Authority and obedience. Kindness and abuse.

"Here I am, Lord, to do your will.” (Heb 10:7) These words present Christ's mission, referring to the authority of the Father and the obedience of the Son. Authority and obedience appear here in a very different way from how we perceive them today in the wake of demands for different types of abuse, especially in consecrated life. At the very least, both terms arouse a certain suspicion and mistrust, yet we find none of these reactions in Christ with regard to the Father., “It wasn't like that at first.” (Mt 19:8).

Authority is the quality of the author; the author has authority over his work and has a relationship of authorship with it. The work has come from his hands, or better still, from his heart. As the words of the Book of Wisdom say: “You love everything you have created, because if you didn't, you wouldn't have created it.” (Wisdom 11:24). Just as an artist expresses what is in his heart, so too has the divine author expressed what is eternally in his Heart. God is “the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name” (Ephesians 3:15), is the principle of all authority (cf. Romans 13:1), and it is a sacred principle, which in Greek is called “hierarchy.” And this principle, this authority, desires our sanctification (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:3), our salvation, that we may know the truth (cf. 1 Thessalonians 2:4-5). 

Faced with such a loving plan, Christ listens attentively, that is, he obeys in order to bring about salvation. Authority, hierarchy, salvation, truth, obedience... Properly framing these terms is essential for us to correctly address the problem of abuse. 

Only if we understand them in light of God's truth and the relationship between them will we realize their goodness and, therefore, the seriousness of the abuses.

In consecrated life

Consecrated life appears from the outset as an attempt to live a more radical following of Christ, which is undoubtedly a good thing. 

In this desire to follow and imitate Christ, consecrated life can be a place where one can grow in grace, in service to God and to others. Unfortunately, however, the very environment of consecration lends itself to becoming a breeding ground for situations of abuse. Situations that, on the other hand, can occur in any other human relationship where there is authority (family, school, work, politics...), but which are more pressing in consecrated life because of the mission to live and show charity in a particular way. 

All types of abuse are, as the term suggests, a form of use that deviates from what it should be, seeking self-interest rather than the common good, the good of communion. God does not “use” his creation, much less his Son or human beings, but rather enjoys his relationship with them, enjoys communion, that relationship in which all grow in charity. 

Therefore, all abuse is a sin that damages and can destroy charity, the relationship with God, and always first and foremost the person who commits the abuse, even if they do not realize it. Given the condition of man, we must recognize that sin existed, exists, and will exist as long as men, each one individually, do not strive to convert to Jesus Christ. Since sin distances man from God, we must also point out that there is a darkening of faith and hope along with charity: the divine life in the believer is darkened.  

Seeking God

It is essential to take into account both the divine origin of authority and the reality of man. This anthropological perspective, which considers human beings as created, fallen, and redeemed, is the key to understanding their actions and also to acting appropriately in situations of abuse.

In order to prevent, as far as possible, any type of abuse, particularly in the religious sphere, it is necessary to rethink the situation from the perspective of one's relationship with God. A person who abuses another is searching for themselves, and is therefore a person who is in a state of great weakness and deprivation, even if this is not apparent from the outside. They are someone who does not know or feel loved by God and therefore seeks other loves. These situations are not easy to discern, because sometimes abuse can occur while pretending to seek service to God, as would have happened to Saint Martha had she not been warned by the Lord. These are not holy concerns, but worldly and even sinful ones. They are cases of psychological manipulation common to other areas, which are aggravated by the fact that they occur in a religious environment.

Recognizing abuse

On the other hand, there are other people who, faced with these personal weaknesses, react by seeking security and stability in others, which is why the convergence of these two types of people, dominant and dependent, facilitates the emergence of abuse. Added to all this is the human difficulty, in all areas, of recognizing one's own mistakes, weaknesses, and sins. Recognizing abuse is difficult for both the abuser and the abused, more so than one might initially think. This is not to say that those who are abused are always weak people: a strong person can be the victim of abuse, but it will be easier for them to detect it or find ways to defend themselves, seek support, report it, and leave; although there are situations of abuse that can end up destroying this initial strength.

In times of cultural confusion such as those we are experiencing, it is normal for processes to occur in which some people, perhaps with good intentions, end up doing harm. It is important to discern between leadership and authority. There are people who have a strong character, capable of attracting others and leading them toward a goal. But this leadership is not identifiable with authority, in the sense that we have described above. Our society, because of painful experiences with authority, has come to reject it, and has extrapolated this situation from the human to the divine, ending up rejecting God. The worst thing is that this worldly distrust of authority has also crept into the Church, and just as leaders are sought in the worldly sphere, so too in the Church there is a tendency to promote leadership over authority. Understanding what each thing is and their differences is also an urgent task today.

The difficulty in discovering and stopping these processes, as the cases we know show us, is much greater than we initially thought. Evil hides and defends itself. Thus, the desire for unity can end in uniformity, discretion in secrecy, separation in isolation... For this reason, it would also be important to promote a more detailed and exhaustive study of human action, in order to better understand how intention is formed, how the will moves, when intention deviates, what role affectivity plays in this process, etc. 

The complex current situation requires a theological rethinking of the problem, a more detailed analysis of the cultural situation, including within the Church, a more careful study of human action, and continued use of spiritual and psychological means to prevent, stop, and heal abuse.