Dear Friends,

The Catholic Church has a beautiful and sometimes misunderstood teaching about conscience. The Second Vatican Council, in Gaudium et Spes, describes conscience as the “most secret core and sanctuary” of the human person—the interior place where we stand before God and hear His voice calling us to love what is good and reject what is evil. The Catechism states clearly: “A human being must always obey the certain judgment of his conscience.” To deliberately act against what we sincerely judge to be morally required would itself violate conscience.

But there is an equally important part of Catholic teaching that we sometimes forget: we have an obligation not only to follow our conscience, but also to form our conscience. The Church understands conscience as a judgment of reason about the moral quality of a particular action. Because we can misunderstand, rationalize, be influenced by self-interest, or simply be mistaken, conscience can be wrong. That is why the Catechism teaches, “Conscience must be informed and moral judgment enlightened,” and adds, “The education of the conscience is a lifelong task.”

WE CAN HAVE A SINCERE CONSCIENCE AND STILL BE WRONG

Let me illustrate this with a simple story. A father gave his son a compass before a hiking trip and told him, “If you get lost, trust the compass.” During the hike, the boy became separated from his friends. He carefully followed his compass but soon realized he was heading in the wrong direction. An experienced hiker discovered the problem: a small magnet in the boy’s pocket was interfering with the compass.

The boy had sincerely followed the compass—but the compass itself needed correcting.

Our conscience can be much the same. We must follow it, but we also have a responsibility to form it well. Many “magnets” can pull our conscience off course—politics, social media, culture, individualism, anger, prejudice, fear, and self-interest.

That is why it is not enough to say, “I’m following my conscience.” We must also ask, “What is forming my conscience?”

Whether we realize it or not, our consciences are being formed every day—by politics, social media, news, family, friends, culture, our experiences, our fears, our economic interests, and even our resentments. Gradually, something spiritually dangerous can happen: the loudest voices around us begin forming our conscience more than Jesus Christ does. We may even turn to Scripture or Church teaching not to discover the truth, but simply to find something that confirms what we have already decided to believe. That is not the formation of conscience. It is the confirmation of preference.

Forming conscience therefore requires humility. It requires the courage to say: “Perhaps I am wrong.” Perhaps I need to learn more. Perhaps my political party does not have this right. Perhaps my culture has taught me something contrary to the Gospel. Perhaps my personal preference is not God’s will. Perhaps Jesus is asking me to change.

Ultimately, a well-formed conscience is not one that always tells me what I want to hear, but one that has learned to listen for the voice of God.

So perhaps the question to carry with us this week is very simple: Who is forming my conscience?

Fr. Paulson

The following Masses are livestreamed for those unable to celebrate with us.

Christ the King and St. Stephen Campus
Monday - Saturday
9:00am

First Friday Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and Mass
Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament will begin at 8:15am followed by Mass at 9:00am

Saturday
4:00pm Vigil Mass

Sunday
10:30am

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