Formation of conscience (1)

Following the intriguing discussion on the thorny subject of conscience, I tend to emphasise the importance that conscience should be formed. Why am I opting to support this position?

In view of the Gaudium et Spes affirmation that “in the depths of his conscience, man detects a law which he does not impose upon himself, but which holds him to obedience” (§ 16), the Catechism of the Catholic Church rightly purports that “conscience must be informed and moral judgment enlightened” (no 1783). Further on within the same number, the Catechism evidently explicates that “the education of conscience is indispensable for human beings who are subjected to negative influences and tempted by sin to prefer their own judgment and to reject authoritative teachings.”

In order to prevent and protect conscience from its impending fallacious and arbitrary exercise, the Church wisely encourages an integral educational approach. Two paragraphs down, the Catechism details that in the formation of conscience, the Word of God, the examination of our conscience, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the witness or advice of others and the guidance of the authoritative teaching of the Church (no. 1785) are powerful means through which our consciences undergo a solid moral foundation.

The current fragmented moral milieu strongly calls for a reliable “witness to the light” (Jn 1, 8). The Church is surely the candidate which can fulfil such a guiding role. As a matter of fact, in his encyclical on the Splendour of the Truth, Veritatis Splendor, Pope John Paul II reiterated the dire need that consciences should be enlightened by the Church’s authoritative teachings. “Christians have a great help for the formation of conscience in the Church and her Magisterium…. It follows that the authority of the Church, when she pronounces on moral questions, in no way undermines the freedom of conscience of Christians. This is so not only because freedom of conscience is never freedom ‘from’ the truth but always and only freedom ‘in’ the truth, but also because the Magisterium does not bring to the Christian conscience truths which are extraneous to it; rather it brings to light the truths which it ought already to possess, developing them from the starting point of the primordial act of faith. The Church puts herself always and only at the service of conscience, helping it to avoid being tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine proposed by human deceit (cf. Eph 4:14), and helping it not to swerve from the truth about the good of man, but rather, especially in more difficult questions, to attain the truth with certainty and to abide in it” (§ 64).

Finally, the Second Vatican Council’s Declaration on Religious Freedom, Dignitatis Humanae, asserts that “in forming their consciences the Christian faithful must give careful attention to the sacred and certain teaching of the Church. For the Catholic Church is by the will of Christ the teacher of truth. Her charge is to announce and teach authentically that truth which is Christ, and at the same time with her authority to declare and confirm the principles of the moral order which derive from human nature itself” (§ 14). How significant it is that such an affirmation was voiced within the context of a declaration that deals with the right of the person and of communities to social and civil freedom in matters religious!

As Christians we have both the right and duty to enlighten other people’s consciences by what the Church teaches on different issues that pertain not only to the domain of faith and morals but also those regarding various social and culture questions. The recent pastoral note on marriage and the family, emphatically advocates that “the Church is committed to convey these values (marriage and the family For its members who seek its direction, and for many others in society who would like to hear alternative views so as to be able to make a better enlightened choice as responsible citizens”. If we, by virtue of our baptism, are the Church, why not exercising our baptismal responsibility by conveying these values to other people, thus ending up educating ours and other people’s consciences in the process?