Conscience

Conscience Formation

a process of discernment

What is the conscience?

Definition:

Conscience is the inner sense of right and wrong that enables individuals to discern moral choices freely.

Should I always follow my conscience?

• Catholic Church says YES

• but you must make a sincere effort to form and inform your conscience rightly and honestly.

• Does your conscience talk to you?

• What does it say? – What you want to hear or what you need to

hear?

Heeding your conscience give you a sense of peace and integrity deep within one’s self.

Inner strength in Japanese Kanji

From Vatican II“In the depth of your conscience, you detect a law

which you did not impose upon yourself, but which holds you to obedience.

Always summoning you to love good and avoid evil, the voice of conscience when necessary speaks to your heart; do this, shun that.

For you have in your heart a law written by God; to obey it is the very

Conscience is the most secret core and sanctuary of your self. There you are alone with God, whose voice echoes in your depths.” Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, section 16

• While “feelings can/do influence our behavior” (Wilkes, 96),“following your conscience” is not the same as doing what you want.

• Rationalization/justification are often used to legitimize selfish actions as righteous or okay.

• This is subjectivism or relativism and this as widespread behavior erodes a society’s moral code.

“Conscience is NOT a feeling.”

How do you follow your conscience responsibly?

• Form it well– A well-formed conscience means:

research, dialogue, patience, listening, praying, reflecting, discipline, trust.

Forming your conscience

• Internal sources: – God speaking to our heart (prayer and

listening)

• External sources: – Moral teaching of the Church, Scripture,

talking to theologians– Parent/family/friends’ behavior and our own

experience

GuiltWarranted and unwarranted

– Warranted Guilt • a sign of a healthy conscience

– Two ways to know your guilt is warranted

• You know the act is wrong• You do it anyway

Unwarranted Guilt

• Scrupulous – Legalistic peoples that find security in rules

• Wrongly formed conscience– People that are given information/

assumptions about right and wrong that are mistaken

• from the text: Huck Finn freeing slave Jim from Miss Watson

Conscience off track?• Wrongly formed

– not just wrongly informed (once)

• Legalistic conscience– overly guilty conscience over breaking rules,

rules for rules’ sake. Could there be bad rules or laws or rules/laws that don’t apply at a certain time.

• Lax conscience– one that doesn’t care enough about what is

right/wrong. One does not reflect on what one is doing or the consequences. Too little guilt.

Guilt versus Shame

• GUILT is internal feeling– Focuses on action: what I did

• SHAME is external– focuses us on ‘who you are as a person’ –

feeling bad about who you are

• What is dissent?

• If internal and external sources come into conflict:

– One must follow one’s informed conscience. This is called DISSENT.

– One cannot go against one’s heart. – One goes against teachings of community

(Church, government)

Dissent

Dissent• “The Catholic Church teaches that living

by one’s conscience is essential to becoming a whole human being.

• No one – not one’s spouse, one’s friend, or even one’s bishop – has the right to dictate to an informed Christian’s conscience”

“Conscience Formation: A Call to Discernment” by Kevin Hanley, Ph.D.

Dissent is NOT doing what you feel like doing.

• Most people don’t do this properly – they react against teachings because they don’t like being told what to do. Emotions.

• Instead of doing research, investigating the issue and history of community through reflection and prayer, one decides to “dissent”.

making good decisions

“The conscience, informed by the moral teachings of the Church and Scripture, the instincts of the mind, and the stirrings of the heart – all utilized prayerfully – is the best buttress to personal responsibilities we have” (Wilkes, 97).