Catholic teaching on conscience

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I’ll edit my comment, but that depends on the person. The strained argument of ie Calhoun, sure. And, yes, his ideas gained a lot of ground to perhaps even become a prevailing view in the South, but outside of that, the argument was mainly that it was a necessary evil. As I understand it, it was mostly after 1830 that the defense of the institution had to be changed as the crop grew more valuable and anti-abolitionist sentiment grew.

Thanks for the notice!
 
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otjm said:
Conscience can be and is formed within the Protestant world by the Gospels and by their theologians meditating on and expounding issues of conscience.
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Seeing as we have less than a month left in this forum let’s see if we can make it productive. I don’t think that the Gospels, or the Catechism, or theologians are the source of a well-formed conscience. I think that anyone, anywhere, can have their own inner sense of what’s right and what’s wrong. This doesn’t mean that everyone will love their neighbor as themselves, but it does mean that anyone, anywhere, has the capacity to recognize the virtue in that sentiment, and to live by it. Neither does it mean that they will, it simply means that they can. And it has nothing to do with whether or not they’re a Catholic.

The atheist’s conscience can guide them just as altruistically as a Catholic’s can. It may not be as codified as yours, but that doesn’t mean that it’s inferior to yours. Even someone without the law, can do by nature the things contained within the law, and we call such obedience a conscience.

A well-formed conscience isn’t just a Catholic thing. Now you may choose to use the Gospels, and the Catechism, and theologians as a guide, but there’s something to be said for that still small voice, unless you believe that Catholics have a monopoly on that as well.

I have a conscience…and because I do…I am not a Catholic.
 
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Capta(name removed by moderator)rudeman said:
Do you really have to ask that question?
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To be honest, from my perspective, what differentiates my conscience from yours…is indoctrination. I don’t think that it’s necessarily a lack of anything intrinsic, like compassion, or empathy, or intellect, or humility. I think that I have all of those things…so what is it that I lack?

Why does my conscience tell me something completely different than what your conscience tells you?
 
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lelinator said:
Why does my conscience tell me something completely different than what your conscience tells you?
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Because your worldview is informed by what Catholics consider to be falsehood. The basic assumptions and axioms of your moral system are wrong.
 
Capta(name removed by moderator)rudeman said:
Because your worldview is informed by what Catholics consider to be falsehood. The basic assumptions and axioms of your moral system are wrong.
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So it’s not that my compassion is in question, or my empathy, or my humility, or even my intelligence. And to be honest, it’s not even that I’m ill-informed, because I was raised a Catholic and I’ve spent many years on this forum discussing and debating the merits and ideologies of Catholicism.

Neither is it about axioms and assumptions because my rejection of Catholicism is based upon something far more fundamental than axioms, it’s based upon an intrinsic awareness of fairness, and compassion, and morality.

I reject Catholicism because it’s not compassionate enough, it’s not forgiving enough, and it’s not Christian enough. It has all the hallmarks of human convention and human frailty. To me it’s nothing more than a human construct masquerading as an image of the divine. It’s a golden calf.

Ultimately, I reject Catholicism because I cannot in good conscience do otherwise.
 
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For a Catholic, or indeed any Christian, conscience must also be in accord with divine revelation–those things we know because God has revealed them. Conscience must be in accord with the teachings of Jesus, who founded a Church specifically to carry on his teaching.
 
An erring conscience binds. If you think it is immoral not to assassinate the king to steal his money to feed your family, then you have dug yourself a hole. You are now going to sin no matter what.

The Church’s moral teaching (rightly understood - and the actual teaching, not ruminations or opining of churchmen, even very important churchmen) is never wrong. The conscience which directs you is wrong when in contradiction with the magisterium, which is guided (or “provided”) directly by God, Who knows all and never lies.

The real complexities begin to arise when one is faced with unclear cases of how to resolve certain kinds of difficult dilemmas (viz. probabilism vs. its rival theories). You are free to investigate that, and there are a variety of opinions (each with its problems), but thinking “my conscience is better than the teaching of the Church” is not a wise set-up for one’s eternity.
 
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Guilherme1 said:
She says, I think, that we must always follow our conscience so we can choose to do the right thing, but what if my conscience is telling me that the right thing to do is something that goes against a catholic teaching?
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She also says that we need to have a well-formed conscience. Our conscience needs to be informed based on what the Church teaches. You are right, an unformed conscience can go against Church teaching. CCC 1786-1802.
 
lelinator said:
I reject Catholicism because it’s not compassionate enough, it’s not forgiving enough, and it’s not Christian enough.
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Which, I hope you understand, is absolutely hilarious to Catholics and proves that either a) you have no idea what the Church actually is or b) you have no idea what any of those words actually mean.
 
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