Speaking about obedience or disobedience,I thought it best to present a brief scenario on the “peculiar case” of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.Something to think about…?Was he a rebel?Or,hero?Read all of it,I’m sure you’ll find it very,very,very interesting.
CATHOLIC OBEDIENCE IS ALWAYS OBEDIENCE TO THE FAITH
It is the teaching of the Church that obedience is part of justice, one of the
four cardinal virtues, which are in turn subordinate to the theological virtues
of faith, hope and charity. Faith is greater than obedience! Therefore, if
obedience acts to harm the faith, then a Catholic has a duty not to obey his
superior.
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Now sometimes the things commanded by a superior are against God;
therefore, superiors are not to be obeyed in all things. -- St. Thomas
Aquinas, Supreme Doctor of the Church, Summa Theologica IIa-IIae, Q.104
But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach a gospel to you besides
that which we have preached you, let him be anathema. -- Galatians 1:8
THE FAITH AND TRADITION
Now the truths of our faith were received even by our Lord himself as a
tradition or handing down from his Father.
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Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine but His that sent
me. --John 7:16
Jesus said to them, Amen, Amen I say to you, the Son cannot do anything of
himself, but what he seeth the Father doing: for what things soever He
doth, these things the Son also doth in like manner. --John 5:19
For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father who sent me, He
gave me commandment what I should say and what I should speak. -- John
12:49
Likewise, our Lord hands the Faith down to us as a tradition through those
of our lawful superiors who are obedient to the Faith. Because the words
which thou gavest to me, I have given to them. -- John 17:8
OBEDIENCE WITHIN TRADITION
But many Catholics, forgetting that Catholic obedience is relative to the Faith
and Tradition, think obedience is absolute, with only one opposite,
disobedience. They are mistaken. True obedience has two opposites:
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Error by defect - DISOBEDIENCE. The sin of our first parents and the
origin of all sin in the world was a sin of DISOBEDIENCE.
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Error by excess - FALSE OBEDIENCE. Excessive zeal even for obedience, if
indiscreet, will surely lead to a great fall.
TRUE OBEDIENCE
According to the supreme theologian, St. Thomas Aquinas, true obedience is a
balance between twin errors of defect and excess, which are disobedience and
false obedience (IIa IIae, Q104, 5 ad 3).
Today this second error is common among Catholics who, when they follow orders
to depart from Tradition, falsely think that they are being obedient.
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Obedience is the servant of Faith, not of obedience. --Spanish Proverb
God must always be obeyed no matter what He may ask of us. Such was the
Patriarch Abraham’s obedience. Human superiors need not be obeyed if their
orders violate the Faith. Such was the martyr’s obedience.
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Error by defect - DISOBEDIENCE. My own conscience is my absolute
authority.
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Error by excess - FALSE OBEDIENCE. The Church hierarchy is the absolute
authority. Obedience has no limits.
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TRUE OBEDIENCE. God through the Catholic Church has absolute authority
over my conscience, BUT in the last resort God meant me to judge, if His
hierarchy is departing from His teaching. Obedience to men has limits (cf.
Galatians 1:8-9).
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Error by defect - DISOBEDIENCE. The Pope has no authority over me.
Error by excess - FALSE OBEDIENCE. The Pope is infallible in everything
he says and does.
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TRUE OBEDIENCE. The Pope, as Vicar of Christ, is given by Christ direct
authority over the whole Church, BUT he is not infallible in everything he says
and does.
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Error by defect - DISOBEDIENCE. No respect at all is allowed to
superiors.
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Error by excess - FALSE OBEDIENCE. I may never criticize any superior
under any circumstance.
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TRUE OBEDIENCE. Lawful superiors are to be respected as the
representatives of Christ, BUT if they depart gravely from the Catholic Faith, I
may even rebuke them in public (cf. Galatians 2:11-14).
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Error by defect - DISOBEDIENCE. I will not obey men, even pretending to
be servants of God, be they bishops or priests.
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Error by excess - FALSE OBEDIENCE. I will obey the bishops or priests
even when the disobey God by forsaking Tradition.
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TRUE OBEDIENCE. I will gladly obey the appointed servants of God,
legitimate bishops or priests, BUT not when I know they are leading men away
from God.
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Error by defect - DISOBEDIENCE. I protest against the leaders of the
Church claiming to have authority.
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Error by excess - FALSE OBEDIENCE. Whoever protests against anything a
Church official does or says is Protestant.
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TRUE OBEDIENCE. I will always respect the Church authorities as such (cf.
John 18:23, Acts 23:5), BUT I need not follow Church leaders who violate the
traditions of the Faith.
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Error by defect - DISOBEDIENCE. Church punishments like excommunication
or suspension are meaningless.
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Error by excess - FALSE OBEDIENCE. Even unjust or improper suspensions or
excommunications are legally binding.
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TRUE OBEDIENCE. Church punishments are terrifying instruments of God’s
law when valid, BUT when they are without foundation they are not valid (1917
Code, c. 2242, 1983 Code, c. 1321).
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Error by defect - DISOBEDIENCE. I will attend no Catholic Mass.
Error by excess - FALSE OBEDIENCE. I will attend even a Protestantized
Mass if my superiors tell me to.
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TRUE OBEDIENCE. I must attend the Catholic Mass, BUT I am not obliged to
attend a Protestantized Mass, because it destroys the Catholic Faith.
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O senseless Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that you should not obey
the truth......who hath hindered you, that you should not obey the truth?
-- Galatians 3:1, 5:7
WE OUGHT TO OBEY GOD RATHER THAN MEN (ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 5:29)
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And there is no reason why those who obey God rather than men should be
accused of refusing obedience; for if the will of rulers is opposed to the
will and the laws of God, these rulers exceed the bounds of their own
power and pervert justice, nor can their authority then be valid, which,
when there is no justice, is null. -- Leo XIII, Diuturnum Illud
Satan’s masterpiece is to have succedEed in sowing disobedience to all
Tradition through obedience (i.e., false obedience). -- Archbishop Marcel
Lefebvre
OBJECTION: But by defending disobedience to modern church officials in some
case, are you not encouraging anarchy and disorder in the Church?
REPLY: By no means! It is the modernists who are causing anarchy and confusion
by disobeying Sacred Traditions.
CATHOLIC OBEDIENCE MUST ALWAYS BE TO THE FAITH.
So it was in St. Peter’s day.
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Where there is a proximate danger to the Faith, prelates must be
rebuked,even publicly, by their subjects. Thus St. Paul, who was subject
to St. Peter, rebuked him publicly. --St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on
the Epistle to the Galatians 2:14
So it was in St. Bellarmine’s day.
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When the Supreme Pontiff pronounces a sentence of excommunication which is
unjust or null, it must not be accepted, without, however, straying from
the respect due to the Holy See. --St. Robert Bellarmine
So it must still be today.
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All disciplinary authority, all obedience to a bishop presupposes the
pure teaching of the Holy Church. Obedience to the bishop is grounded in
complete faith in the teaching of the Holy Church. As soon as the
ecclesiastical authority yields to pluralism in questions of faith, it has
lost the right to claim obedience to its disciplinary ordinances.
--Prof. Dr. Dietrich von Hildebrand, The Devastated Vineyard (Chicago,
1973), pp. 3-5
And immediately the cock crew again. And Peter remembered the word Jesus
had said unto him: Before the cock crow twice, thou shalt thrice deny me.
And he began to weep. --Mark 14:72
