Today is the feast day of St. Peter Chanel. He was sent as a missionary to the south sea islands back in 1836. At first the native peoples, including the King, were happy to hear the gospel. Later, however, when the King learned that if his people became Catholic he would lose some of his authority and priveleges, he decided that St. Peter Chanel had to be killed. The King had him beaten to death by a group of his warriors. Remarkably, five months later the entire island was converted to the Catholic faith.
This is the way that it is with everyone with authority. They are afraid to give it up, and when they realize that the Catholic faith frequently requires that very thing, they resist. We do that ourselves in our lives, do we not? We see something that encroaches on our "freedoms" and we immediately push back (usually, regardless of whether it is right or not). No one wants to lose authority; political leaders least of all, but we all fall into this sin.
How do we deal with our faith when it "steps on our toes"? How do we respond in this modern day and age when we come across a teaching of the Church that contradicts what we like believing, or that tells us we have to stop doing something we enjoy? We can respond like that King and try to eliminate the threat, or we can have the heart of St. Peter Chanel, who submitted himself to the Lord Jesus; even unto his death. Yes, it will be humbling to give up authority. Yet, we all must realize, only Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords, and unto Him must all crowns be thrown down.