CCQ
#140: What do I do if my informed conscience does not agree with church law?
A couple weeks ago I attended Mass at another parish. The priest
preaching during Mass made reference to the reality that our current
immigration policy is morally wrong. At that point a couple of people stood up
and walked out, obviously very upset with his remarks. This reminded me of a
piece on Conscience Formation written by my former colleague, Sr. Mary Ann
Dixon, O.P. I’ve edited and adapted some of her work below.
We all hold opinions on a number of issues. Some of these
opinions are well informed and some are made with little conscious effort. In
most cases, our experiences lead to values, which help us form opinions. But how
do we navigate our moral stance without reducing it to an opinion? How do we keep an authentic moral compass?
Morality is a concrete response to the things we believe, and
our Church has, of course, over the centuries, made many statements about
morality. Some subjects we have taught as sinful include: contraception, abortion,
the death penalty, nuclear war, homosexual activity, domestic violence, war of
aggression, and economic exploitation…among others.
As faithful Catholics, we do not have the option of selecting
some teachings for consideration and dismissing others “because we do not agree
with that.” Rather, we are called to the arduous process of forming our
conscience. This process is, in itself, the teaching of our Church. Once we
have done this work, we are obligated to follow the conclusion of our informed
conscience, whether it conforms to Church law or not (CCC Article 6: 1790, 1800).
We can offend this teaching by blindly obeying Church law without any
discernment or by totally ignoring Church teaching, again without any
discernment.
Authentic discernment or conscience formation calls us to
consider several aspects of moral decision-making.
1. Church Teaching Formation
We may have learned that we form conscience by following the law
of the Church, but if that were the complete truth there would be no room or
need for discernment. Rather, we are called to seriously attend to church
teaching and place ourselves “under the influence” of Church law. We must know
the law, the value implicit in the law and, if possible, the situation out of
which the teaching was articulated. For
example, prohibition of artificial contraception was articulated in 1930 in the
aftermath of Margaret Sanger’s establishment of Birth Control Clinics in 1923
and the World Population Conference in 1926. At that time Pius IX said, “the
conjugal act is destined primarily by nature for the begetting of children, and
that those who frustrate its natural power…are branded with the guilt of grave
sin.” (Casti Cannubi) The Church’s teaching on artificial contraception was
reiterated by Paul VI in Humanae Vitae, although in this document a concession
was made to the reality that conjugal love had a parallel purpose: it also
nurtured the love relationship between husband and wife. So, we, as Church,
grew in our recognition that sex is not only for the purpose of procreation,
but also has unitive properties for married couples.
2. Wisdom of the
Community
Church law is not enough, however. The Church also calls us to
consult other sources of expertise in the area about which we are making a
decision; maybe a doctor or counselor, a spiritual director or an expert on the
subject. For example, in war, we should know the Church’s teaching on just war
and the context in which that teaching was written. Then we must ask, “Do these
criteria still apply given the development of weapons since that teaching was
articulated?” What has history taught us about the causes and effects of war?
3. The Lived Experience
Besides consulting Church law and current experts on an issue,
we are asked to look at our life situation, its demands, its limitations and
its realities. What has been my experience? What do I know from the realities
in my life?
4. Scripture
Our sacred texts often do not address specific moral questions –
for example nuclear weapons did not exist in the first century, so we can’t
expect to find any specific direction on that topic. We can always find “one
liners” in the Bible to make our case, but that would be a misuse of Scripture.
Truly, the Bible can be used to justify virtually any behavior if taken out of
context; divorced from its original language and meaning. With Scripture, it is
important to be attentive to an overall spirit that captures a value rather
than to try to find the right quote or verse and a solid inquiry may
necessitate consulting a theologian or scholar. We also have to be faithful to our
Church’s teaching about Scripture – that we study and interpret it rather than
accept a literal reading of the Scripture.
5. Finally, along with the study, searching and reflection, we
must pray. We must humbly present ourselves before a loving God and pray for
direction – not the direction that someone else tells us, but the direction
from within ourselves. We stand before God saying, “Being as honest and
thorough as I could be, this is what I think my decision must be.” Then we are
obligated to follow our conscience. At
this point, no one has a right to say our decision is morally wrong.
Can we make mistakes? Yes.
Can we fool ourselves? Yes. But
if we have put effort into our discernment, we have integrity as an ally. We stand before God having followed an
authentic process of discernment. This is what our Church asks of us…
Send your "Crazy Catholic Questions" Lisa Brown at
dre@ctredeemer.org or read past columns at: http://crazycatholicquestions.blogspot.com.
