Putting Oneself Under Authority

June 16, 2007

When my wife and I were Protestant, we once made a major decision, but then after consulting with our pastor and discovering that he did not support our decision, we abandoned our idea because "we had put ourselves under the pastor's authority", and he did not approve of our decision. In every church that we attended, we used the language of "putting ourselves under the pastor's authority". In the process of becoming Catholic, however, we came to realize that as long as we had lived in this diocese, we had already been under the authority of its bishop, even though we were Protestant. We simply had not perceived that we had been all along under his authority. Now as Catholics we see that there is no such thing as "putting ourselves under" the true Church's authority. One does not "put oneself" under her authority; one is already under her authority. The question is whether one will submit or rebel. If you can "put yourself under" Church authority, then you can "take yourself out from under Church authority". And then who really has the authority? You do. Everyone in a diocese is under the authority of the bishop of that diocese. And one cannot take oneself out from under the authority of the Catholic Church by going to a place where a diocese has not yet been established, because the authority of the successor of Peter is not geographically limited. For every faith community other than the Catholic Church, one can put oneself under its authority. But one can never put oneself under the authority of the Catholic Church; one is already under her authority.