Subsidiarity Within the Church

Thanks to Rick for posting Fr. Williams' interesting op-ed linking the U.S. Bishops' condemnation of Daniel Maguire's teaching with a reinvigorated subsidiarity.  I occasionally encounter resistance from students on subsidiarity that runs along the lines of -- "why should we respect the Church's insistence on a principle that it ignores in its own operation?"  Part of the answer, as Patrick would emphasize, arises from a proper understanding of what a body's given responsibility is, and some responsibilities are given to Rome.  (Of course, the debate over whether a responsibility has been given by God or grabbed by humans is not always easy to resolve.  Who gets to decide which gifts have been given to which body?)  Still, I thought about subsidiarity while reading Sacramentum Caritatis.  For example, Pope Benedict instructs us that the exchange of peace should be restricted "to one's immediate neighbours."  Perhaps the pope is prudently charged with instruction on all things related to the Eucharist, but it strikes me as a relatively minor example of practices that breed the over-centralization charge.