Subsidiarity in Education
Whose responsibility is it: family, Church, or state?
In our age of increasing state regulation and cultural confusion, it is necessary to reaffirm the divinely appointed order of education and the proper roles of the family, the Church, and the state. According to natural law, Sacred Scripture, and the perennial wisdom of the Church, parents are the primary educators of their children. Both the Church and the state have roles to play in the education of the young, but these roles are supplemental and never usurp the primacy of the family.
Education, rightly understood, is not merely about academic achievement or professional advancement. It is the formation of the whole person: emotionally, intellectually, physically, and most importantly, spiritually. Education is ordered to man's final end, which is union with God. As St. Thomas Aquinas affirms, the perfection of man consists in the acquisition of virtue and the knowledge of divine things. Thus, any system of education that neglects moral and spiritual formation is incomplete and ultimately harmful.
The family is the first school of virtue. St. John Chrysostom urged Christian parents to take up this task seriously: "You should rear them in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." (Homily on Ephesians 6:4) The Church Fathers recognized that it is in the home where the child first learns love, justice, obedience, prayer, and sacrifice. St. Augustine taught that the family was the building block of the "city of God," and the first place where the soul is formed for eternal life.
St. Thomas Aquinas echoes this teaching. In the Summa Theologiae (II-II, q.10, a.12), he explains that it is according to natural justice that children remain under the authority of their parents until they have the use of reason. Parents have a grave duty to form their children in virtue, truth, and faith. To remove a child from this authority without just cause is to act against the order of nature.
The Church and the state have distinct roles, both of which are subordinate to parental authority. The Church has the right and duty to ensure that baptized Catholic children have access to catechesis and the sacraments. She must support parents in preparing their children for the reception of confession, worthy communion, marriage, and holy orders. Since children are directed toward spiritual goods by their parents and the Church, the Church has a rightful jurisdiction in ensuring this formation in orthodoxy.
The state, likewise, has a legitimate interest in the moral and civic education of its citizens. Aquinas teaches that human law should lead men gradually toward virtue (I-II, q.95, a.1). A good state will therefore promote education that fosters civic virtues such as justice, honesty, respect for life, and stewardship of property. It may also provide vocational and practical training. But all of this must respect the principle of subsidiarity: that which can be done by the smaller unit (in this case, the family) should not be taken over by the larger.
This principle is strongly affirmed in the Church's magisterium. Pope Pius XI, in his encyclical Divini Illius Magistri (1929), teaches that the right and duty of parents to educate their children is inalienable and therefore incapable of being usurped by the State. Vatican II’s Gravissimum Educationis reaffirms that: “Since parents have given children their life, they are bound by the most serious obligation to educate their offspring and therefore must be recognized as the primary and principal educators.” Public education, then, is only justified as a supplement to parental education and catechesis, never as a replacement.
Likewise, Catholic education—whether in parochial schools, homeschooling networks, or catechetical programs—exists to support and not override the parental vocation. When parents choose to utilize Church or state educational institutions, they do not forfeit their fundamental obligation. Rather, they rightly delegate certain tasks while maintaining oversight and responsibility for the whole formation of the child.
The procreative end of marriage is not primarily oriented toward the conception of children so much as it is oriented to the education and upbringing of children.
In cases of gross neglect or abuse, both the Church and the state may intervene to protect the child. However, such intervention must always be exceptional and carried out in a manner that respects the family’s dignity and natural rights. Aquinas allows for such intervention only when there is grave danger to the child's moral or physical well-being.
Importantly, the state has no authority to suppress the Church’s mission in education or to restrict the sacraments. As St. Augustine articulated in City of God, the spiritual authority of the Church is higher than the temporal power of the state. Aquinas supports this order, teaching that divine law and the guidance of the Church surpass civil law in authority and dignity.
Thus, a healthy society is one in which the family is respected as the primary locus of education, the Church is free to carry out her divine mission, and the state encourages virtue and civic order without overreaching. When these roles are rightly ordered and work in harmony, the child is nurtured in truth and love and prepared to live as a faithful Christian and responsible citizen.
The path forward in our confused age is not to reinvent education, but to restore it to its proper place: rooted in the home, nourished by the Church, and supported—but not supplanted—by the state. Only in this way can we hope to raise up a generation formed in wisdom and holiness, capable of rebuilding a truly Christian society.