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I was startled in my tracks last week when someone asked me what conscience was and how is it handled in religion. Seeing my reaction he continued, “No, seriously, what is conscience?” he asked innocently enough. My first thought was to suggest he take a course in religious studies at the university where I had taught. Then I thought, how about asking your parish priest or some minister of any faith? These replies would have been the proverbial cop-out, a dodging of the question, the art of evasion when you don’t know the response you should give. My questioner knew I had taught media ethics for 20 years so there was hardly a parachute I could open to bail out from answering him.
So, we talked for a while, and it got me to thinking. My friend told me that many of his friends are questioning the role of conscience in faith especially related to civic responsibilities such as voting and taking partisan positions on issues or even the recent conundrum of what is tolerated or not tolerated in schools regarding gender identity. This was a heavy load to wade through so we decided several sessions were needed and I also encouraged him to seek out other persons who might be willing to discuss this with him. I had to admire his honesty in asking me in the first place.
I wondered how many of you might be asking the same questions centered on conscience. Somewhere in my undergraduate training I recall a Dominican theology professor telling us that the primary stand of the Catholic Church is respect for the individual conscience. This might mean that sometimes when it appears someone is ignoring a church direction on an issue, it might not be wrong for that person at all. This has become my measuring stick for nearly all conscience-driven issues. It seems that conscience can run the gamut from the simply practical to the morally responsible. Some decisions of conscience are easily and quickly made, and others need more reflection and guidance.
Along with other reasons, conscience also directs us in ‘confession,’ or the sacrament of reconciliation. Preparation for this sacrament is often called the examination of conscience. When you mention something you did that is considered wrong, you are saying you did not follow your conscience. Many psychologists hold that we are born with a conscience; we have an innate sense of right or wrong. I have seen this displayed over and over in small children who make decisions that mom or dad would not approve. Saint Augustine’s famous analogy is called the ‘pear dilemma’ by some theologians. Augustine as a pre-teen was sneaking through a pear orchard at dusk with some of his pals. The pears looked luscious and so ripe. The boys snatched them up—as did Augustine—but he was bothered by the choice they made. It was wrong to steal from a hard-working farmer even if the robbers were hungry and did not harm the trees. Augustine often recalled this incident as his introduction to the place of conscience and sin.
Almost all informed religious leaders agree that conscience helps us hear the voice of God and sifts the truth about how we are to live. But we are encouraged to do four activities to make a decision in clear conscience. First, we must pray. Our prayer needs to be open toward God’s will at any personal cost. Second, we must learn. This means we might study the issue, listen to persons who explain it honestly, but we must be aware of ideology, that is, explanations based on political or even religious bias. Third, we must take time to reflect on our decision. How will it illuminate the truth? Again, be aware of ideology. And fourth, we should nurture friendships or persons we can meet with to discuss our issues and not necessarily people of like minds.
Saint Thomas Aquinas wrote that, “Conscience is the application of knowledge to action.” So, we need to respect that people will act with limited knowledge but sincere hearts and desires for some good even if that action is not clearly in our personal purview of faith and doctrine. Consider that some people are not of our religion or if they are, they have needs exceeding our immediate answers to their dilemma. And we respect others of our own faith who seem fully informed, even with Church or religious guidelines, but may not act in their consciences as we think they should. Perhaps that is what inspired Pope Francis to say famously about gay Catholics, “Who am I to judge?” A conscience driven decision is not for any one of us to judge. A compassionate, merciful God understands.
Reflection
This takes us to the elephant in the room. What to do when I do not think the church or diocese is taking a ‘correct’ stand on an issue requiring a conscientious reaction on my part? Go to the four steps outlined above (which come from the U.S. Bishops’ Conference) and practice each one. If at the end, you still cannot, reasonably and wholeheartedly, accept the instruction, then act according to your conscience. Blind obedience is not a sign of health among thoughtful persons of faith.
All of us—this includes ministers and leaders of the faith along with the laity—are responsible, in conscience, to research and listen to the experts in fields for which we are not trained. Our decisions will then be crafted from a more conscience-driven motive generating a purity that embraces the persons in need with the fullest of our Christian motives. In doing so, we are not victims of politics or heavily funded ideologues protecting our domains. We might, however, be chastised or ridiculed or even excommunicated from religion, but we are then free with a clear conscience.
Pray every day to be open to the challenges we are facing as persons of faith. Try to practice the four steps outlined by the American bishops in the text above. Anyone can be blinded by the assurance of the rock-solid granite of doctrine, but God sees through the cracks. That is what we need to examine in questions of conscience.
Are there issues you wish you had more clarity on? Can you seek out open-minded people to help you with these?
Do you see the harm that a fixed mindset on any issue can foster?
Study the parables of Jesus to see where he addresses issues of clarity and conscience.
I am praying for all of you as we strive to be joyous and comforting in our faith.
Material taken from United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, “Understanding Conscience,” Washington, D.C., 2017.
In All Things Charity 
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