Refresher on Catholic Obedience

JMJ

I believe that the root of the crisis of the Catholic Church is disobedience to some form of authority.

The Protestants revolted against the Pope and the Church - denying Dogmas and casting aside much of the 'artefacts' of the Catholic Faith. All they have left are vestiges.

The modernists revolted against the Teaching Authority of the Catholic Church, undermining Divine Revelation and as a result denied core Dogmas of the Catholic Faith. This revolt emerged in full light at the Second Vatican Council and we've been suffering its effects every since!

The Popes, starting even under Pius XII gave way to innovations that, as a pebble starts an avalanche, ended in a revolt against the authority of Tradition in the Catholic Church. With the erosion of the authority of the Church, anarchy soon followed and the bastions against heresy were razed to the ground.

This is the phase in which we now strive to save our souls.

Re-establishing Catholic Obedience in the Church will be a big step towards emerging from this crisis.

First,what is obedience?

Obedience (Lat. obêdire, "to hearken to", hence "to obey") is the complying with a command or precept.
Stress is put upon the fact that one not only does what is actually enjoined, but does it with a mind to formally fall in with the will of the commander. It is in other words the homage rendered to authority which ranks it as a distinct virtue
As to whom we are to obey, there can be no doubt that first we are bound to offer an unreserved service to Almighty God in all His commands
On the other hand the obligation to obedience to superiors under God admits of limitations. We are not bound to obey a superior in a matter which does not fall within the limits of his preceptive power
Neither can a superior claim our obedience in contravention to the dispositions of higher authority.
We cannot heed the behests of any human power no matter how venerable or undisputed as against the ordinances of God.
All authority ... has its source in Him and cannot be validly used against Him. It is the recognition of the authority of God vicariously exercised through a human agent that confers upon the act of obedience its special merit.
Source: Catholic Encyclopedia

So what does obedience involve???

A superior vested with authority, who gives an order to a subject and the subject's decision to obey, disobey / disregard the order.

It is literally a chain of:

Authority → Superior → Order → Subject → Obey / Disobey / Disregard

The decision to obey / disobey or disregard an order depends on the nature of order and the sphere of authority of the superior. The order is either inside or outside the sphere of authority granted to the superior. Second, it either involves sin or not.

So looking at the chain of events we can come to a few conclusions:

Authority → Superior → Order → Subject → Obey / Disobey / Disregard

The matrix makes the decision making process clear and simple based on two questions:

Is the order in or outside the superiors sphere of authority? (yes / no)
Is the order sinful in either the immediate or proximate sense? (yes / no)

If an order is within the sphere or authority and does not involve sin (immediate or proximate), then the subject has an obligation to obey.

If the order is outside the sphere of authority and does not involve sin, then obedience is optional. St. Thomas labels to obey in such a situation as Perfect Obedience.

If the order would require the subject to commit sin (proximate or immediate) then they must disregard the order even if it was within the sphere of authority.

Note the difference between disregard vs disobey. I believe that you cannot disobey a sinful order because it isn't a licit order, so you simply disregard such an order.

So ... I've tried to make this as simple as possible. I have added links below to the other obedience series on Tradicat.

So remember to ...

P^3

Tradicat Obedience Series:
Series - Obedience
Series - True Obedience
Series - Breaking Down St. Thomas' Teaching on Obedience
SSPX.ca: True-obedience-the-mark-of-a-faithful-catholic

Rome,the SSPX and this time of Crisis - Updated

+ JMJ Obviously there's lots of events right now. First we have the April 1st - I almost thought it was April Fools - meeting between Pope Francis and Bishop Fellay. Nothing really news worthy as this is a natural progression as Rome appears to be considering fulfilling Archbishop Lefebvre's wish to 'accept us as we are'. Second we have the April 8th publication of what will be a verbose exhortation of the Synod of the Family. I'm willing to bet that the Pope will give with one hand (unilateral regularization of SSPX) and take with the other (ambiguous document that opens the flood gates of sin further). Much to pray for. P^3

The Vatican and SSPX – An Organizational Culture Perspective

Introduction The recent and continuing interactions between the Vatican and the SSPX have been a great opportunity for prayer and reflection. The basis for the disagreement is theological and not liturgical. As noted by Dr. Lamont (2012), the SSPX theological position on the four key controversial aspects of the Second Vatican Council are base on prior theological work that resulted from relevant magisterial pronouncements. So it is difficult to understand the apparent rejection of the theological position of the SSPX.

A Reply to Martin Blackshaw’s FLAWED Remnant article titled: FLAWED: SSPX Advice on Abortion-tainted Vaccines

+ JMJ An article has appeared in the Remnant (link to article) and I am afraid that there are a number of flaws in it that need to be addressed. The author, Martin Blackshaw, believes that both the Church and the SSPX are misapplying the principle of Moral Theology called 'Cooperation In Evil'. Unfortunately, Mr. Blackshaw rests most of his arguments on citing authors that support his position, without considering the possibility that they are wrong. This highlights a key factor in this crisis: ignorance of the faith and its application . I don't am not singling out Mr. Blackshaw for this criticism, I have observed that it applies to laity and religious, superior and subject a like. No one seems immune in this enduring crisis, myself included. I further believe that this ignorance is why so many Catholics, both traditional and non, rely on their gut feeling or "Catholic conscience" for charting their way through this crisis of the faith. While...

Battle Joy

+ JMJ I was listening to a Cd of John Vennari on Battle Joy ( Recapture the Flag: Dedication and Battle Joy - by John Vennari ) and it really captures a key point that Catholics (Traditional and otherwise labelled) need to adopt. We should see this conflict as a chance to prove our mettle for our King and to earn our unending reward. As veterans we'll be able to talk about the old battles in which we fought and the honour we gained in fighting for our King! Attached is a preview of course that, although secular, contains some of the elements of Battle Joy. P^3 https://www.coursera.org/learn/war/lecture/VDwfk/the-joy-of-battle

SSPX and the Resistance - A Comparison Of Ecclesiology

Shining the light of Church Teaching on the doctrinal positions of the SSPX and the Resistance. Principles are guides used to aid in decision making. It stands to reason that bad principles will lead to bad decisions. The recent interactions between Rome and the SSPX has challenged a number of closely held cultural assumptions of people in both sides of the disagreement. This has resulted in cultural skirmishes in both Rome and the SSPX. Since it is the smaller of the two, the skirmishes have been more evident within the SSPX. The cultural fault-line that Bishop Fellay crossed appears to be linked to two points of Catholic Doctrine: Ecclesiology and Obedience. The cultural difference of view points is strong enough that it has resulted in the expulsion of a number of members. It should also be noted that some other priests expelled since the beginning of the latest interactions (starting in 2000) held the same view points and have joined with the l...

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