De obœdientia

I want to say this about authority and obedience. It seems that there are two kinds of obedience... etymology will help... obedience comes from the Latin 'audire', to listen... adding 'ob' makes it 'to listen well'. I can voluntarily give my 'obedience' to another who is over me if we are both listening to the same 'voice'; this is genuine, human obedience... This is true obedience, while the other obedience is inhuman... and not genuine... but used to triumph over others...it is called 'blind' obedience. We all know the meaning of blind. We are NOT called to this. It is immoral, i.e. like planting turnips upside down, because 'I said so.'

- Fr Michael Mihalick