During the period between January 2009 and December 2011, the bound edition of the US Code of Federal Regulations increased by 11,327 pages – a 7.4 percent increase. In 2009, the increase in the number of pages was the most for any year since 2002 – 3.4 percent or 5,359 pages. Over the past decade, the federal government has issued almost 38,000 new final rules. That brought the total of the Federal Regulations at the end of 2011 to 169,301 pages. That is more than double the number of pages needed to publish the regulations back in 1975, when the bound edition consisted of 71,244 pages. All of these regulations are contained in over 215 volumes, which occupy shelf space in excess of 19 feet. It should be noted that these rules and regulations apply only to those issued by the Federal Government; not counted are the innumerable state, county and city regulations imposed upon the citizens.
Most certainly and understandably, there exists in the country a painful, pleading hue and cry, complaining of the excessive number and complexity of the governmental rules and regulations, which restrict individual freedom and confuse the citizens. Of course, during each election cycle politicians respond to the public’s demand for a lessening of the regulations by promising to reform the entire process. However, once the election is completed, they proceed to draft more rules and regulations and the cycle continues, with no reform.
There is another organization that faces complaints about its rules and regulations. One of the most common complaints about the Catholic Church is that it is the “church of rules and regulations.” Or “Catholicism is only about rules and regulations, always trying to limit my freedom.” Truly the Catholic Church has a list of its rules and regulations, but this list is decidedly different from governmental rules, both in its size and complexity. It can be contained on only one sheet of paper, occupying no shelf space. Its simplicity is so inherent in its decrees that one instinctively knows the rules without even being able to read them. The rules and regulations of Catholicism are all contained in the Ten Commandments; simple, to the point, easy to understand, and bound closely to the very nature of man. These are listed below.
1. I am the LORD your God: you shall not have strange gods before me.
2. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.
3. Remember to keep holy the LORD’S Day.
4. Honor your father and your mother.
5. You shall not kill.
6. You shall not commit adultery.
7. You shall not steal.
8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
9. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.
10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods.
As simple and direct as these commandments are, Jesus Christ further simplified these easy to understand Ten Commandments into two, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” The Catholic Church mirrors Jesus’ love for mankind in the simplicity and directness of its statues. Man’s true freedom and happiness are enhanced when he observes the Church’s few basic rules.
“And by this we may be sure that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He who says “I know him” but disobeys his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps his word, in him truly love for God is perfected. By this we may be sure that we are in him: he who says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.” 1 John 2, 3-6