Responsibility

I ran across this quote again the other day:

"It is easy to make decisions on matters for which you have no responsibility."

It gets to the very core of the idea of submission to authority and learning our place in the world. Many people today like to spout and scream their opinion at others, merely because they like to hear themselves speak. They have no authority or responsibility in the arena of which they are speaking (and often no knowledge, for that matter!), but they still want to chime in.

The internet has caused people to lose the distinction between the idea that everyone has a voice (which is a good thing), and everyone should be able to make decisions regarding any subject whatsoever (which is an evil thing). It is one thing to be able to make your opinion known to others about a subject for which you have some concern. It is entirely another matter if you want to have an influence in something which you do not understand, and will not have to bear the consequences of your choices.

Take, for example, an experience I had in a parish years ago. I was asked by someone in the parish to "add in" a ceremony to honor the local public school teachers (the status of public schools is entirely another issue). I explained that Church law forbids priests from inventing and "adding in" anything to the Mass merely because they like it or want it. The person requesting said, "other priests have done it, why can't you?" There was no reference as to whether it was even right or not, just a prompting to, "do what they did!"

Aside from the grave error of innovation in the liturgy, there is the fact that the person making the request had no authority even to ask me to disobey God, and also no responsibility before God on whether it was right to do. Thus, if I gave in to the request, I am fully culpable, but the person making the request is not.

Knowing whether you are in the position of authority or not is a vital matter when it comes to the faith; but respecting that place is even more significant. When I request something of my Bishop that is in his area of authority, I am supposed to acknowledge that he is the one to make the call, not me. Furthermore, whatever decision he makes, I am to abide by it because I have no responsibility as a Bishop: he does.

Let us work to learn the truth before we easily pontificate about what we do not know. And once we learn, then let us pray for wisdom to know best how to apply that truth. Then, finally, when we have sought to apply it in a certain way, let us make sure that we respect fully whoever it is who has the authority to make that final decision; especially if we disagree with it.