Post by Pacelli on Oct 22, 2018 12:42:39 GMT -5
The following is taken from The Works of Orestes A Brownson, from the chapter, “The Aspirations of Nature,” Vol. XIV, 1884, p. 568. Emphasis added.
The full book is found HERE
The full book is found HERE
The government of the church is not vested in the hands of the laity, and it does not pertain to them, even though editors of journals and reviews, to assume the direction of Catholic affairs, or to labor through outside pressure, or the force of public opinion which they may create, to compel the ecclesiastical authorities to favor a movement of any sort which has not received from them the initiative. It is no great stretch of humility on our part to concede that the bishops and clergy understand as well as we Catholic interests, have them as deeply at heart, and however unassuming they may be, are quite as well fitted to direct us as we are to direct them. If they fail in their duty, as individual bishops and priests may, it is not our business to call them to an account, for we have not been appointed either their judges or their overseers. We must leave that to God and his vicar. Appels comme d’Abus to the editorial tribunal are, in principle, of the same nature as appeals from the ecclesiastical courts to the council of state. Before we can hope to effect any thing for the conversion of the country, we who are Catholics must be thoroughly respectful and obedient to legitimate authority, so that onr bishops and priests may have freedom of movement, and liberty to mature and carry out their plans for the advancement of religion.
In a country like ours there is always danger of disrespect and disobedience to authority, save with those who have a simple childlike faith, together with great humility of character, or those who add to the same faith great and manly intelligence. The tone of the country is averse to authority; its very atmosphere is that of liberty,—we might also say, that of license, of insubordination. Young America rails at the " Governor," and has a great dislike to obedience. The very essence of Protestantism lies in its transfer of the ruling authority in the church from the clergy to the laity. Under Protestantism, power operates from low to high, the sheep choose, commission, and govern the shepherd; and when he refuses to let them stray whither they please, they dismiss him, and choose a new shepherd, who will prove himself more accommodating. Catholics who mingle much with Protestants, and in general American society, catch something of the Protestant tone, and there is always more danger with us of the laity tyrannizing over the clergy, than there is of the clergy tyrannizing over the laity. The laity, no doubt, have rights, but the more resolute and firm we are in asserting them, the more scrupulous we should be in recognizing and respecting the rights of authority. It were better that our rights than those of authority should suffer. What we call our Americanism does very well in the political order,—at least so our countrymen hold,—but it cannot be transferred to the church without heresy and schism.
In a country like ours there is always danger of disrespect and disobedience to authority, save with those who have a simple childlike faith, together with great humility of character, or those who add to the same faith great and manly intelligence. The tone of the country is averse to authority; its very atmosphere is that of liberty,—we might also say, that of license, of insubordination. Young America rails at the " Governor," and has a great dislike to obedience. The very essence of Protestantism lies in its transfer of the ruling authority in the church from the clergy to the laity. Under Protestantism, power operates from low to high, the sheep choose, commission, and govern the shepherd; and when he refuses to let them stray whither they please, they dismiss him, and choose a new shepherd, who will prove himself more accommodating. Catholics who mingle much with Protestants, and in general American society, catch something of the Protestant tone, and there is always more danger with us of the laity tyrannizing over the clergy, than there is of the clergy tyrannizing over the laity. The laity, no doubt, have rights, but the more resolute and firm we are in asserting them, the more scrupulous we should be in recognizing and respecting the rights of authority. It were better that our rights than those of authority should suffer. What we call our Americanism does very well in the political order,—at least so our countrymen hold,—but it cannot be transferred to the church without heresy and schism.