My dear parishioners,
Peace! In other bulletins (4 December, 2016-11 June, 2017) we have considered the teaching of the Catechism of the Catholic Church on “conscience.” We then turned to Saint John Paul II’s encyclical letter Veritatis splendor (6 August, 1993) which addresses fundamental moral issues, including “conscience” more than one hundred times. These reflections were begun earlier (6 April, 2018-30 May, 2018). Here we now consider a passage from Veritatis splendor, 64.2.
Saint John Paul II (+2005) when considering the “seeking what is true and good” reminds us that “the Christian faithful must give careful attention to the sacred and certain teaching of the Church” when “forming their conscience.”
What are the sacred and certain teachings of the Church which help us form our conscience? The Decalogue or Ten Commandments (and all their parts) are a part of the sacred and certain teaching of the Church which help us to form our conscience. Three Doctors of the Church come to mind when considering sacred and certain teaching of the Church to help us form our conscience. Saint Gregory the Great (+604) has some insights into the good we should do and the evil we should avoid in his Moralia in Job (Jackson, MI: Ex Fontibus, 2012). Saint Thomas Aquinas (+1274) also considered the moral requirements of the Decalogue and our moral life, providing valuable insights in God’s Greatest Gifts: Commentaries on the Commandments and the Sacraments (Manchester, NH: Sophia, 1997) as well as the Summa Theologiae (I-II Q. 7-89; II-II Q. 47-170). Saint Alphonsus Liguori (+1787) in his Moral Theology (Post Falls, ID: Mediatrix, 2017) show us why he is the patron of moral theologians, even as he shows us how to live holy lives pleasing to God. Besides her saints, Mother Church helps us to form our consciences by her formal teaching as well. The Catechism of the Council of Trent first published in 1566 and the more recent Catechism of the Catholic Church published in 1992 are both very helpful in the formation of conscience by providing sacred and certain teachings of the Church concerning both faith and morals.
What does “careful attention” look like? If we never seek out just what the Church teaches concerning faith and morals how could it be said that we are paying “careful attention”? If we actually seek out what Mother Church teaches and then, because it requires conversion (which entails humility and fortitude) or we don’t like what we found disregard what was found how can we claim to be giving careful intention to the same? Jeremy Bentham (+1747), a noted proportionalist or consequentialist (among others), did not give careful attention to Church teaching.
The sacred and certain teaching of the Church in her Magisterium or in her saints is not a matter of being “hip and with it” or a “stodgy old fogey” but allows us to stand on the shoulders of giants, learning goodness from the masters of the moral life.
God bless you!
Father John Arthur Orr