Christian Suarez 9/18/12 Morality 6 Pg.

129- 131

Must I always follow my conscience? Yes; through our conscience, God calls us to be the person he made us to be. He instructs us how to act in the concrete decisions we have to make. If you go against what your conscience tells you to do, then you are ignoring the voice of God; not following what your conscience tells you to do makes you guilty of sin. As The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains: In all he says and does, man is obliged to follow faithfully what he knows to be just and right. A human being must always obey the certain judgment of his conscience. Deliberately to act against conscience brings condemnation. The judgment of conscience requires us to do the good that we have recognized. Can my conscience ever be wrong? Even a well-formed conscience can make mistakes. We must always follow the dictates of our conscience, even if it erroneous. The formation of conscience is a lifelong task. Conscience is never perfectly formed; rather it is always forming by staying informed. If you follow your conscience in good faith, even if you find out later that is was objectively mistaken, you are not guilty of sin. However, if you violate your conscience even if you find out later you are wrong you are guilty. Conscience is sacred, the most secret core and sanctuary of a person[where] we are alone with God. If you go against what you believe to be right, you are ignoring what you believe to be true. What factors contribute to an erroneous conscience? One major reason fro an erroneous conscience is ignorance. Sometimes a person may have overlooked an important factor, or simply was never taught the truth about some issue in morality. Free choice and intellect are two important qualities of being human. Ignorance also results from insincerity; a person makes little or no effort to discover what the truth is or where goodness lies (lazy and close-minded). Another sign of an insincere conscience is the person who has fallen into a bad habit of sinfulness that makes choosing evil an easy thing to do. Other factors that can lead us into making bad conscience decisions: ignorance about Christ and his Gospel, the bad example of other people, enslavement to ones passions, holding a false idea of the autonomy of conscience, rejecting Church authority and Church teaching in areas of morality, lack of true repentance or love. Our decisions of conscience must be free; freedom is the essential ingredient that makes us responsible. Sincere people make a life commitment to forming and informing their consciences through the virtue of humility. Conscience literally means knowing with or being witness to oneself or a knowing together. Catholics form their consciences in a Christian community that believes in Jesus. Faith in Jesus Christ, prayer, and seeking the guidance of our Christ-appointed teachers can help us form a good and pure conscience.