J
JReducation
Guest
This is a cliche invented by laymen and clerics who wanted to find a “legal” way to disobey.
The Spiritual Masters have always said that one may never obey a command to sin. Therefore, it is pretty obvious that obedience is not blind. It requires that you ask the question, “Is this a sin?”
The Spiritual Masters also said, that if the person in legitimate authority asks you to do what may seem foolish or useless, if it’s not a sin, you must obey. They never made any allowances for, “Oh but it can lead me to sin.” That’s only speculation. Everything in life can lead us to sin, even receiving the Eucharist. I may feel a moment of spiritual pride; therefore, I should not receive it. That’s silly.
I keep saying this, but no one takes me seriously. If Catholics want to understand what the Church truly teaches about obedience, they need to read the Rule of St. Benedict. Catholic teaching on obedience takes its lead from the Rule of St. Benedict. Of course, St. Benedict simply applies what is to be found in Scripture.
I think this is why so many priests and religious come through here and disappear. Once in a while, a little suggestion like this can be met with, “Oh, that’s a good idea. I’ll thik I’ll read Benedict’s Rule,” instead of plowing on and on without educating oneself to what obedience and other things mean.
I’m not asking you to believe me. I’m inviting you to read the Master of Obedience, Benedict himself.
Calling people names is a violation of charity and a violation of justice. Those who do so are doing something that is sinful.
I go back to the same old point. Don’t be afraid of studying the masters: Benedict, Basil, Augustine, Francis, Romauld and Albert. These men defined, once and for all, the teachings of the Church on how to handle these situations. You will not find it in Aquinas. He was never a superior and did not deal with this. You willl not find it in other Doctors, because they had no need to re-invent the wheel.
The masters teach us to speak objectively and coldly.
Whether you’re a lay person, a religious or a secular member of an apostolic society, such as the SOLT, you must follow the Church. The Church will stand by the highest ranking person to speak, until the contrary is proven.
If we don’t do this, we have chaos. We have to acknowledge the rights of authority. This does not mean that authority has been fed all of the facts. It means that authority has the right and obligation to make a good faith judgment based on what it has. The superiors never claimed that they went on a fishing trip with Jesus where he laid it all out for them. They are saying, “This is what we have and how we got it. Based on this, this is our conclusion.”
Calling either the SOLT or Father a liar is a sin against charity and against justice. Just do what the Masters taught us to do. State what has happened and stop passing a judgment on things.
The Church grants the superior absolute power over the individuals and the properties of his community.
**The superiors have always a power of private or domestic order, called dominative, which permits them to command their subjects, and to administer property according to the rules of the institute; and the first superior of the convent, by appealing to the vow or distinctly making known his intention, can command under pain of mortal sin. Moreover, if they be priests, the principal superiors of religious orders possess the double jurisdiction of the forum internum and the forum externum, which makes them the ordinary prelates of their subordinates. **
Let us not take lightly the power and authority of male religious superiors. They have quite a bit of power. That’s why bishops back off when dealing with religious. We don’t go around calling them lyers, because it’s a sin against justice. In justice, they have a right to exercise power over individuals. As long as they use whatever information they have on hand and do so in good faith, they have a right to proceed. To call them liers is as if we were denying them the right over the individual. We cannot deny superiors their rights. They can forfeit their rights, if it is proven that they have abused those rights. That’s a separate trial.
Please, go back and read what the Masters have to say on obedience, the authority of superiors and what the Church allows them to do and requires that they do. Also read, the commentaries on Canon Law on the right to appeal. There is that right, unless the pope says that in his opinion you don’t have that right. Then the discussion is over.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
