Citizenship & conscience – I
ETCetera
Reverend Monsignor James Vanderholt
The U.S. Catholic bishops have constantly issued statements on the ethical implications of current political, economic and social issues. They have drawn their principles and values from the natural law, i.e. reason and papal encyclicals.
Most encyclicals on these issues were released the last 100 years and are still in print. The Vatican II constitution on The Church Today (Gaudium et Spes) is an authoritative introduction to Catholic Church Social Ethics (1965).
Pope John Paul II published three encyclicals on social ethics since the Vatican II document. To assist all of us in keeping updated in this important area, the Vatican Council for Justice & Peace issued a Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church (2005). This is a 255 page summary, not counting the 200 pages of references and index.
The U.S. bishops have gone an extra step to help us in our homework for citizenship and published a 35-page booklet on papal teaching as they relate to the issues we are discussing in our nation. It is titled Forming Conscience for Faithful Citizenship: A Call to Political Responsibility from the Catholic Bishops of the United States (2008).
When reading and interpreting this statement, special care should be given to the references used. The references are from the popes, an important point in understanding the pamphlet.
Another very important point is the different mind set of bishops and politicians and business leaders. Politicians and business leaders tend to be pragmatists. They want practical, popular and speedy answers to the conflicts they face.
On the other hand, bishops urge us to place ethical issues first. The approach of the bishops is very defensible but it is different from the views we discuss on the street, hear and read in the media.
Forming conscience is the aim of the booklet. It then goes on to describe conscience as “the voice of God resounding in the human heat.”
I have always thought to describe conscience as the voice of God tends to leave us in a passive role, waiting for God to do our homework.
The bishops balance this description of conscience by quoting from the Catechism of the Catholic Church when they quote: “Conscience is a judgment of reason where by the human person recognizes the moral quality of a concrete act that he is going to perform” (#1778).
Conscience is not the voice of God, nor a Guardian Angel whispering in our ear. It is the practical judgment of our mind, the same mind that tells us 2 plus 2 equals 4; the sun has risen.
When our mind takes that step from an abstract value to a concrete specific application is where the freedom of the Catholic rests. In fact, this step is the gift and duty of the laity.
Pope John XXIII wrote “In the application of the doctrine there can arise differences of opinion. From instruction one must pass to action. This is the task that belongs to the laity.” (Mater et Magistra, #238,240).
To be continued in the next issue. >
