Formation of Conscience

Abstract

In the currently dominant postmodern civilization, there is a fashion for subjectivism, including subjectivism in relation to moral norms and the moral assessment of one’s own conduct. The Catholic Church explains that a well-formed conscience does not create but reads moral norms that are determined by God Himself. A good conscience is a conscience that accurately reads moral norms and assesses the moral value of particular acts of an individual. The task of parents, priests, religion teachers and other educators is to help pupils shape a good conscience. An in-depth formation of conscience protects pupils both from moral insensitivity and the opposite extreme, which is falling into scruples and perceiving moral evil where there is actually none.