Statement
of Catholic Theology Teachers on Conscience and Faith
August 28, 2012
The Feast Day of St. Augustine, patron saint of
theologians
We, the undersigned,
speak only on our own behalf as Catholic theology teachers, and speak in no
capacity either for Ateneo de Manila University or for its Theology Department,
or for any other members of the Ateneo community.
Conscience allows God’s
voice, not one’s own voice, to echo in one’s depths (cf. GS 16; CCC 1776). It
subjectively applies transcendent moral norms. This subjectivity means that we
apply the transcendent moral law within the given situation whose details, motivations,
and ends we must discern truthfully and to the best of our ability (cf. CCC1780).
Thus conscience involves the apprehension of transcendent truth, and is never
simplya matter of one point of view versus another. For the well-formed
Catholic, these transcendent moral truths are transmitted in the Tradition of
the Church and are taught by its Magisterium (cf. CCC 2032-2036). Thus a good
conscience is truthful and seeks the right, and a well-formed Catholic
conscience seeks guidance for doing right in the authoritative teachings of the
Church (cf. CCC 1783). But should any figure urge one, as a Catholic, to go against
these transcendent norms which one has received and in which one has been
well-formed, then it is better to disregard that figure than to disregard one’s
Catholic conscience.
