Unconditional Obedience

Lynne and I recently attended an ordination Mass at The  Cathedral Shrine of The Virgin of Guadeloupe in Dallas. It was a beautiful ceremony, a well deserved celebration for a group of new Deacons and their families. I confess to one moment of discomfort.

In making his vows each ordinate approached the seated Bishop in turn and knelt. The Bishop asked "Do you promise to obey me and my successors?" Each one responded "Yes." I am reminded of that scene now that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has vowed unconditional obedience to his successor. I could never take such a vow.

As a former Army Officer I swore an oath to obey lawful orders from my superiors. Some of the orders I obeyed were difficult. Some of them I thought were bad ideas. Some of them I protested. But once a decision was final I obeyed without further question. "Lawful" was an important qualifier. Not only was I not required to obey an unlawful order, to obey would have been a violation of my oath to uphold the constitution. If the trials at Nuremberg did nothing else they burned into the conscience of soldiers that following orders is no excuse for crimes.

As a Catholic I take the Magisterium, the teaching authority of the church, very seriously. To do otherwise would have me make up my beliefs as I go. I'm not that smart. I accept many mysteries as matters of faith, in defiance of all reason. The idea of a Triune God is not the least. Transubstantiation is not far behind.

But it seems to me any thinking person should have questions about one teaching or another. Maybe even reject some. To do anything less smacks of intellectual suicide. I'll cite two examples, admittedly extreme but real.

Three years ago Bishop Thomas Olmsted declared Sister Margaret Mary McBride excommunicated for approving an abortion at St. Joseph's Hospital in Phoenix. The bishop went on to strip St. Joseph's of its Catholic affiliation. The medical facts aren't clear and I don't judge either Sister McBride or Bishop Olmsted but it appears Sister McBride believed her choice was to approve the abortion or allow both mother and child to die. She followed her conscience. I like to think I would have done the same. Bishop Olmsted was following the letter of Catholic doctrine. Direct abortion is intrinsically evil and always wrong. Sister Margaret Mary had excommunicated herself.

In 1945 President Truman ordered the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki resulting in the loss of many thousands of lives, mostly civilian. Just War doctrine holds the intentional targeting of civilians also to be always wrong. But Truman saw his alternative to be an invasion of Japan. The horror of Saipan led him to believe the cost would have been incalculable. The bombing ended the most deadly war the world has ever seen. I believe The President did the right thing.

Through the ages the Doctors of the Church have taught that we must first and always follow our conscience. When The doctrine of Papal Infallibility was adopted at the First Vatican Council in 1870 Cardinal Newman had serious reservations about it. His influence was strong enough that it was couched in such restrictive terms it has been used only once, in the 1945 proclamation of the Assumption of Mary.

Following one's conscience has its dangers too. Saint Louis genuinely thought he was doing God's work slaughtering Muslims and Jews. But over the centuries Popes have been responsible for enough evil for me to believe they should always be held to a standard of reason.  Blind obedience cannot be what God intends, even regarding His Vicar on Earth. It is unlikely my Bishop or Pope would ever ask me to do anything I thought was wrong. But if they did I wouldn't do it.