More on Subsidiarity!

If you are reading my novel you may know that one of the many mysteries Joe our hero faces is the strange fact that the Doctor used a Papal Encyclical as the basis for a very important piece of software at the cable TV company where they work.



Joe learns - eventually - that it was Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum, Pius XI's Quadragesimo Anno, and especially John Paul II's Centesimus Annus, though it is not spelled out in the story as I have written it. And even then, he learns only enough to help him with the work he must do.

Unlike Joe, however, today you will be able to learn a good deal more about Subsidiarity - not enough do do Joe's job, perhaps, but enough to finally grasp that there is a real practicality and efficiency in this hitherto abstract concept.

Yes, for today I have posted the major Second Part of Subsidiarity, my companion work to Joe the Control Room Guy.

Alas, yes - the company where "Joe" and "the Doctor" and all the rest no longer exists. It was abolished at the end of August in 2005. (See here or here for a little of the story.) But, just like the destroyed Two Trees of Valinor (in Tolkien's Silmarillion) over which the Vala wept and sang until there sprouted one last brilliant fruit and one last gleaming flower, with God's help I have brought forth these two texts from that dark desolation...

The texts, such as they are, are complete, and God willing they may appear someday in real tactile print, but at least for the time being they will be here for consultation and amusement.


Here, then, is the table of contents for Subsidiarity:

Author's Foreword

Part I: Introduction To Subsidiarity
I.1 An Introduction
I.2 Some History
I.3 The Modern Era: Catholic Social Teaching

Part II An Example of Subsidiarity
II.1 Why Use Cable TV As an Example?
II.2 Things You Need To Know
II.3 Spot Transport For Local Ad Insertion
II.4 The OPAL key: Order, Purpose, Abilities, Limitations
II.5 The Heart of Subsidiarity