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, 63.

            Saint John Paul II (+2005) when considering the “seeking what is true and good” contrasts the “correct conscience” which is related to ”the objective truth received” by the human person and “the erroneous conscience” which we mistakenly base subjectively on what we consider to be true.

            Conscience and truth are intrinsically linked.  What is the objective truth of the matter at hand? Who is doing or desiring what?  Is what is being done or desired truly good?    Does the person in question know what it is that they are doing or desiring?  Are they doing or desiring of their own accord or are they being forced?  These sorts of questions (and answers) help us in evaluating the truth of the matter at hand.  That human beings have been freely created by the Creator is also part of the equation, as is the freely given redemption (albeit at the price of the Redeemer’s blood).  That there is such a reality as the Natural Law, even in its revealed expression the Decalogue or Ten Commandments with all of their consequent repercussions are yet still further truths to be included in our conscientious moral activity.

            Subjectivism and erroneous conscience are based on the mistaken notion that what we think is true actually is not so.  There is a subjectivity which is wholesome, without harm or foul, namely the value of an individual subject, the human person, or one’s proclivity for chocolate or Chopin (+1849) or checkers.  But there is a subjectivism which, oddly enough, claims as truth that there is no truth, particular or absolute.  If this were so there would be no difference between telling the truth and lying or between working hard and being lazy or caring for the sick and kicking someone in the knee…  Without objective truth there would be no meaning, not only of words but of life itself.

            The Holy Father had lived through various persecutions by both German National Socialists and Russian Communists in his native Poland.  These oppressors sought to disregard the objective truth of the Polish subjects, citizens, by substitution of ideological constructs, namely the supremacy of the state and the expendability if not worthlessness of individual human persons.  The weight of these untruths took their toll only being lifted on 9 November, 1989, with the fall of the Berlin Wall.  Because the truth will set us free (cf. John 8:32), we should be thankful not only for naturally known truths, historical truth, moral truth and the like,  but also those known by revelation.            

            God bless you!

            Father John Arthur Orr