Conscience

Course Summary

What does the Church require of us? How is our conscience formed? This basic level course helps students perceive morality as a response to the universal call to holiness, a response to the invitation of eternal life with God. Using selected readings from Church documents and accomplished authors, we will explore the theology and process of moral decision-making.

Successful completion of this course earns 2.5 CEU's.

General Course Objectives

• Learn to differentiate authentic conscience from the superego
• Gain appreciation for the formation of conscience
• Explore the Process of Conscience in Christian Morality
• Consider conscience in documents of the Catholic Church
• Understand the work of the Holy Spirit in matters of judgment and conscience

Course Materials

• No books required. All readings are online.

Course Structure and Highlights

• Week 1: What is Moral Conscience
  • Learn and differentiate what is meant by moral conscience and the superego
  • Gain an appreciation for the sanctity of personal conscience as opposed to the superego
  • Gain an understanding of what moral conscience is in the theological tradition.
• Week 2: Formation of Conscience
  • Consider relevant factors and reasoning that go into making a sound moral judgement
  • Gain an understanding of sources for the development of moral wisdom
  • Gain an appreciation for the development of character as it applies to making right moral judgements
• Week 3: Christian Morality and the Process of Conscience
  • Gain an understanding of conscience as a capacity, a process, and a judgment
  • Gain an appreciation for what the word conscience means
  • Gain an understanding of practical steps to take when discerning a moral question
• Week 4: Hierarchical Church Teaching on Conscience
  • Learn what the Church says about the dignity of moral conscience and the excellence of freedom
  • Gain appreciation for the “judgment of conscience”
  • Learn what the Church says about Conscience and Truth, in Veritatis Splendor
• Week 5: Conscience and the Holy Spirit
  • Understand conscience as human
  • Understand conscience as a judgment about oneself and the truth of one’s being in the world, as one understands that truth
  • Gain an understanding of how the Holy Spirit works with us in arriving at truth in judgment

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