THE DIGNITY OF PERSONAL CONSCIENCE IN VATICAN II      (and see: Spot the Difference)

In 1962 the Preparatory Commission for Vatican 2 presented a schema (working paper) on conscience to guide the council in its deliberations. This document reflected the common thinking at the time. Its main focus was the existence of an objective moral order set up by God himself, which determines the morality of human actions. This order is absolute; it holds everywhere and at all times, independently of any circumstances whatever. The fundamental moral laws arising from this order are written in our hearts by God (the 'natural law') and  bind us without exception everywhere and at all times.  

Conscience has the task, according this view, of ensuring that we conform ourselves to this objective and absolute order so that we act in accordance with the natural law on which it is based. Conscience's only role is to apply the natural law to a particular situation. Only then can it be said to be true and to make known the will of God in the concrete.  

The foregoing schema was rejected by the Council in session to draft the Constitution on the Church in the World Today, Gaudium et Spes. A very different perspective on conscience emerged from the deliberations on the floor.  

Conscience is not the mere reflection by an individual on the moral order nor is it simply the applicative judgment on the relevant moral norm. Taking into account the meaning of the human person illuminated by the mystery of Jesus Christ, Vatican II presents conscience in its most fundamental sense as the human person's 'most secret core and sanctuary, where (the person) is alone with God, whose voice echoes in his (her) depths' (n.16). It is the interiority, or perhaps we might say the heart, of the person. And it is in the depths of the heart that the person reaches out to others and indeed to God. The text goes on: 'in this interiority the human person transcends the universe, turning to this profound interiority whenever he/she enters within the heart, where God who probes the heart awaits, where under the regard of God true human destiny is discerned'.  

So one meets God, as one understands God, in the heart. Conscience in this fundamental sense is a meeting place between persons, not in the first place a confrontation with a law. Conscience, the Council says, does not mean isolation but  communion and dialogue with other persons. 'By his (her) innermost nature the human person is a social being, and unless humans relate to others they can neither live nor develop their potential' (n.12).  

The second major point the Council makes is that conscience matures in the development of a sense of moral obligation. 'In the depths of conscience (the person) discovers a law, not imposed upon oneself but holding one to obedience. Always summoning the person to love and do good and to avoid evil, the voice of conscience can when necessary speak to the heart: do this, shun that' (n.16).  

Two observations should be noted here. First, the law referred to is not primarily the 'natural law' written in our hearts but the New Law, which is , as Aquinas puts it, 'the grace of the Holy Spirit given through faith in Christ,'. 
It is the law of laws, the law that summons us to the love 'that has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us' (Romans 5:5). As such this can only be fully known by conscience, which is where the voice of God resounds: 'In a wonderful manner conscience reveals that law which consists in love of God and neighbour' (n.16).  

Secondly, it is important to note that the sense of moral obligation relates to something more profound and more demanding than a practical judgment about what is the right thing to do in this particular situation. We have long seen conscience as a practical decision such as this. But in the depth of conscience as Vatican II understands it, it is the very person who is experienced as under obligation to be a certain kind of person, that is, a loving, relating person. Conscience is fundamentally about being rather than doing. Indeed the sort of person we are determines what we decide to do or not to do. And the experience about what we should do or avoid comes to us only gradually. In the last analysis it is 'through the gift of the Holy Spirit that the person comes by faith to the contemplation and appreciation of the divine plan', the mystery of Christ in us, in whom the divine plan is revealed, who is both Word and summons to live in response to the call of God.    

A third major point the Council makes is that fidelity to conscience leads to moral truth, which it must search for in company with others. 'In fidelity to conscience Christians are joined with the rest of humankind in the search for truth, and for the genuine solution to the numerous problems which arise in the life of individuals and from social relationships'. And it is precisely in this shared fidelity to conscience that the possibility of escaping arbitrariness and relativism is found: 'the more a correct conscience (in the sense, as we have said, of fidelity and genuine searching for truth) holds sway, the more persons and groups turn aside from blind choice and strive to be guided by objective norms of morality' (n.16). Again, the objectivity in question is an objectivity of persons, of love, of fidelity to conscience in the joint quest for the right solution to the problems thrown up by the march of humanity through history. In other words, moral truth is the fruit of this searching together, without in the process neglecting to apply where appropriate the relevant moral norms.  

To conclude, this understanding of conscience presented by Vatican II is not centred upon a moral order in the sense proposed by the preparatory schema but on a law of love, on an order of persons in communion with one another and with God. In this perspective moral truth is not an application of an impersonal moral norm. It is the truth of fidelity to oneself as one listens to and discerns the imperative of love. Simply put, moral truth is ultimately the truth of conscience. The ramifications of this profound insight are the subject of ongoing refinement and development in moral theology today.