The Role of Associations

According to Esolen and his reading of Pope Leo XIII's writings, men and women have a right to form groups to help others, and these associations help us carry out our duties to God, family, neighbors, and country.  In particular, they provide a means to love and help particular persons (not abstract others such as "the poor") through direct action, not indirectly by paying taxes to the state.  This action is crucial, for those who hunger and thirst need not only food and water but also someone to feed them and love them, and the state cannot do that.  These works of mercy are based on the fact that all men and women are created equal, and we all have the same end---to be children of God---despite our different roles and stations in life.  Moreover, these associations and our actions strengthen the virtue of piety.

The state, which has displaced God, seeks an artificial equality via taxes, a mechanical redistribution that removes our personal obligations and produces the pathologies that weaken men and undermine virtue.  To accomplish this, the state must eliminate our associations, despite our rights, because they weaken the need for the state.  As an example, Esolen highlighted Leo's condemnation of the expulsion of French religious orders from their institutions in the late 19th century.