David Morens and the Problem of Obedience

Recently the Church celebrated the feast of St. Maximillan Kolbe, a conventual Franciscan who was held as a political prisoner at Auschwitz by the Nazis until he offered his own life in exchange for that of a husband and father.

For his feast, those who celebrated the Church’s Liturgy of the Hours read an excerpt from one of his letters. In this letter he treats the subject of obedience:

God, who is all-knowing and all-wise, knows best what we should do to increase his glory. Through his representatives on earth he continually reveals his will to us; thus it is obedience and obedience alone that is the sure sign to us of the divine will. A superior may, it is true, make a mistake; but it is impossible for us to be mistaken in obeying a superior’s command. The only exception to this rule is the case of a superior commanding something that in even the slightest way would contravene God’s law. Such a superior would not be conveying God’s will.

For contemporary men of either modern or postmodern liberalism, this understanding of obedience is almost inconceivable. Having bought into the idea of radical individualism, the turning over of one’s will to a superior is dismissed as somehow against the dignity of the person. 

Note, however, how carefully the ecclesiastical counsel of obedience is circumscribed within the context of religion. Obedience is given only voluntarily through an act of the will. It is always restrained by God’s law; the obligation to obey never violates faith or morals. Finally, it is understood that such obedience is simply a higher level of freedom, freedom from the selfish desire of money, power, or pleasure. Such obedience is ordered to perfection of character.

This stands in contrast to the type of obedience we see demanded in a criminal organization such as the mob. Obedience is procured through force or fear. It is proven precisely through the commission of crimes against man’s law and God’s law. It leads to abject slavery to one’s superiors, with the payoff being access to money, power, and pleasure. Such a structure of obedience is a diabolical counterfeit of the real thing.

This contrast came to mind as David Morens, a former top NIAID senior advisor to Anthony Fauci, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud by destroying federal records. This was a man who lived under a regime of ruthless obedience. He knew that what he was doing was wrong, but he owed fealty to his co-conspirators. Even worse, the reward for his “behind-the-scenes shenanigans” was merely two bottles of wine. It is both sad and ironic that the wine was “The Prisoner.” 

It appears that, in an era which rejects religious obedience as a useless medieval artifact, we are left only with the dark counterfeit of it in our halls of government.

Consider the iron grip Nancy Pelosi had and Hakeem Jeffries now has over Democrats in the House; any abbot would be envious of such perfect compliance. Consider how, despite popular sentiment against war, Congress refuses to assert any responsibility for our ongoing military quagmire. 

Consider how governors in 2020 were clearly taking orders from unnamed people to implement lockdowns and masking. Finally, consider how countless individuals in the administrative state obviously work for the pharmaceutical industry and not the taxpayers who pay their salary.

Our system of government seems to be overrun by men and women who have destroyed any semblance of human freedom in their hearts in order to obtain and protect their jobs. Little by little their obedience is procured from those malignant actors whom they serve by demanding acts which violate their consciences until their consciences are dead and their characters are destroyed.

Let the sad character of David Morens serve as warning to both elected officials and administrative hires alike. There is nothing to be gained in the long run by being blindly obedient. In the end, it is the whistleblowers and the martyrs who are authentically free.

Elsewhere in St. Maxamillian’s letter, he laments that “[i]t is sad for us to see in our own time that indifferentism in its many forms is spreading like an epidemic not only among the laity but also among religious.” As we know, this indifferentism is what fed the rise of tyranny in Germany in the 1930s. It also fed lockdowns and mandates in recent years. It obstructs the reforms which are desperately needed today.

In the end, we are all obedient to someone. When in the service of evil, obedience destroys freedom. When in the service of good, obedience perfects freedom. Ultimately the fight is between free servants of the truth and those who are slaves to lies, and the fight for truth is always worth whatever it may cost us.

Just ask Maximillian Kolbe, priest and martyr.