Conscience: Lecture Notes
Dr. Thomas B. Leininger
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“Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, falling in love in a quite absolute, final way. What you
are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. It will decide what gets you out of bed
in the morning, what you will do with your evenings, how you will spend your weekends, what you read, who
you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love,
and it will decide everything.” Pedro Arupe, S.J. Novice master in Hiroshima/Leader of Society of Jesus
•Formation of conscience is about falling in love in the most ultimate way.
•Happiness is not getting what we desire but learning to desire rightly.
•Goal = do the truth, become good, and enjoy their beauty with the passion of a lover.
Outline
I. What is conscience? What is it that we are trying to form? What are helpful images of conscience?
II. What is a mature conscience? What is our goal? What kind of a conscience are we trying to form?
III. How should we form our conscience? What has worked for other Christians that might help us?
I. What is conscience?
 Etymology: con (with) + scientia (knowledge) [From scire (to know)]. Conscience is our lived
knowledge of good and evil, our judgment about how we should act, and our commitment to do so.
 Images of conscience.
1) “our most secret core and sanctuary” where we encounter God; our heart (Catechism#1776).
2) a law inscribed in our hearts by God and recognized as our own; its voice calls us “to love and do
what is good and avoid evil” (Catechism #1776; Romans 2:14-15).
3) our moral compass that directs us to good or evil.
4) our moral sensory faculty: capacity to see, feel, hear, smell, and touch the good; moral appetite
5) us as we judge moral questions (whole person includes intellect, feeling, imagination, and will).
Conscience is an aspect of character that makes moral judgments. Our Character is who we are in the
enduring habits of our freedom; our virtues (good character traits) and vices (bad traits). A good conscience
requires development of virtues such as justice, prudence, courage, temperance, faith, hope, and charity
(Catechism #1784). Conscience constellates all the elements of the person into moral judgments.
CHARACTER
CHARACTER
CONSCIENCE
MORAL JUDGMENT
Atmosphere = Character
*
Cloud = Conscience
*
Rain/Snow = Moral Judgment
Conscience: Lecture Notes
Dr. Thomas B. Leininger
Page 2 of 3
 What Conscience Is Not
1) A separate person, separate voice, or individualistic
RATHER conscience is our own voice in conversation with our community; it is us as we judge
2) A gut feeling/stern critical voice/superego
RATHER conscience is the integration of body, feeling, and thinking in judgment
3) An infallible moral code programmed into brain
RATHER conscience is our developing sense of moral judgment
II. What is a mature conscience?
Catechism: • “interiority” needed to hear and follow the voice of her conscience.
•right and duty to form and freely follow one’s conscience. “[A person] must not be forced to act contrary to
his conscience” (#1782)
Characteristics of a Mature Conscience.
1) Continually growing—undergoing continual conversion to God’s strange ways (conscience should
not stand still or decline); Crises = necessary for growth. Conscience is frail and can err.
2) Self-transcending (rooted in community). Displays a deep and abiding hunger to move beyond
ourselves to ever greater and wider values; to reach out to others and to God and become more fully
human. Hunger for deeper communion with others and God.
3) Centered in a sense of unfolding vocation or calling from God. “Who is God calling me to be?”
4) Integrates feeling, knowing, and doing/heart, head, and moral muscle
a) Insight: perceives the good accurately (through moral sensitivity, empathy, and moral
imagination) “What is really going on?”
b) Passion: is energized, passionate, and committed to doing and becoming good; has fallen in
love with the good (feels compassion for suffering of others and/or anger at injustice)
c) Skill: has developed the practical know-how and ability to actually do it through regular
practice of virtue (like riding a bike; it has become “second nature”)
5) Increasing capable of self-direction/initiative in conversation with community rather than simply
responding to events as forced upon one; able to choose her own responses and freely shape her own
destiny in cooperation with others (claim actions as one’s own).
 Accountability
Mature Christian conscience involves “knowing with” in at least two senses: a mature Christian knows with:
a) Self: an intimate familiarity the deepest core of her being (interiority)
b) Others: at the self’s inner core she initiates dialogue with the other selves she encounters
c) God: in her inner core the self encounters her ultimate origin and destiny
God
Self
Others
Conscience: Lecture Notes
Dr. Thomas B. Leininger
Page 3 of 3
III. How should we form our conscience?
 Catechism:
•by developing our reason and knowledge of God’s will through lifelong education in faith, prayer, and
practice of virtue.
•should draw upon three sources of guidance:
1) the Holy Spirit (and the inspired Word of God—“the light for our path”),
2) the witness and advice of others, and
3) the authoritative teachings of the Church (or the Magisterium—teaching office of the church;
expression of the communal conscience of the Church over time).
 Interpretation: the duty to form and follow one’s own conscience means
1) The Magisterium should help to form our conscience but it cannot replace it. We are answerable for
our own conscience.
2) Humility about our conscience. An individual can't presume to know everything and must learn from
tradition and its authoritative voices. Conscience means “knowing with others and God.”
 Practices for formation of conscience.
1) Community. Immerse yourself in the common practices and life of a conscientious community (e.g.,
a religious congregation or church: sacraments); place your conscience into conversation with this
communal conscience and allow it to challenge you while you challenge it to become better.
2) Stories. Listen to good stories that creatively engage and develop your moral imagination (from
stories in Scriptures to novels and films).
3) Study Scriptures, church teaching, lives of saints, and local and global news.
4) Prayer and Self-examination. Find ways of praying that will help to develop a rich interior life,
capacity for self-examination, and a capacity for wonder and thanksgiving. Examples:
meditation/reflection with God, prayer and worship with others through liturgy and Eucharist,
Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. Engage in regular reflection on our moral successes and failures
(ex. journaling).
5) Mentor. Share your journey with someone who has already traveled far on the path that you seek.
Learn from a mentor—a spiritual director, confessor, teacher, counselor, or a wise and good friend.
6) Service. Practice service to others that will encourage empathy, compassion, and love of neighbor.
Discussion Questions
1)
2)
3)
4)
Who or what have been the strongest influence on your conscience?
Who are some role models of good conscience for you?
In what sense do you think that conscience is communal? Give examples.
If conscience involves the “whole person” what else would you add to intellect, feeling, imagination,
will, and body?
5) What would you add to the above lists of
a) characteristics of a mature Christian conscience and
b) practices for conscience formation?
6) Imagine your 90th birthday party. What is most important to you at that point in your life and why?
What would you need to change now to arrive at your desired goal?
7) What church teachings resonate most deeply with your conscience and why? What teaching are most
challenging and why? What does your conscience tell you with respect to these teachings? What
duties do you have?