Claim. Filial piety is not blind submission; when parents diverge from God’s will, the child has a duty to counsel them back toward it.
Elaboration. SMM treats parental disloyalty to God as a domain where the child must speak: “If your mother and father are disloyal to God’s will, then you should counsel them. ‘Mother, Father, why are you acting in this way? The way of God’s will is such and such, and God’s will is like this, so why are you acting the way you are?‘… You have to try to persuade them. This is the right thing to do. It’s a big problem if your mother and father go the wrong way” (CSG 14.2 §2, 100-153, 1978.10.9). Higher: the filial son may pull the parent into public mission — “Mom, Dad, what are you doing? Please, let’s try together to find even one more person who can be a patriot” (209-266, 1990.11.30). The child’s vertical loyalty to God qualifies their horizontal counsel of the parent; submission is not the highest filial act when the parent is misaligned.
See also. csg-priority-conflict-favors-loyalty-over-filial-piety