The Vital Importance of Conscientious Discernment
"Ora Pro Nobis," William Adolphe Bouguereau 1825 - 1905
Making good conscientious discernments is one of the most important tasks of every person. If we cannot see clearly what is right or wrong, or possess the inner strength to pursue what is right, we can expect serious trouble to follow. The worst possibility is our own eternal separation from God in hell or our leading others into this calamity.
The incredible opportunity for all of us is holiness based on a well-formed conscience that guides us to eternal reward in heaven. This path is not easy to follow, but we all know intuitively that worthwhile goals always require effort and sacrifice. In some cases, saints have had to choose martyrdom because they discerned in conscience that they could not do what their persecutors required. Christ was very clear that we should not fear those who can kill the body but not harm our souls. Rather, we should be afraid of those who are skilled at leading us into sin and put our eternal destiny in peril.
I have a sense of awe and wonder when I look at our young daughter and realize that her moral education is primarily entrusted to my wife and I by God and the Church. We have a grave responsibility to teach her the difference between virtue and sin by our example and words. Young people can easily spot hypocrites who only pay lip service to what is good and neglect to “practice what they preach” or “walk the talk.” Jesus gave one of his most severe warnings to those who lead children astray. None of us would want a fate worse than having a millstone attached to our necks and being cast into the sea. The Catechism of the Catholic Church stresses that “conscience must be informed and moral judgment enlightened. . . . The education of the conscience is a lifelong task” (nn. 1783–1784). It is essential that none of us become complacent and think that we have everything figured out and thus no need for further formation of conscience. Just as we can never know everything about God, it is necessary to keep learning about truth, beauty, and goodness until our last breath.
An unfortunate necessity in our confused times is to remind others about what conscience is not. Conscience is not a feeling. Most of all, it is not totally subjective and separate from objective truth. Moral intuitions do exist and can be very helpful, but we must use our ability to think reasonably when making a judgment of conscience and discerning what is the right decision or action. We should be able to produce well-grounded reasons for our decisions in conscience and not just appeal to our feelings. The Catechism provides a good definition: “Conscience is 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” (n. 1778).
The Church, through her teaching authority, helps us to see what is good or evil. It is wonderful that so much assistance is available in forming our consciences. Good parenting is the most solid foundation for a well-formed conscience. Parents are assisted by the Catechism and magisterial teachings of the Church and by priests and spiritual authorities. Good teachers, family members, and even friends have their part to play as well.
I have a great deal of empathy for those who lack this support. God can work miracles, and He has to do so for individuals deprived of good parents, the guidance of the Church, or other positive influences to help their growth in virtue and their ability to make the right conscientious discernments. It is both tragic and quite understandable that our prisons are full of inmates who come from broken homes (as many as 70 percent of US prisoners according to one professor).
On a very practical level, helping Catholics and persons of good will to discern what is ethical or not is the core mission of The National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC). We exist to provide expert assistance because some biomedical problems are especially thorny and hard to resolve and frequently involve questions of life and death. Our ethicists are constantly learning and putting their knowledge and prayers at the service of those wracked by doubt and fear because of some terrible dilemma or heartbreaking situation they have to face.
The present COVID pandemic requires particularly well-formed consciences. The lack of completely ethical vaccines among those that will soon be accessible to the general public will force a massive number of people worldwide to make a difficult discernment as to whether they can in good conscience be end users of vaccines that were developed, produced, or tested using cell lines that began with an abortion. If no ethical, effective, and safe alternatives are reasonably available, each person has a difficult conscientious discernment to make about whether proportionate and prudential reasons might justify using available vaccines under protest. The ethicists of the NCBC seek to provide the best guidance we can to assist this decision making. It is not a simple yes or no answer but calls for deep reflection, prayer, and conscientious discernment.
