A Place for Loyalty?
One of the most powerful and memorable scenes in movie history is the baptism in the 1972 movie, The Godfather, in which “Godfather” Michael Corleone speaks for his godchild at an elaborate baptism in a Catholic church while he is having his enemies brutally slain.
“Do you believe in God…?” the priest asks Corleone. “I do,” he answers as the camera moves to a scene in which one of his henchmen guns down a victim caught in a revolving door.
“Do you renounce Satan?” the priest asks. “I do,” responds Corleone as another scene shows one of his lieutenants murdering a mafia rival in an elevator.
“And all his works?” the priest asks. “I do,” says Corleone as another mobster puts a bullet through the eye of a victim lying on a massage table.
A Willingness to Gamble with his Soul
The juxtaposition of the religious ceremony and the brutality of the slayings is considered among the great cinematic innovations by Director Francis Ford Coppola and has been widely copied. One commentary says Coppola was trying to make “a statement about Michael’s willingness to gamble with his soul.”
The scenes are open to lots of interpretations and issues. One that interests me is the conflict between cultural loyalty, as displayed in Corleone’s participation in the church’s baptismal liturgy, and his utter disregard of the teachings of his faith. Nothing new in this, of course. Few of us live – at least consistently – what we say we believe.
Loyalty is a top value in the Mafia, if you believe the myriad of stories and shows about the criminal organization. And for many Mafia members, being Catholic is simply part of the “culture,” seeming to have little to do with spirituality or actual faith.
There are still plenty of examples in modern life in which loyalty takes precedence over honesty, integrity, fairness or faith. It happens in corporations, the military, the government, families and the church. But not as often as in the past.
Not Highly Valued
That’s because loyalty isn’t highly valued in today’s world. Companies, for instance, are not particularly loyal to their employees, laying off people at the first sign of a financial storm. And employees appear to have little loyalty to their companies, going from job to job in constant search of better pay and working conditions.
It’s fair to ask where loyalty lies on the scale of values, and what difference it makes to people searching for God.
Dictionaries define loyalty as “a strong feeling of support or allegiance,” and “faithfulness to commitments or obligations.” Those qualities are important to God searchers, including those who are members of churches and synagogues.
Taking into account these definitions, loyalty is not about tribalism – defending your “tribe” against competitors – but about “putting your hand to the plow and not looking back,” as Jesus suggests in the gospel of Luke.
People making progress in their search for God are likely to do so in stages, perhaps two steps forward and a step back. But once a step is attained, loyalty prevents backsliding. That means that unless new and important factors are in play, we should resist the urge to go back over the same questions and issues that were part of previous decisions.
Maintaining Solidarity
And it means maintaining solidarity with whomever and whatever commitments that may have resulted.
In matters of faith, loyalty isn’t a matter of fidelity to an idea or an institution, although they may be part of faith decisions. No, it’s a matter of loyalty to a person, to someone you love, because faith is a personal relationship to God.
Of course, there is always tension between keeping commitments and the need to change. Being committed means “sticking to your guns” and being unwilling to change willy-nilly. Especially in life decisions, however, you can never fully know what the future will bring, so faithfulness doesn’t mean rigidity.
What loyalty requires, seems to me, is close to the legal definition of “Informed consent,” according to Wikipedia, which is usually applied to medical care. It’s consent “given by a person who has a clear appreciation and understanding of the facts, implications, and future consequences of an action.”
People who may find God, even incrementally, need to be loyal. As the psalmist says, people of faith need to “cling to him in love” and not be shy about acknowledging it.
