What is conscience, and must a Catholic always follow it?
Moral conscience is a judgement of reason by which the human person recognises the moral quality of a concrete act that he is going to perform, is in the process of performing, or has already completed.
Deep within conscience, a person discovers a law which he has not laid upon himself, but which he must obey: to do good and avoid evil. A person must always obey the certain judgement of his conscience; to deliberately act against what one sincerely judges to be evil would be to condemn oneself.
However, conscience can be ignorant or mistaken. We have a lifelong duty to educate and form our conscience. Conscience is not a license to invent one's own truth. It must be formed in the light of Sacred Scripture, the teachings of the Church, prayer, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Sources
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1778
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1783
- Romans 2:15
Awaiting review by the chaplaincy. Written in our own words; the Church's own texts are the authority.