Photo courtesy Los Angeles Times
The fan mail keeps rolling in, so I must be doing something right. The following came at a result of some spirited discourse, following my post entitled "Flectamus":
"DOH! Reading can be such a good habit. I think I might take it up. Thanks for clearing that up so quickly, and for not rubbing my nose in it."
Okay, I give up, my response was a little over the top. That is indeed regrettable, and I take this opportunity to apologize. Because you're right, sir, it's fair to remind ourselves about the importance of obedience, and the assurance it provides that all hell doesn't break loose. But...
First, I would share with my readers a little story about what obedience is NOT.
A young priest was called into his bishop's office. It seems he was preaching on a topic of some controversy, the continuation of which would have been the source of embarrassment by the prelate, who used this occasion to direct the priest to stop. Very well, the priest said, give me order in writing and I will cease immediately. Not willing to go on the record with this directive for reasons of his own, the bishop refused. Very well then, the priest replied, I assume I may continue to preach on the matter in question. He then begged his superior's pardon, and left.
When an authority gives an order, he takes responsibility for the consequences of that order. It is true in military law (lest senior officers go around "pulling rank" on other officers' subordinates at will), and it is true in the natural law, as well as in natural justice. More to our point, it applies in canon law. Conversely, when a superior is not empowered to give a particular order, and yet persists in doing so, or when he cannot otherwise take responsibility for the outcome even of a legitimate order, his subjects cannot be held accountable for his loss of credibility over the long haul. Such an authority has done this to himself. That is what is happening in Orange County. It is happening elsewhere in the Church.
Many of the faithful continue to take it lying down, so they excuse or explain away the misdeeds of their spiritual fathers, even in the face of public scandal. Then there are those who fall just a little higher on the food chain, who by the gift of discernment that comes with Divine Grace, have learned to recognize a wolf in sheep's clothing when they see one. The great heresies of our history have always been started by a priest, and the great reforms have always arisen from among the laity. There is more to the latter than anarchy; it is the result of the pursuit of virtue, and the frustration that arises from the lack of proper shepherding in the course of such pursual. For all the pretense towards maintaining order, these prelates have succeeded in the institutionalization of chaos.
And after awhile, when your intelligence, your piety, your deepest-held beliefs, are continually insulted by those whose lives are obstensibly pledged to the protection of the same... well, some people decide they've taken all the $#!† they can endure. That is what is happening in Orange County. It is what you will see happen elsewhere -- sooner, rather than later.
By the way, some of you may wonder what happened to the young priest I told you about. His name was Giuseppe Sarto. Most of us know him better as Pope Saint Pius X.
Not a bad resumé for such an upstart, don't you think?
Or don't you?
