Several of our priories were privileged during this past November to receive a visit from our Superior General, Bishop Fellay, who gave an update regarding the Church crisis and dealings with Rome.

One topic he touched on and which remains a stumbling block for many Catholics is the question of obedience. Indeed, most of us have been threatened at one time with the phrase: "You are being disobedient to the Pope." Liberal Catholics will claim that the one thing necessary to remain Catholic is an absolute obedience even to Liberal Church superiors. Conservatives will compromise and claim that the superiors imposing the Liberal renewal are not good but Catholic obedience requires us to "stay with Rome."

It is important to occasionally refresh our knowledge of this moral virtue of obedience in order to avoid falling into one of two extremes. As St. Thomas Aquinas says:

Obedience is a moral virtue, since it is part of justice, and it observes the mean between excess and deficiency. Excess thereof is measured in respect, not of quantity, but of other circumstances, in so far as a man obeys whom he ought not, or in matters wherein he ought not to obey as we have stated above regarding religion (IIa IIae, Q.104, 2, ad 2).

Let us first consider what the virtue of obedience is. Obedience is a supernatural moral virtue which inclines a person to submit his will to that of a lawful superior. The authority of the superior shares in the authority of God and therefore obedience rests on the submission each person owes to God. Thus God alone has the right to demand absolute obedience from us. St. Thomas says:

Man is subject to God simply as regards all things, both internal and external, wherefore he is bound to obey Him in all things. On the other hand, inferiors are not subject to their superiors in all things, but only in certain things and in a particular way, in respect of which the superior stands between God and his subjects (IIa IIae, Q.104, 5, ad2).

He goes on to explain, while speaking about the Religious:

If they be willing to obey even in other matters, this will belong to the superabundance of perfection; provided, however, such things be not contrary to God or to the rule they profess, for obedience in this case would be unlawful (IIa IIae, Q.104, 5,ad3).

True obedience, therefore, is relative to Faith and Tradition and if demanded contrary to them a Catholic has the duty not to obey.

As St. Thomas mentions there are two errors in regard to obedience; one by defect and another by excess. The first we call disobedience. The disobedient hold their own conscience as the absolute authority. They do not accept any authority over them and so refuse respect and obedience to anyone. Original sin, the sin of our first parents and the origin of all sin in the world, was such a sin of disobedience.

The second error, through excess, is known as false obedience. Those holding to this error say that the Church hierarchy has absolute authority and therefore obedience to Church leaders has no limits. Leaders command whatever they want and expect us to blindly obey, even when they contradict God’s Law by forsaking Tradition and Faith. Anyone who criticizes them or protests against what they say or do is labeled as Protestant or schismatic and may receive unjust or improper suspensions or excommunications. They have gone so far as to try and tell us that we must attend a protestantized Mass and that we are forbidden to attend or say the Catholic Mass of all times as codified by St. Pius V. False obedience is much more dangerous today than disobedience because it can take on the appearance of obedience and in this way has spread throughout the Church today as Archbishop Lefebvre once said: "Satan’s masterstroke is to have succeeded in sowing disobedience to all tradition through obedience (i.e., false obedience)."

True obedience is the mean between these two extremes. St Thomas teaches us that God alone, through His Church, has absolute authority over one’s conscience. The lawful superiors, such as the Pope, are to be respected as representatives of Christ but they are not infallible in everything they say or do and if they depart from Christ’s teaching we need not follow them. Pope Leo XIII in Diuturnum Illud wrote:

There seems to be no end in view for today’s crises in the Church. Things are going from bad to worse. Here in the United States, the Catholic Church has spent over $772 million dollars in dealing with scandals. Two dioceses have declared bankruptcy and indications are that several more will do likewise. Churches are being closed and parishes consolidated as the number of Catholics attending Church and available priests dwindle. False Ecumenism has thrown open the doors of Catholic churches to all religions seeking "unity in diversity". Only Catholics who refuse to accept these errors, opposed to 2000 years of Tradition and Faith as given us by Christ, are persecuted and threatened.

Yet there is, as always, still hope. Even with the present state of affairs things can still be turned around. This will only happen when we begin to practice true obedience to God’s unchanging commands; when we accept the unchanging truths His Divine Son taught and deposited in the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church; when we heed the request of the Mother of God to consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart. It is through obedience that His Kingdom will come on earth as it is in heaven.

But this work of restoration can already begin with each of us. Let us be faithful, obedient servants in our daily lives by performing our duties of state and avoiding sin. It is by doing this that we will establish Our Lord’s kingdom in our hearts and, thus, prepare the way for His kingdom here on earth.

Let this then be our attitude as we enter into the season of Advent and begin preparations for the birth of Our Savior at Christmas. Be assured of our prayers and best wishes for you and your families during the upcoming year. May you have a blessed Christmas and a happy, holy New Year.