It is an in, a grave evil and a disturbance of the right order, for a larger and higher organisation, to arrogate to itself functions which can be performed efficiently by smaller and lower bodies.
Interpretation
The quote warns against larger organizations overstepping their bounds by taking on roles that can be effectively managed by smaller entities.
In this quote, Pope Leo XIII highlights the dangers of centralization and the concentration of power in larger organizations. He argues that when higher authorities assume responsibilities that could be better managed by smaller, more localized bodies, it disrupts the natural order and leads to inefficiencies. This sentiment reflects a belief in the importance of subsidiarity, which underlines the need for governing actions to be handled at the most immediate level possible.
In practice
In a speech about community management, one could use this quote to emphasize the importance of local governance.
Remember and understand well that where Peter is, there is the Church; that those who refuse to associate in communion with the Chair of Peter belong to Antichrist, not to Christ. He who would separate himself from the Roman Pontiff has no further bond with Christ.
These most crafty enemies [the devils] have filled and inebriated with gall and bitterness the Church, the spouse of the Immaculate Lamb, and have laid impious hands on Her most sacred possessions. In the Holy Place itself, where has been set up the See of the most holy Peter and the Chair of Truth for the light of the world, they have raised the throne of their abominable impiety, with the iniquitous design that when the Pastor has been struck, the sheep may be scattered.
The first law of history is to dread uttering a falsehood; the next is not to fear stating the truth; lastly, the historian's writings should be open to no suspicion of partiality or animosity.
The twentieth century must be a century of the Blessed Sacrament if it means to be a century of resurrection and of life
The empire of Christ the King includes not only Catholic nations, not only baptized persons who, though of right belonging to the Church, have been led astray by error, or have been cut off from her by schism, but also all those who are outside the Christian faith: so that truly the whole of mankind is subject to the power of Jesus Christ.
The devotion which God sends to the succor of His Church and of the nations at the present time is the devotion to the Most Holy Eucharist. It is the highest of all devotions.
Against eternal injustice, man must assert justice, and to protest against the universe of grief, he must create happiness.
It may be true that there are no atheists in foxholes. But you don't find many Christians there, either. Or, about as many of one as the other.
One must never set up a murder. They must happen unexpectedly, as in life.
Human beings can only make sense of the world through the lens they were socialized to make sense of it through.
Time goes faster the more hollow it is. Lives with no meaning go straight past you, like trains that don’t stop at your station.
Those who, like the beasts, have no such Hope, pass their old age shrouded with an inward gloom.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.