Obey the orders of the abbot unreservedly, even if his own conduct—which God forbid—be at odds with what he says. Remember the teaching of the Lord: Do what they say, not what they do Matthew 23:3. (RB 4.61)
Do what I say, not what I do?
Well, we’ve all been there. We shouldn’t be too quick to accuse others of hypocrisy. People who fail to live up to their own standards aren’t usually hypocrites: they’re just human.
So, actual hypocrisy involves a deliberate, conscious, sustained discrepancy. If you create an alias and leave remarks online that you wouldn’t want anyone who knows you to find out about, that’s hypocrisy.
As for hypocrisy within the Church, it’s nothing new. There have been fakers all the way back to Ananias and Sapphira. Of course, it’s disturbing when those people rise to positions of authority. When this happens, they’re never in isolation. A hypocrite can’t remain in power without supporters who collude to maintain the fiction.
Hypocrisy is always expedient. The anonymous cipher behind the false front has a goal. Sometimes it’s the glaringly obvious goal of retaining a position of influence (“accomplishing all the good we do”). Sometimes the real goal is so murky that only a brilliant psychoanalyst could uncover it.
If you’re a sincere person, you may be more easily duped at first, because you assume that others are equally sincere. They will play you. But when you figure out what’s going on, you’re not obligated to stick around for more. You’re free to move on in search of integrity. In fact, there may come a time when you must move on, if remaining means playing their game.
St B reminds us that the experience of other people’s dishonesty is not an excuse to behave badly ourselves. Even if you have no power to change the system, you can choose to remain honest yourself.
Children are natural prophets. They will call you out on your discrepancies: listen to them.
