Catholics must always seek the truth

We live in complex and very dangerous times. The political process provides us with an opportunity to shape the moral and social fabric of our country in order to defend the dignity of all human life and advance public policies that serve the common good. The challenges are complex and at times morally challenging. That is why the Catholic Church asks us to have a well formed conscience as we participate in political life.

Recently, the question of forming one’s conscience was raised when Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, a long-time public servant and political leader in her party, made statements on Meet the Press concerning the subject of abortion. Her comments displayed an inadequate and inaccurate understanding of Catholic teaching.

When Tom Brokaw asked her a direct question, “When does life begin?” Speaker Pelosi’s answer was truly sad in its misrepresentation of the mind of the fathers of the church on the evil of abortion. She responded, “I would say that as an ardent, practicing Catholic, this is an issue that I have studied for a long time. And what I know is, over the centuries, the doctors of the church have not been able to make that definition….St. Augustine said at three months.We don’t know. The point is, that it shouldn’t have an impact on the woman’s right to choose.”

If this is an issue that, as Speaker Pelosi says, she “has studied for a long time,” I must wonder where she has been looking. If she wanted to know Catholic teaching on the subject she could have looked to an easy to understand paperback, a part of a best-selling series on a variety of popular topics that states, “According to the Catholic Church, natural moral law logically leads to the conclusion that abortion is immoral, just as it did with the issue of slavery and women’s suffrage, regardless of what the Supreme Court or Constitution says …The Catholic Church teaches that human life is created and begins at the moment of conception.”

Now if Speaker Pelosi wanted to spend more time with Catholic teaching on this grave matter, she could have gone to the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church.

It calls abortion “a horrendous crime and constitutes a particularly serious moral disorder; far from being right, it is a sad phenomenon that contributes seriously to spreading a mentality against life, representing a dangerous threat to a just and democratic coexistence.”

An “ardent Catholic,” when attempting to form his or her conscience on this or any other grave moral issue must take a serious look at what the church teaches and not only seek those points of view that agree with their already formed opinion or advance a political agenda. I don’t think that many “ardent Catholics” are confused about what the Catholic Church teaches concerning abortion.  

Speaker Pelosi’s misrepresentation of the church’s teaching raises the serious question of “How does a person form their conscience responsibly on such a morally weighty issue?” In the document “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” we bishops of the United States wrote: “Conscience is not something that allows us to justify doing whatever we want, nor is it a mere ‘feeling’ about what we should or should not do. Rather, conscience is the voice of God resounding in the human heart, revealing the truth to us and calling us to do what is good while shunning what is evil.”

For all Catholics, forming a conscience begins by seeking out what is good and true, not what is convenient or trendy. We will find truth in Scripture and the teachings of the church. We must honestly consider the facts and through prayerful reflection open our hearts to God’s will.

The church warns against forming our conscience erroneously. The Catechism of the Catholic Church points specifically to the moral culpability one has when ignorance of the church’s teaching exists because he or she “takes little trouble to find out what is true and good.”

As Catholics, we must act in accordance with a well formed conscience, not a conscience motivated by political or personal gain. A well-formed conscience must never allow the ends to justify the means, to do evil to accomplish good.  

I would hope that all Catholics in the public arena consider how and why they come to their conclusions on the grave moral issues of our time. The church has an obligation to provide the moral framework by which Catholics should judge candidates, understand the moral component of important public issues, and see through the rhetoric that all too often drives the political process.

As we continue through this political season, I encourage every Catholic to commit to challenging all candidates, regardless of party, to take positions that protect and defend all innocent life, from conception to natural death, and provide a just society that defends the weak and vulnerable. These issues are too important to be dealt with in a cavalier or incomplete way. We must never separate our faith from our essential responsibility to bring the light of Christ to the world in which we live.