Sermons

The Primacy of the Catholic conscience By Emmet Costello This doctrine of the primacy of the adequately informed conscience has been part of the church's moral teaching for centuries. The Second Vatican Council made an important distinction between infallible and non-infallible teachings. "A Catholic who feels compelled to dissent … from infallible teaching … has no option but to sever his connection with the church. On the other hand, when the question at issue is the obligatory force of non-definitive teaching … then Catholics may dissent may dissent from such teaching for serious conscientious reasons and still consider themselves to be in full communion with the church." This teaching that personal conscience is the ultimate guide in all our moral activity was clearly taught by St Thomas Aquinas, probably the greatest Catholic theologian, in the 13th century. Aquinas held that an erroneous conscience was morally binding the that one is without moral fault in following it provided one has already made every reasonable effort to form a right moral judgment. The eminent English Jesuit theologian, John Mahoney, comments: "Aquinas has also taught that the conscience was the medium through which a human being received God's directive. He had therefore placed the dictate of conscience above any directive given by a human authority - which meant even an ecclesiastical one." In this context he could well have cited the famous words of Cardinal Newman in his letter tot he Duke of Norfolk: "I drink to the Pope - but to conscience first." Hogan, Jesuit moral theologian, concludes his lucid exposition of conscience thus: "The Council's teaching on religious freedom and on conscience helps to re-establish Aquinas' position on the primacy of conscience. Because of this, there can be no dilemma in regard to the relation of conscience to the magisterium (church teaching) since this official teaching authority should be understood as a faithful and welcome helper in decision-making, while our response should be one of free and responsible discipleship. It is an affront to humanity if others try to take over our consciences. The best teaching is that which respects not only the doctrine taught but also and especially the dignity and autonomy of the learner." Some Catholics imagine the church has the answer to all problems but in its Pastoral Constitution on the Church Today, the Vatican Council states that the church does not always have at hand the solution to particular problems, especially to new ethical ones; that bishops should not be sen as experts in everything; and that therefore, the appropriate response to modern problems is no longer to be seen as a monopoly of the church's hierarchy. Authoritative teaching implies basic competence, which in turn presumes learning. Hogan concludes: "The conferring of authority does not also confer competence." Hogan quotes the Anglican Archbishop Temple: "If your image of God is wrong, you would be better off being an atheist" because you may be led to do very wrong things in the name of such a God. "How true," writes Hogan. "We have only to think of the Crusades, the Inquisition, the religious wars in Europe … the 'troubles' in Northern Ireland … not to mention the modern phenomenon of ethnic cleansing, where religion and not race seems to be the dividing line." And he concludes: "An impoverished notion of God leads to a predominately legalistic approach to morality; such a view of morality in turn reinforces that impoverished image of God." To conclude: Pope John Paul II, in his recent message for World Peace on January 1st, 1999, stressed the primacy of conscience: "People are obliged to follow their conscience in all circumstances and cannot be forced to act against it."