Checks And Balances… The Government And The Church

By DONALD DeMARCO

After visiting the United States, G.K. Chesterton made the observation that “America is the only nation in the world that is founded on a creed. That creed is set forth in the Declaration of Independence with dogmatic and even theological lucidity….It enunciates that all men are created equal in their claim to justice, and that governments exist to give them that justice, and that authority is for that reason just.”
America was not founded on the divine right of kings.
America sought to protect itself against any one branch of government or any one individual from gaining too much power. Therefore, it divided power among three branches: the executive, the judiciary, and the legislative. Each branch would serve as a check on the other two, but together, they would form a strong democratic form of government.
This tripartite system did not originate with America’s founding fathers. The Greek historian Polybius noted that the ancient Roman constitution contained a kind of checks and balances system in the form of these three major divisions: the monarchy, the aristocracy, and democracy. The framers of the U.S. Constitution were influenced by Baron de Montesquieu and William Blackstone and adopted a modified system.
John Adams described America’s system of checks and balances as follows: “It is by balancing each of these powers against the other two, that the efforts in human nature toward tyranny can alone be checked and restrained, and any degree of freedom preserved in the Constitution.”
In the current heated reaction over the Dobbs verdict, President Biden has accused five Supreme Court justices of coming to a decision that is “outrageous” and has charged them with exercising “raw political power.” Justice Byron White had called the Roe v. Wade decision in 1972 “an exercise of raw judicial power.” In denigrating the Supreme Court’s recent decision (as well as the legitimacy of White’s claim), the president has overstepped his bounds and has violated the spirit of the system of checks and balances.
Overturning Roe v. Wade was inevitable since it is clear that the Constitution has no provision for abortion. Nor is there the slightest bit of evidence that the Founding Fathers, eager to establish “Domestic Tranquility,” would approve abortion, which at that time was regarded as an abomination.
Biden, who swore to uphold the Constitution, has no respect for the content of Alito’s 79-page document. His lashing out against a perfectly sound decision is an act that not only oversteps the bounds of his executive office, but disparages the Constitution itself. The system of checks and balances has thereby been shaken. The Supreme Court should not usurp the duties of the legislature, nor should the legislature contradict the Constitution. By the same token, the executive branch should not interfere with decisions made by the judiciary. The question America is now facing is whether a Benedict Arnold now occupies the White House?
An interesting parallel exists between the checks and balances of the U.S. government and the tripartite integrity of the Catholic Church. For the Church, the Magisterium is the authentic interpreter of Sacred Scripture. Protestantism broke away from the Catholic Church when the interpretation of the Bible was left to the individual. Sola Scriptura replaced the Magisterium. This is a rupture comparable to the executive branch attempting to replace the Supreme Court, thereby giving too much power to the president. In this case, a proper interpretation of the Constitution would be lost.
The Dei Verbum document of Vatican II states the following: “The task of an authentic interpretation of the Word of God…has been entrusted to the living teaching office of the Church alone. Its authority in this matter is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ. Yet this Magisterium is not superior to the Word of God but is its servant. It teaches only what has been handed to it. At the divine command and with the help of the Holy Spirit, it listens to this devotedly, guards it with dedication and expounds it faithfully. All that it proposes for belief as being divinely revealed is drawn from a single deposit of faith.”
Dr. Kenneth R. Craycraft holds a chair of moral theology at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary and School of Theology, the seminary for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. He offers a concise summary of the three-part synthesis that corresponds to the Catholic Church’s system of checks and balances. “It is clear, therefore, that, in the supremely wise arrangement of God, sacred Tradition, sacred Scripture, and the Magisterium of the Church are so connected and associated that one of them cannot stand without the others.”
Certain “liberal” theologians have called for a “second magisterium” which would replace the Catholic Church with an altogether different church. Others have argued that tradition is antiquated and no longer relevant.
Similarly, judicial activists want to change the Constitution so that America would no longer be America but an altogether different nation with an entirely different government. Both the Catholic Church and the United States government are currently experiencing a crisis of identity. The Church continues to oppose the divisive force of heresy, while the United States government endeavors to remain faithful to the Constitution and in so doing, preserve its system of checks and balances.
In both cases, there is a dissatisfaction with what one is and a desire to become something that one is not. It is the effect of pride running amok. In the final analysis, it is humility that will save both the Church and the United States of America.

• + + (Dr. Donald DeMarco is professor emeritus, St. Jerome’s University, and an adjunct professor at Holy Apostles College. He is a regular columnist for St. Austin Review and is the author of 41 books. He is a former corresponding member of the Pontifical Academy of Life. Some of his recent books, The 12 Supporting Pillars of the Culture of Life and Why They Are Crumbling, Glimmers of Hope in a Darkening World, and Restoring Philosophy and Returning to Common Sense are posted on amazon.com.)