Conscience and the Church

one

Conscience makes use of all of your knowledge

a.  It can sometimes seem, from the way people talk about conscience, that it is some kind of mysterious sixth sense that tells you to do certain things even against your better judgment.

b.  But that’s not conscience at all.

c.   As we’ve said before, conscience is where you apply your knowledge of right and wrong to concrete situations

                                         i.    And that doesn’t just mean some of your knowledge. It doesn’t just mean our own opinions or personal preferences.

1.  It means all your knowledge – including your knowledge that comes from the reliable testimony of others.

2.  And the most reliable knowledge comes from the most reliable testimony:

a.  that of God Himself through His Scriptures

b.  and through His Church

two

The only way to really know how something is supposed to work is to ask the person who made it.

a.  The only way we could ever truly know how we are supposed to work is if God Himself told us.

b.  And in Jesus Christ, that is exactly what God came and did.

c.   In Jesus God explained what is right and wrong

d.  Then the Holy Spirit inspired certain men to put that teaching in writing in the Scriptures

e.  But Jesus gave us something far greater than a book

f.    Jesus remains with us as The Teacher

g.  In a totally unique way, Jesus remains with the Pope and the Bishops – the successors of the Apostles to teach through the Catholic Church.

                                         i.    It’s why He told His Apostles “Whoever hears you, hears me,”

                                       ii.    and “Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

h.  When the Church teaches in its official capacity – it is Jesus teaching through it.

i.     And the best synthesis of Jesus teaching through the Church is found in the Catechism

                                         i.    To follow the teaching of the Catechism is to follow Jesus.

                                       ii.    To go against the teaching in the Catechism is to go against the teaching of Jesus.

                                      iii.    Its that simple

three

Jesus did not leave us blind about such important issues as contraception, or when human life begins, or homosexual activity or any moral issue for that matter

a.  Jesus is the Light Giver and he teaches through the Catholic Church

b.  Some people join a faith community for a sense of belonging…

c.   But the Catholic Church exists to give humanity the fullness of truth and a share God’s life.

d.  In fact, it doesn’t really make sense to belong to the Catholic Church unless you believe it provides you with the truth about how God wants you to live to be happy.

                                         i.    But if you accept the truth that the Church teaches, well, then that counts as knowledge which must direct your conscience.

                                       ii.    And if you don’t accept the truth the Church teaches, why would you consider yourself Catholic in the first place?

four

The Church doesn’t restrict your conscience, it enhances it

a.  Again, conscience is just the application of your moral knowledge to concrete situations

                                         i.    That means the more knowledge you have, the more truth at your disposal, the more empowered your conscience will be to make good decisions

b.  So the Church, who provides us with the fulness of truth, isn’t out to restrict our consciences, or stifle our consciences.

                                         i.    Quite the opposite. Only the Church, by handing on the everlasting truth of Jesus Christ, is able to maximize our moral knowledge – and so only the Church is able to maximize the power and precision of our consciences.

1.  If we’re going to follow our consciences, we might as well have the best-equipped, fully-operational consciences possible, right?

c.   So now we know that anyone who claims to be Catholic, but also claims to be following their consciences against the Church’s teaching, is confused about something.

                                         i.    Because either they don’t accept the Church’s teaching as reliable truth from God

1.  In which case, why would they call themselves Catholic?

                                       ii.    Or they know that the Church teaches the truth about right and wrong

1.  In which case, they can’t be following their consciences – because by definition, you can never follow your conscience against what you know to be true and good.

five

America, maybe more than ever before, is dominated by public persons, especially politicians, who claim to be Catholic and yet appeal to their consciences as they act in ways that are directly contrary to the Church’s moral teaching

a.  Obviously, these people are confused and conflicted at a very profound level

                                         i.    So they need our prayers. We have to beg God to help them sort out the contradictions deep in their souls which they’ve shamelessly broadcasted to the world at large.

b.  But let’s also be careful never to fall into the same trap ourselves – never to put our own personal opinions or personal preferences above the truth.

                                         i.    Let us be humble enough to learn the teaching of Jesus that comes through the Catholic Church

                                       ii.    And when we don’t understand a teaching

                                      iii.    Let us be humble enough to learn from people wiser than ourselves

                                     iv.    Let our knowledge of the truth set the standard for our lives, and not pretend that our very imperfect lives should set the standard for what is true or good.

c.   May God, through the Church, continue to strengthen and sharpen our consciences, and may He give us the grace to follow it better and better.