Conscience: A Judgment of Reason

Sr. Mariana Koonce, RSM, MD

Living a moral life, a life consistent with one’s expressed faith, is contingent upon
developing a conscience. A well-formed conscience is needed to make choices, to decide to
choose good over evil. Discerning the true good is not always easy, especially in health care
today. Moreover, once a good is discerned, acting on that good sometimes meets institutional
opposition and can even place one’s professional standing at risk. Therefore, it is critical that
health care professionals understand what conscience is and how to form it.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines conscience as “a judgment of reason
whereby the human person recognizes the moral quality of a concrete act that he is going to
perform, is in the process of performing, or has already completed” (CCC 1778). This definition
has several important implications.
First, if conscience is “a judgment of reason” then it is NOT an emotion, a feeling, or
merely an act of the will in itself. These false definitions of conscience are sometimes
expressed as “If it feels good, do it” or “I can choose what is right for me; you can choose what
is right for you.” The fact that conscience involves the use of reason means that one must think
about the act and be able to analyze it according to logical principles. It also implies that the
reference point for what is good and what is evil exists outside of oneself. “It bears witness to
the authority of the truth in reference to the supreme Good to which the human person is
drawn” (CCC 1777).
Second, the judgment to be made about the act regards the moral quality. “The moral
law is the work of divine Wisdom…It prescribes for man the ways, the rules of conduct that lead
to the promised beatitude; it proscribes the ways of evil which turn him away from God and his
love” (CCC 1950). This judgment of moral quality is not an academic exercise, in other words.
Instead, to follow the moral law leads to God and eternal happiness, while to turn away from it
is actually a rejection of God’s love.
Since the application of conscience has eternal consequences, it is imperative that the
conscience be well-formed. “A well-formed conscience is upright and truthful. It formulates its
judgments according to reason, in conformity with the true good willed by the wisdom of the
Creator” (CCC 1783). While to some people, conforming to the wisdom of the Creator seems
to constrict freedom, in fact “the education of the conscience guarantees freedom and
engenders peace of heart” (CCC 1784). The formation of conscience includes assimilating the
Word of God (Scripture) in faith and prayer and putting it into practice, examining our
conscience before the Lord’s Cross, relying on the gifts of the Holy Spirit to assist in this
formation and being guided by the advice of others and the authoritative teaching of the
Church (cf CCC 1785).
 Lastly, the judgment of conscience concerns concrete acts. “The morality of human acts
depends on the object chosen, the end in view or the intention and the circumstance of the
action” (CCC 1750.) For an act to be morally good, all three components – object, intention and
circumstances—must be good (cf CCC 1755). “There are acts which, in and of themselves,
independently of circumstances and intentions, are always gravely illicit by reason of their
object…One may not do evil so that good may result from it” (CCC 1756).
For Catholic health care providers, then, forming a conscience in conformity to God’s
law is an urgent priority. The Catholic Church considers the right to follow one’s conscience
intrinsic to the dignity of the human person. Increasingly, secularism is trying to suppress this
right through cultural peer pressure and legal enforcement. Catholic health care providers will
be increasingly called upon to witness to the eternal truth of the moral law and to defend an
authentic understanding of conscience.

Additional Reading:

Catechism of the Catholic Church: “Moral Conscience” (CCC 1776-1802) and “The Morality of
Human Acts” (CCC 1749-1761)

Gaudium et Spes: “In the depths of his conscience, man detects a law which he does not
impose upon himself, but which holds him to obedience. Always summoning him to love good
and avoid evil, the voice of conscience when necessary speaks to his heart: do this, shun that.
For man has in his heart a law written by God; to obey it is the very dignity of man; according to
it he will be judged” (GS 16).

Dignitatis Humanae: “On his part, man perceives and acknowledges the imperatives of the
divine law through the mediation of conscience. In all his activity a man is bound to follow his
conscience in order that he may come to God, the end and purpose of life. It follows that he is
not to be forced to act in a manner contrary to his conscience. Nor, on the other hand, is he to
be restrained from acting in accordance with his conscience, especially in matters religious” (DH
3)

Fides et Ratio: “Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the
contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth—in
a word, to know himself—so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come
to the fullness of truth about themselves.”

The Bible: Online Revised Standard Version(RSV) or New American Bible (NAB)