In the History of Apollonius, King of Tyre, a novelistic tale from the sixth century C.E., Apollonius’ daughter Tharsia is carried off by pirates and sold to a pimp. But when she next encounters her father, she is able to describe herself as “an innocent maiden who keeps virginity inviolate amidst the shipwreck of chastity,” and sings a little song that begins:

I make my way through filth, but am unaffected by the filth,
as a rose among thorns is not pierced by their barbs.
Pirates carried me off when they attacked with wicked sword,
and now, though sold to a pimp, I have never sullied my purity.

I wonder if Justice Barrett can make the same claim. Borne along by the enthusiasm of religious extremists and manic reactionaries, she has made her way, guided by the Pirate, Donald Trump, and the Pimp, Mitch McConnell, through the brothel that is the Republican senate all the way to the Supreme Court. Has she come through all this filth without being affected by it? Justice Barrett is by all accounts an honest and moral person. Did she hold her nose as she passed through the nomination and confirmation process, or did she come to accept the smell of partisan dishonesty? We wait to see.

Assuming the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett, I’ve been thinking about who will control her vote. She’s been an extra good and smart little Catholic girl, and her career shows that she much prefers submission to opposition. 

First: Amy better be prepared to do what her husband, Jesse, tells her. The sect to which she belongs that is called People of Praise declared: “We follow the New Testament teaching that the husband is the head of the family, and we have patterned our community on this New Testament approach to family life.” 

Here are some of the New Testament teachings on which the People of Praise claim to base its patriarchal ethos and organization.

1 Cor 14:34:  

Women should keep silent in the churches, for they are not allowed to speak, but should be subordinate, as even the law says.

Eph 5:22-24:  

Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is head of his wife just as Christ is head of the church, he himself the savior of the body. As the church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything.

Col 3:18:  

Wives, be subordinate to your husbands, as is proper in the Lord.

Second: It goes without saying that Amy better be ready to do what the People of Praise tell her. The People of Praise is a sect, and forms of coercion, including theats of exclusion, that sects employ to keep members in line might be assumed to be operative in this group. What if Amy’s legal opinions conflict with the People’s patriarchal hard line. Will they expel her from the society?

Third: Though a member of P. of P., Amy is a very public and obedient Roman-Catholic. Now the Catholic Church has rather unbending principles about distribution of wealth, about militarism, about the death penalty, about racial equality, about the family, about sexuality, about the right to life “from conception to natural death.” It hardly needs to be said that American popular and political morality are quite opposed in many respects to Catholic social teaching. What will Amy do when a conflict between the two moralities arises? Will she overlay the teachngs of the Church on the country’s laws, i.e., will she find this or that illegal or unconstitutional if it runs contrary to a Catholic point of view? The Church too can be quite coercive. Reactionary and Republican Catholics routinely howl for the excommunication of those in public life who are Catholics, but depart from the patriarchism that is the religion of the Catholic Right. Is Amy Coney Barrett ready to stand up to the Catholic establishment that has cossetted and celebrated her over the years? I guess we are going to find out.