IV.

CONSCIENCE
701. For most Filipinos, conscience is understood as a kind of inner voice (tinig ng budhi) which guides us
in our moral life. This can mean our basic tendency toward the good, the “voice always summoning us to
love the good and avoid evil.” More concretely it refers to applying objective moral norms to our
particular acts: “the voice of conscience can, when necessary, speak to our hearts more specifically: do
this, shun that.” As such, conscience acts as “the proximate norm of personal morality” (VS 60) for
discerning good and evil (cf. CCC 1796).

On our part, we perceive and acknowledge the imperatives of the divine law through the mediation of
conscience. In all our activity we are bound to follow our conscience faithfully, in order to come to God,
for whom we were created (DH 3).

To obey conscience is “our very dignity; according to it we will be judged” (GS 16; cf Rom 21:15f).

702. A common misunderstanding arises here. How can I be free if I am “bound,” morally obliged, to
follow the moral law and dictates of conscience? This complaint is based directly on the misconception
of freedom as “doing what I want.” Our built-in tendency toward self-centered use of freedom is so
deep that only the liberating grace of God can help us work against this abiding inner effect of original
sin (cf. GS 17).

703. The truth is that freedom of conscience carries with it a corresponding duty to respect the same
freedom in others. Each person has the right, original in human nature, to be recognized and respected
as a free and responsible being (cf. CCC 1931; GS 27). Moral obligation, then, far from destroying
authentic freedom, pertains only to our free thoughts, words and deeds, and guides them toward true,
genuine freedom. Whenever we try to free ourselves from the moral law and become independent of
God, far from gaining genuine freedom, we destroy it. Vatican II admirably captures this apparent
paradox of freedom and moral obligation coexisting: “God calls us to serve Him in Spirit and in truth.
Hence we are bound in conscience but stand under no compulsion . . . we are to be guided by our own
judgment and to enjoy freedom” (DH 11).

704. Formation of Conscience. But our conscience is not something “automatic.” It is gradually shaped
through all the many and complex factors that enter into our growth to Christian maturity. Family
upbringing, basic education and catechesis in the Faith, our cultural attitudes and values, the friends we
grow with in school, and the larger social environment of the community __ all influence the
development of conscience. Crucial to correct understanding of our conscience is its essential relational
dimension. Our ongoing moral experiences, within which our consciences gradually take shape, are
never isolated, but rather always involve countless interactions with parents, guardians, relatives,
friends, neighbors, teachers, religious and priests, within the social groupings of family, school, parish
and community.

705. When the circumstances of life challenge us with difficult choices, we become more aware of the
need to form a right conscience. In complex modern conditions, with new sensitivities (e.g., solidarity,
social justice, peace), new demands and hopes (equal rights, liberation movements, feminism), moral
judgments are more difficult and less certain. In such cases, where there are often legitimate differences
among Catholics, we must be careful not to identify our opinion with the authority of the Church (GS
43). Rather, our conscience therefore needs to be both enlightened and informed (cf. CCC 1783-85).

706. Levels of Conscience. We realize that “the education of conscience is a lifelong task. From the
earliest years, it awakens the child to the knowledge and practice of the interior law recognized by
conscience” (CCC 1784).

Due weight being given to the advances in psychological, pedagogical and intellectual sciences. Children
and young people should be helped to develop harmoniously their physical, moral and intellectual
qualities. They should be trained to acquire gradually a more perfect sense of responsibility. . . . Children
and young people have the right to be stimulated to make sound moral judgments based on a well-
formed conscience and to put them into practice with a sense of personal commitment (GE 1).

707. Forming a Christian Conscience. But to form the conscience of a disciple of Christ, the key is
obviously Christ and his Spirit, experienced within Christ’s community, the Church. The formative
process takes place in faith and through prayer, by attending to the Word of God and the teachings of
the Church, and by responsiveness to the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Critical reflection on the events and
experiences of our life helps us in forming moral judgements. It is in living out the faith that we form our
Christian consciences. Two types of formative factors, are stressed: 1) “heart” factors such as reading
and reflecting on Jesus’ teaching and actions, and our affective prayer and sacramental life wherein we
encounter the Risen Christ; and 2) “mind” factors __ attending “to the sacred and certain doctrine of the
Church, whose duty is to authoritatively teach that Truth which is Christ himself, and also to declare and
confirm those principles of the moral order which have their origin in human nature itself” (DH 14).

708. Types of Conscience. St. Paul distinguishes good people from the bad, according to their faith and
good or bad consciences. He admonishes Timothy: “Hold fast to faith and a good conscience. Some, by
rejecting the guidance of conscience, have made shipwreck of their faith” (1 Tim 1:19). He warns against
“the hypocrisy of liars with branded consciences” (1 Tim 4:2), and “those defiled unbelievers . . . [whose]
minds and consciences are tainted” (Ti 1:15). This manifests the critical importance of conscience for
becoming an authentic person and disciple of Jesus Christ.

709. But even within sincere believers, conscience at times can be erroneous __ we mistakenly judge
something that is really evil to be good, or something good to be evil. “Conscience frequently errs from
invincible ignorance without losing its dignity” (GS 16; cf. CCC 1791-93). Forming a Christian conscience,
therefore, includes correcting any errors in conscience by instruction in the relevant moral values and
precepts which provide a correct vision of Christ’s moral witness. “The more a correct conscience
prevails, the more do persons and groups turn aside from blind choice and try to be guided by the
objective standards of moral conduct” (GS 16).

710. At other times we experience feelings of guilt __ when we are bothered by having acted against
some norm or rule. These guilt feelings can be a result of an authentic Christian conscience __ when we
have acted contrary to the Gospel. But the guilt feelings could also be the result merely of shame over
breaking some social or cultural “taboo.” Formation of an authentic Christian conscience here means
clarifying the difference between true moral guilt (a true “guilty conscience”) and psychological guilty
feelings which do not necessarily involve any moral fault. “The [genuine] sense of sin disappears
when it becomes identified with morbid feelings of guilt or with the simple breaking of rules or precepts
of the law” (RP 18).

711. Work of Conscience. Chapter 15 takes up moral norms which our consciences use in discerning
good from evil. Here we wish to treat only of what makes our acts good or evil. What does conscience
have to decide on? Traditionally three dimensions of every moral act have been highlighted: 1) the act
chosen, 2) the intention, and 3) the circumstances (cf. CCC 1750-56). The three are dimensions of the
one moral act; hence they must always be considered together to make an adequate moral judgment.
For to focus only on the “act chosen” would forget the personal agent and the context. To stress only
the “intention” neglects the objective nature of the moral act: a good intended end does not justify
using means that are evil. Finally, considering only the circumstances would be to close one’s eyes to the
objective nature of the act chosen, and all moral norms.