My dear parishioners,
Peace! Under headings of Judgment, Formation, Choice in Accord, Erroneous Judgment and In Brief, the Catechism of the Catholic Church addresses “conscience” in twenty-nine passages. Here we consider CCC, 1789.
When we choose to do good or to avoid what is evil it is important for us to remember that our conscience is bound by some rules which apply in every case:
We may never do evil so that good may result from it. We all know the story of Robin Hood who stole from the rich and gave to the poor (a “redistribution of wealth” story from our childhood). In ethics and morality the axiom is “the end does not justify the means.” When this axiom is disregarded property rights, among others, disappear. Why not murder the neighbor so as to receive the inheritance? The thought of Niccolo Machiavelli (+1527) in The Prince sought to allow “the end to justify the means,” which has a more ancient pedigree in the thought of Ovid (+18) in his work Heroides where he wrote: Exitus acta probat (the result justifies the deeds). Followed to its logical conclusion, the end justifying the means, leads to consequentialism: it doesn’t matter how we get there, so long as we get there… Sometimes “the end justifying the means” is called “pragmatisim” which sees moral excellence as an impossible ideal.
We should always do unto others as we would have them do unto us (cf. Matthew 7:12; Luke 6:31; Tobit 4:15). This has been called the “Golden Rule.” While as followers of Jesus Christ we are familiar with the Gospel injunction, there are other expressions, before and after the incarnation of the Lord Jesus, of the same truth, including the Udana-Varga of Buddhism, the Mahabharata of Hinduism, the Sunnah Imam Al-Nawawi’s Forty Hadiths, Immanuel Kant, Derick Parfit (+2017), and Saint John Paul II (+2005) (cf. Orr, John Arthur, Reason in Wojtyla / John Paul II. Charleston, SC: CreateSpace, 2014, 31.). To treat others as ends in themselves and not as a means to an end is the “personalistic principle” of Saint John Paul II.
Charity always proceeds by way of respect for our neighbor and his conscience: when we sin against our neighbors and wound their conscience we sin against Christ (cf. 1 Corinthians 8:12); it is right not to do anything which makes our neighbor stumble (cf. Romans 14:21). While there may be some people who say “there is no such thing as sin”, as followers of Jesus Christ who died on the Cross to save us, we know that sin is a sad reality. Because our neighbors are made in the image of God, no less than we are, when we sin against them we sin also against Christ who died for them too. Our love for neighbor (cf. Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:30-31) includes our not leading them into temptation, either by our bad example or encouragement. Theologically, our love for neighbor is for God’s sake.
God bless you!
Father John Arthur Orr