What is meant when people talk about primacy of conscience? This is an appeal to the very fact that God has given us each a conscience to be used. The Church teaches (CCC#1782) that “a human being must always obey the certain judgment of his conscience. If he were to deliberately act against it, he would condemn himself.”
And yet the Church teaches that a person, even if they are acting in conscience, can still be culpable of any evil they commit due to a malformed conscience. It is a persons responsibility to
1. Ensure that it is their conscience they are following
2. Properly form and inform their conscience
Sin often looks to promise us a “good”. If it didn’t there would be no temptation. Whether that good is pleasure or avoiding pain or gaining some goal or avoiding some perceived negative, sin promises good. Listening to that allure is NOT conscience. We can sometimes be so goal focused, or so focused on one idea that we ignore everything else. When we allow ourselves to be driven, we are no longer driving. Rather it is our goal or focus or desire that controls us. People often wrongly see this temptation as their very conscience. And it is understandable, because at the moment it seems right. When we are blinded by our focus, lots of things can seem right. And when this becomes habitual, we are enslaved to our sin and do not even see the chains.
But even if we are actually responding to our conscience in careful consideration, we can still be wrong because our conscience can be malformed. And we may be culpable because we are responsible for the formation of our conscience. So what is someone to do? How can we check our conscience? There are three legs that you should rely on to form your conscience and to check its veracity: scripture, sacred tradition, and the magisterium of the Church. These three are the source that should guide you and against which you should judge your conscience.
For a believer this comes down to whether you really believe Christ and find his word trustworthy. For he established his Church on the Rock of Peter who was tasked with feeding the sheep. Christ promised that the gates of hell would not prevail against his Church and that he would send the Holy Spirit to guide it. If you don’t believe this, then you should ask what you do believe since it is not Christ himself. If you do believe, then the teachings of the Church through sacred scripture, sacred tradition, and the magisterium, is the clear standard for your conscience. It is the source for guiding your conscience and the criteria for judging how well a conscience is formed.
If one ever disagrees with the faith and morals taught by the Church, that should be enough to question their conscience and inspire deeper study. It is enough to have faith in the Church and the one who guides her and simply follow her teaching, but it is better to study and to understand that teaching - for the truths the Church teaches are not impenetrable and can be understood by the rational mind. Still sometimes we find our understanding difficult. In such cases, the fault lies with our limitations and we must assent to certain teachings in obedience. This is hard for those of us living today, but it is the natural and logical conclusion for a believer.
It comes down to first principles. Do you believe Christ’s testimony or not? Do you believe that this is Christ’s Church or not? Is God your god, or do you want to be your own god like Adam and Eve? For there is a clear standard for your conscience, and how you act knowing that reveals your answer to these questions.
