wife
• Parents and children
• Masters and servants

The union between husband and wife is the foundation of a family. The second type of bond, between parent and child, arises from the first.

The third bond will be unfamiliar to many modern readers. However, throughout most of human history it has been very common for there to be an extended household, consisting of servants and other dependents who were considered part of the same domestic establishment, under the authority of one head, and working together for the same end.

2. The common end of the family

The ends of the union of husband and wife are, primarily, the procreation and upbringing of children, and, secondarily, the mutual assistance of the spouses. Parents have the responsibility to provide for the physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual needs of their children.

Fr. Cahill writes:

A citizen – a man or woman – is not, like the lower animals, equipped for life as the result merely of generation and birth. One cannot become an active member of society till many years after being born. Years of patient nursing and training and the exercise of ceaseless care and endless love and sympathy are required to bring out the latent possibilities of the human faculties and fit the person for the duties of citizenship. These needs can be met only in the home, and in the bosom of the human family.^[4]

The family is also “the depository of the local and national traditions of the people, and the ordinary channel through which these are passed on from generation to generation. Love of country is thus the natural development of love of home.”^[5]

3. Authority in the family

Each of the bonds described above is unequal. A husband has authority over his wife. Parents have authority over children. Masters have authority over servants.

In ordinary circumstances, this means that authority in the family will be exercised by the father, as Pope Leo XIII teaches:

A family, no less than a State, is, as We have said, a true society, governed by an authority peculiar to itself, that is to say, by the authority of the father.^[6]

Fr. Cahill writes:

Though husband and wife are equal in dignity and essential rights, nevertheless, since they (with the children, if there be such) form a society, and since a society is impossible without a recognized head, there must be some head to the family.

For this purpose the natural law has marked out the man rather than the woman; seeing that nature has given to him qualities which, generally speaking, render him more suitable than her for the duty of ruler. And so, although the wife, as a human person, is equal to her husband, she is subject to his authority as a wife and a member of the domestic society, just as a citizen in the state is subject to the authority of the ruler to whom, nevertheless, he is equal as a human person.^[7]

A mother possesses authority over her children and may serve as head of a household due to the absence or incapacity of her husband.

The authority of the father, and of parents in general, is established by God for the education of children and for the orderly governing of the household. The authority of a parent over a child is limited by natural and divine law, such that it is forbidden for a parent “to impose on [a child] any unjust or inhuman conditions.”^[8]

The extent of parental authority over a child lessens as the child grows in the order of reason. It ceases entirely when the child reaches mature adulthood and leaves the parental home. In this way the bond of parent and child differs from that of husband and wife. The conjugal bond ends only with the death of one of the spouses but, as Fr. Cahill states:

Unlike the conjugal society… which of its own nature is perpetual, the filial society undergoes essential alterations, or ceases altogether, as soon as the primary object of the union has been secured. When the child is fully grown and his education complete, he may, consistently with the dictates of the natural law, cease to be a member of his parents’ family and be entirely emancipated from their control.^[9]

The obligations of parents towards children never entirely cease, however, and a parent generally always has the obligation to provide temporal and spiritual assistance to their child even in adulthood, when necessary. An adult child likewise has, in normal circumstances, a reciprocal obligation to their parents, especially when the parents become elderly and infirm.

4. Relationship of the family to the state

The individual human being is the fundamental unit of the state. However, in a healthy society, many intermediate units come between the individual and the state. Of these intermediate units, only the family is necessary in each and every state, and in all the different conditions in which a state might exist. This is because the family is necessary for the continued existence of the state.

The duties of the state pertain to the common good of the nation as a whole. Therefore, it ought not to interfere in the private life of the individual or family. It may not seek to usurp the functions which God has given to the family and to its individual members.

Primary among these functions, is the right of parents to educate their children. Pope Pius XI taught:

The family therefore holds directly from the Creator the mission and hence the right to educate the offspring, a right inalienable because inseparably joined to the strict obligation, a right anterior to any right whatever of civil society and of the State, and therefore inviolable on the part of any power on earth.^[10]

Leo XIII teaches:

The contention that the civil government should, at its option, intrude into and exercise intimate control over the family is a great and pernicious error.^[11]

Only in very limited conditions – such as the abuse of its members – can the state intervene in the domestic sphere:

If, within the precincts of the household, there should occur grave disturbance of mutual rights, public authority should intervene to force each party to yield to the other its proper due; for this is not to deprive citizens of their rights, but to safeguard and strengthen them. But the rulers of the State must go no further: here nature bids them stop.^[12]

5. Relationship of the family to the Church

The intimate domestic sphere is independent from the direct intrusion of the ecclesiastical hierarchy as it is from that of the state. However, the family is bound to conform in all respects to the teaching of the Catholic Church and to its laws. The Church possesses jurisdiction over all the baptized. In particular, parents have a specific responsibility to raise their children in the Catholic faith, and to ensure that they have a good doctrinal and moral formation.

READ: Religion is a fact of life. Here’s why

What is the state?

The state is “the whole civic community organized with a view to the temporal good of its members.”^[13]

1. Members of the state

The members of a state are all those individuals who form part of the civic community. Each individual is also a member of one or more intermediate bodies which stand between him and the state. These intermediate bodies are an essential part of any healthy society though, as stated above, the only one which must exist in all states is the family. Other examples of intermediate societies are local political institutions, trade unions, schools, universities, professional organizations, corporations, sports clubs, charities, and so on.

The Catholic Church is not an intermediate society within the state, though her individual units, like the parish, may play such a role.

The members of a given state usually live within a particular territory governed by the state. They will very commonly be of one nation, and share common ties of family relations, culture, and identity. However, it is also possible for a state to govern people of different national identities.

2. The common end of the state

The state has as its goal the natural happiness of all its subjects.

Fr. Cahill writes:

The ultimate object of the State is to secure the temporal happiness of its members, which, in practice, is the same thing as the fuller development of their physical, intellectual, and moral powers. The proximate and immediate aim of the State’s activities is to ensure peace and prosperity for all; for these are means essential to man’s temporal welfare, and can be secured only with the helps which the State affords.^[14]

Every adult individual is ultimately responsible for their own well-being, for their individual good. Parents are responsible for the well-being of their children. However, there are certain goods which it is impossible for individuals, or individual families, to attain by their own individual effort. This is called the public good. This – and this alone – is the legitimate sphere of the state’s activity.

The public good consists of peace and prosperity.

Peace means security from the violation of one’s rights, whether by internal enemies – such as traitors, rebels, and criminals – or by foreign enemies. The state has the responsibility of securing the public peace by just laws, which are equitably enforced, and by defending the people from foreign powers. Maintenance of the peace will generally require the maintenance of a police force and armed forces.

Prosperity, writes Fr. Cahill, “means a sufficient supply of the means that the individual requires for his natural welfare and happiness. It includes such goods as bodily health, food, clothing, shelter, personal freedom, private property, good reputation, mental culture suited to one’s station, and good moral and religious training.”^[15]

There is a distinction to be drawn between private prosperity and public prosperity. Every individual has the responsibility to secure his own private prosperity, aided by the intermediate societies to which he belongs. Only when the efforts of the individual and intermediate societies fail to provide adequately for a person’s needs does the state have a role in securing a person’s basic needs.

However, there are things beyond the capacity of any individual or family to attain by their own effort. These belong to public prosperity. This may be defined as “the sum of helps and facilities, which are required in order to place private prosperity within the reach of all.”^[16]

The attainment of public prosperity is often a collaboration between intermediate societies and the state, with the state providing the appropriate conditions in which the intermediate societies can operate and supplementing their efforts when needed.

For example, the state has an obligation to provide for the needs of those who cannot provide for themselves, such as orphans, the disabled, the infirm, and the elderly. However, the needs of these groups can often be met by intermediate societies, without the state needing to become involved. It is generally preferable that needs to be met by individuals and intermediate societies, rather than by the state.

However, there are some things that can be done by state alone, such as maintaining a just and effective legal system and passing just and reasonable laws.

Public prosperity is not limited to material prosperity, but extends also to the psychological, intellectual, and spiritual well-being of the people. The state must provide the conditions for the development of schools, universities, and other educational institutions. These ought generally to be provided by private initiative and by the Catholic Church, though in cases of grave need the state may set up its own schools.

The state must provide for the spiritual prosperity of the people by its public worship of God and its public recognition of the Catholic Church, which will be discussed in more detail below.

3. Authority in the state

Every state must possess an authority which provides for public peace and prosperity.

The particular form of authority differs from state to state. The Church does not prescribe a specific form of government, because the form of government ought to be suited to the particular needs and conditions of a people. What is of primary importance is that those in authority use their power for the common good of the people they govern.

Fr. Cahill comments:

Every man and woman has a natural right to be justly governed, but no one has a natural right to share in the governmental authority. The decision as to who are to be rulers and what is to be system of government must be ultimately decided by the requirements of the public good, which is the object and purpose of civil society.^[17]

Generally speaking, a society is more stable when the forms of government have developed organically over time, rather than being the product of revolution or human design.

Forms of government can be divided into those that serve the public good, and those that serve the interests of one individual or faction within the state.

The traditional division of good forms of government is as follows:

• Monarchy – the rule of one for the public good
• Aristocracy – the rule of the few for the public good
• Polity – the rule of the many for the public good

The traditional division of bad forms of government is as follows:

• Tyranny – the rule of one for the good of a faction
• Oligarchy – the rule of the few for the good of a faction
• Democracy – the rule of the many for the good of a faction

The most stable form of government is a mixed constitution, comprising monarchy, aristocracy, and polity.

Historic examples include the English Constitution, which consisted of Monarch, House of Lords, and House of Commons, and that of the Roman Republic, which was governed by the elected Consuls, an aristocratic Senate, and a number of more popular legislative assembles.

Modern Western governments have descended from democracy, to oligarchy, and are heading rapidly towards tyranny.

4. Relationship of the state to the family

The state has as its the end the temporal happiness of all the individuals of which it is composed. It therefore has obligations towards the intermediary societies which stand between the individual and the state. As stated above, the family is most important of these intermediate societies because it is necessary for the very continuation of the civic community, as well as for the education and formation of good citizens. 

The state has the responsibility to ensure that families can live in peace and prosperity, as explained above.

5. Relationship of the state to the Church

We are each obliged to acknowledge God and offer Him worship and honor. The obligation that we have as individuals does not cease when we come together as a collective whole. As Pope Leo XIII teaches:

[T]he State, constituted as it is, is clearly bound to act up to the manifold and weighty duties linking it to God, by the public profession of religion. Nature and reason, which command every individual devoutly to worship God in holiness, because we belong to Him and must return to Him, since from Him we came, bind also the civil community by a like law.^[18]

He continues:

For, men living together in society are under the power of God no less than individuals are, and society, no less than individuals, owes gratitude to God who gave it being and maintains it and whose ever-bounteous goodness enriches it with countless blessings.^[19]

The obligation of the state to acknowledge God is of natural law and admits of no exceptions. And just as all men are obliged to heed the preaching of the Gospel and enter the Catholic Church, so too must the state publicly acknowledge the Catholic Church.

The state is independent from the Church in that it has its own specific sphere of action and its own responsibilities which it must fulfill. The state pursues its work of providing for the public peace and prosperity, and the Church pursues its work of preaching the gospel and sanctifying the human race. There ought to be no conflict between these two spheres, and neither should interfere in the proper work of the other.

However, there are clearly areas in which the spheres overlap. For example, marriage falls into state’s sphere of operations, because of its fundamental importance for the continuance of society, yet as a sacrament and means of salvation it also falls under the purview of the Church. Indeed, all human actions, in as much as they are acts of a moral nature, fall into the Church’s sphere, but many of the same human acts must be regulated by the state as well for the public good.

On all such matters the Church and the state must be united in their approach. Pope Leo XIII teaches:

We have more than once pointed out, [that] although the civil authority has not the same proximate end as the spiritual, nor proceeds on the same lines, nevertheless in the exercise of their separate powers they must occasionally meet. For their subjects are the same, and not infrequently they deal with the same objects, though in different ways.

Whenever this occurs, since a state of conflict is absurd and manifestly repugnant to the most wise ordinance of God, there must necessarily exist some order or mode of procedure to remove the occasions of difference and contention, and to secure harmony in all things. This harmony has not been inaptly compared to that which exists between the body and the soul for the well-being of both one and the other, the separation of which brings irremediable harm to the body, since it extinguishes its very life.^[20]

There must therefore be a form of union between the Church and the state. Pope Leo XIII, in his encyclical Longinqua: On Catholicism in the United States, rejected the separation of Church and state as the ideal model. He taught:

It would be very erroneous to draw the conclusion that in America is to be sought the type of the most desirable status for the Church, or that it would be universally lawful or expedient for State and Church to be, as in America, dissevered and divorced… But she would bring forth more abundant fruits if, in addition to liberty, she enjoyed the favour of the laws and the patronage of public authority.^[21]

And Pope Pius XII taught that the Church “sees as ideal the unity of the people in the true religion and the unanimity in action between her and the State.”^[22]

The modern liberal error that the state may, or even should, be neutral in matters of religion has been condemned many times by the magisterium of the Catholic Church.

In his encyclical letter Immortale Dei: On the Christian Constitution of States, Pope Leo XIII taught:

Since, then, no one is allowed to be remiss in the service due to God, and since the chief duty of all men is to cling to religion in both its preaching and practice – not such religion as they may have a preference for, but the religion which God enjoins, and which certain and most clear marks show to be the only one true religion – it is a public crime to act as though there were no God.

So, too, is it a sin for the State not to have care for religion as a something beyond its scope, or as of no practical benefit; or out of many forms of religion to adopt that one which chimes in with the fancy; for we are bound absolutely to worship God in that way which He has shown to be His will.

All who rule, therefore, would hold in honor the holy name of God, and one of their chief duties must be to favor religion, to protect it, to shield it under the credit and sanction of the laws, and neither to organize nor enact any measure that may compromise its safety. This is the bounden duty of rulers to the people over whom they rule.^[23]

Jesus Christ is the source of all authority in the state, as in the Church, and the peace and prosperity of nations is conditional on the acceptance of His reign, as Pope Pius XI taught:

We referred to the chief causes of the difficulties under which mankind was laboring. And We remember saying that these manifold evils in the world were due to the fact that the majority of men had thrust Jesus Christ and his holy law out of their lives; that these had no place either in private affairs or in politics: and we said further, that as long as individuals and states refused to submit to the rule of our Savior, there would be no really hopeful prospect of a lasting peace among nations. Men must look for the peace of Christ in the Kingdom of Christ.^[24]

READ: God has written his law on our hearts. Here’s how we follow it

What is the Catholic Church?

The Catholic Church is:

The society of men who, by their profession of the same faith, and by their partaking of the same sacraments, make up, under the rule of apostolic pastors and their head, the kingdom of Christ on earth.^[25]

1. Members of the Catholic Church

Pope Pius XII taught:

Only those are to be included as members of the Church who have been baptized and profess the true faith, and who have not been so unfortunate as to separate themselves from the unity of the Body, or been excluded by legitimate authority for grave faults committed.^[26]

The Catholic Church teaches that one becomes a member through reception of the sacrament of baptism. Membership of the Church is lost by public heresy, public schism, or by sentence of perfect excommunication.

2. The common end of the Church

The Catholic Church has as its common end the supernatural happiness of all mankind.

Fr. E. Sylvester Berry writes:

The Church is eminently fitted to give glory to God by its wonderful manifestation of His power, wisdom and goodness in providing such efficacious means of salvation for all men at all times, whatever be their condition or state in life.

He continues:

Christ proclaimed His doctrines, gave His precepts, and instituted the Sacraments to enable all men to participate in the fruits of his Redemption. He then instituted the Apostolic ministry to perpetuate this work in the world. He sent forth the Apostles with authority to teach and govern all men and to administer to them the means of salvation… the Church was established to perpetuate the work of Redemption by applying it to the souls of men. In a word, the Church was instituted to save all men.^[27]

3. Authority in the Church

Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Divine Head of the Church, through His Vicar, the Roman Pontiff, and through the college of bishops in union with him, exercises the threefold ministry of Priest, Prophet, and King. As Priest he offers public worship, especially the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and celebrates the other sacraments; as Prophet he teaches infallibly the true doctrine of the Church, and as King he exercises jurisdiction over the baptized in order to lead them to Heaven. 

The Bishop of Rome possesses universal, immediate, and ordinary jurisdiction over the whole Church and every member of it. The bishops who head the local churches, exercise immediate and ordinary jurisdiction over their own subjects. Together with the pope, they are the Successors of the Apostles and make up the Apostolic College.

Members of the Church must be subject to this threefold authority of Jesus Christ – exercised by the Roman Pontiff and the other Successors of the Apostles – in order to become, and remain, members of the Catholic Church. 

To hold office in the Church, one must first be a member. For this reason, it is impossible for the following to exercise authority in the Church: the unbaptized (who refuse submission to the sanctifying authority of Christ), public heretics (who refuse submission to the teaching authority of Christ), public schismatics (who refuse submission to the governing authority of Christ), and those under sentence of perfect excommunication (who have been excluded by the governing authority of the Church). For as Pope Leo XIII taught in his encyclical letter Satis Cognitum: On the Unity of the Church, “it is absurd to imagine that he who is outside can command in the Church.”^[28]

Different kinds of societies

The three societies described above, are known as necessary societies.

They are necessary because it is impossible for human beings to reach their natural and supernatural ends without them.

The family is necessary for the procreation of children, and for the provision of their fundamental needs.

The state is necessary for human beings to achieve temporal peace and prosperity.

The Church is necessary for human beings to attain eternal salvation.

These three societies are necessary in an absolute sense and have their origin in God. Other societies serve lesser purposes and have their origin in human free choice. 

Our duties to the family, the state, and the Catholic Church generally take precedence over our responsibility to other societies.

Perfect vs. imperfect society

We can further distinguish between perfect societies and imperfect societies.

A perfect society possesses all the means necessary, within itself, to achieve its common end. It does not need the assistance of any higher society to accomplish this. A perfect society can never be subordinated to another society, in its own sphere.

There are only two perfect societies: the state and the Catholic Church.

The state possesses all the means necessary to attain the natural happiness of its subjects. The Catholic Church possesses all the means necessary to attain the supernatural happiness of all mankind.

The family is not a perfect society, because one family cannot meet all its needs alone, and so it must cooperate with other individuals and families as part of the state.

Natural vs. supernatural society

The three necessary societies have their origin in God, but only the Catholic Church is to be regarded as a supernatural society.

The end of the family, and of the state, is the natural well-being of its members, and they use natural means to attain this end.

The Catholic Church on the other hand has as its goal the supernatural happiness of its subjects. It achieves this end by supernatural means, such as the teaching of a supernatural revelation and administration of divinely instituted sacraments.

Those who comprise the family and the state must, of course, all pursue the end of supernatural happiness, and in this sense these societies are subordinated to Christ and His Church.

This organic society of Catholic families and Catholic states operating under the threefold power of the Catholic Church is known as Christendom.

It is the ideal from which we have fallen, and to which we must return.