From "Living Our Faith", a religion book intended for juniors in
high school, dated July 11, 1958, published by W. H. Sadlier, Inc.
Nihil Obstat, Gall Higgins, O.F.M., Cap.
Imprimatur, Francis Cardinal Spellman, Archbishop of New York

Pages 54-61:

                    Law, Conscience, and Our Free Acts

DIVINE LAW: SUPERNATURAL HAPPINESS.  All law generally directs
men to happiness.  The natural law and human law direct man to
goals of natural happiness in human society.  The divinely
revealed law directs man's actions to the perfect happiness of
seeing God face to face.  The first law which God gave to man by
direct intervention contained the Ten Commandments.  This law was
sufficient to show man the way to salvation but it did not give
him grace.

     The New Law given to the world by Christ is God's final law
for all men; it points out the way to follow if we would see God
as He is.  It is the perfect law.  It is the Law of Grace.  It is
first and always the very presence of the Holy Spirit together
with grace, the virtues, and the Gifts in the Christian soul. 
The New Law has the power to lead us to God because of the grace
of the Holy Spirit given to us through faith in Christ and
through Baptism.  By grace we are made partakers of the divine
life.  The gift of grace supernaturalizes human activity,
enabling man through his actions to attain God.  If we love God
we will live the life of grace, for this life, communicated
to us especially through the sacraments, raises us above the
level of natural things to a share in the divine life.  The New
Law helps to preserve the new life that is in us.

     The Law of Love given by Christ and taught by His infallible
Church enables men to direct their actions to the final end
of life - the vision of God.  With law, man moves swiftly and
surely to his goal, guided by human reason and by the hand of
God.  It is law which makes human actions truly free, for it
leaves men free to seek the perfect happiness for which they
are made.  It is in keeping the law that we pledge our love for
God and express our gratitude for all that He has done for us.

A GUIDE FOR HUMAN ACTS.  A man's free acts are good if they will
lead him to his final end - perfect happiness in the vision of
God.  His reason helps him to see that some actions will lead to
that happiness while others will not.  Now when human reason
judges that an act is good or bad, proper or not for bringing
true good to man, it establishes the rule of conscience.  Hence,
conscience may be defined as the "practical judgment of the human
reason on the goodness or badness of acts which we are
considering."  It is the internal rule given to each man as a
guide for his actions.  The standard by which the conscience
of each man judges good and evil, right and wrong, is the
standard of God's law.  This standard, for one who does not know
of revelation, is simply the natural moral law as discovered by
his unaided reason.  For one who knows of revelation, the
standard is that established by Moses and the prophets, and by
Christ and His Church.  Divine revelation, infallibly interpreted
by the Church, is to help us form a right and certain conscience.

CONSCIENCE CAN ERR.  Conscience is not an infallible knowledge of
right and wrong, for it is not the voice of God but that of our
own intellect - and intellect, because of fallen human nature,
can make mistakes.  Just as a person makes a practical judgment
that a sale on men's shirts is a real saving, so conscience is a
practical judgment on the goodness or badness of a moral act. 
And just as we may err in judging the bargain, so the practical
judgment of conscience may be in error.  But in any case, a man
is always bound to follow his conscience, doing what it tells him
is good and avoiding what it tells him is evil.

"What a man's conscience tells him is for him the supreme law."

RIGHT CONSCIENCE.  Conscience is said to be right or correct when
it presents the morality of a situation as it really is; that is,
when its judgments are in harmony with the natural law and God's
revealed law.  A Catholic whose conscience tells him that missing
Mass on Sunday without a very good reason is mortally sinful has
a correct conscience.  Mary, who refuses a movie date because the
picture aims at glorifying sin, has a conscience that is correct.

ERRONEOUS CONSCIENCE.  Generally speaking, one's conscience is
erroneous when it presents the moral aspect of an action
incorrectly.  The erroneous conscience is false; that is, its
judgments are not in accord with the natural law or with God's
revealed law.  The erroneous conscience sometimes bases its
judgment on false reasoning.  A man on a business trip writes
up an extravagant expense account and pockets most of the money,
pretending he needs it for expenses.  He reasons that his firm, a
large business organization, will not miss the money, and that
"anyway, everybody else is doing it."  Here is a conscience which
bases its judgment on false reasoning - that it is no sin to
steal from the wealthy, and that if enough people cheat their
employer, cheating stops being sinful.

     There is also that erroneous conscience which reasons that
certain acts, although wrong for others, are all right in one's
own case.  Thus a high school boy plans sometime in the future -
when he has finished college and has a good job and a bank
account - to marry his high school sweetheart.  Meanwhile, since
someday they will probably be married, he assumes that he may
take liberties with the girl.  He is acting on the false notion
that it is permissible to enjoy illicit sexual pleasures if
someday in the dim future he will probably marry the girl
involved.

ERRONEOUS CONSCIENCE AND RESPONSIBILITY.  The erroneous
conscience that bases its judgments not upon law, but upon "what
everybody else is doing" or upon "what might be wrong for others
is all right for me," is very common in our society.  If a person
has never tried to discover the natural law that should govern
human acts, and if God's revealed law has never been made known
to him in an adequate or proper way, it is easy for him to be
mistaken about right and wrong.  He is unable to form a correct
conscience in most matters.  As long as he continues in this
condition the good or evil of his actions must be determined in
the light of his erroneous conscience which constitutes law for
him.  However, at all times he is under the fundamental
obligation to form a correct conscience.  Thus, if he should
begin to suspect that his conscience is in error regarding this
or that matter, he is obliged at once to investigate the
situation.  If he fails to investigate, or investigates but fails
to adopt the correct conclusions in which his investigations
result, then he is no longer acting in good faith.  Because he
now knows that his conscience is erroneous, he becomes
responsible for the evil acts which he performs.  Part of the
mission of the Catholic among his non-Catholic friends,
especially among those who have no religious training at all, is
to help make them aware of the natural law and of God's revealed
law.  Many of the evils of modern society would be dissipated if
the consciences of individuals regarding fundamental moral
matters were corrected.  The Catholic, too, if he is to be a
leaven in society, must beware of the temptation to accept the
erroneous conscience as true on the grounds that it is more
practical or easier to follow.  Following a conscience truly
formed by knowledge of the natural law and of God's revealed law
may sometimes seem impractical and difficult, but it is the only
way to bring peace to individuals and to society as a whole.  The
Catholic must adhere to the correct conscience as much for his
own sake as for the sake of the contribution he must make to the
welfare of society.

SCRUPULOUS CONSCIENCE; LAX CONSCIENCE.  The correct conscience is
a balanced conscience; it is neither too strict nor too easy.  A
conscience that is too strict may be a "scrupulous" conscience,
while one that is too easy may be a "lax" conscience.  The person
with the scrupulous conscience will be overly careful about sin
and the occasions of sin; the person with a lax conscience will
be too careless about sin or about the occasions of sin.  For the
former, everything is wrong until it has been proven right; for
the latter, everything is right until it has been proven wrong. 
Both of these attitudes are erroneous and incorrect; they are
unbalanced.

     A girl may be so fearful of the dangers to her chastity
involved in dating that she may refuse even the most innocent
dates.  Or, if she accepts a date, she may fuss all evening about
her various relationships with her date even when he is acting in
ways that are perfectly all right.  In examining her conscience
later, she will be concerned about the smallest incidents, and
will insist on confessing everything to the last detail.  If she
is extremely scrupulous she will, after confession, continue to
worry about whether her confession was adequate, whether the
priest really understood, whether she has actually been forgiven. 
The result will be an attempt to mention the same things over and
over in later confessions.

     The extremely scrupulous person lives a tortured existence. 
Anyone who has serious tendencies to this kind of scrupulosity
should see to it that he takes steps to correct the situation
before it goes too far.  It is highly recommended that he seek
out a special confessor and that he put himself under strict
obedience to the priest in regard to the examination of
conscience and the confession of sins.  The scrupulous person
should also seek personal guidance from a priest or religious or
qualified lay teacher, for his is the kind of problem that very
few people can solve without help.

     The danger of scrupulosity, however, is not so real today as
is the danger of laxity.  The girl who exercises prudence
regarding the dates she accepts and regarding her conduct on
dates is not to be considered scrupulous; she is simply being
honest and realistic.  The boys and girls who feel they can date
anyone, go steady for a long period of time, indulge in
intimacies they know are forbidden - all without falling into
serious sin - have simply embraced the occasions of sin in a
way that is itself sinful.

     Such young people as these are usually careless also about
the sacraments.  They rarely go to confession and, when they do,
they pay scarcely any attention to the obligation of making a
serious examination of conscience and an adequate confession. 
They excuse themselves in all kinds of ways from what they should
know to be sinful.  They have little or no intention of changing
their ways as a result of their confession; they intend to go on
as before.  This is not to say that they are deliberately
dishonest about their confessions, that their confessions are
sacrilegious.  They are simply lax and careless in recognizing
sin in their lives and consequently careless in confessing it.

     It is easy for the priest in confession to recognize a
scrupulous penitent; it is difficult to recognize a lax penitent. 
He has to rely for his judgment upon the word of the penitent and
has to take that word at its face value.  The person with the lax
conscience will confess sin where he sees it and will be sorry
for it, and thus his confession will, for the most part, be
good.  The trouble is that his careless attitude toward sin and
especially toward the occasions of sin makes it impossible for
him to see himself as he really is.  The only way to avoid a lax
conscience is to be honest with ourselves, and to be realistic
about our weaknesses and our tendencies toward sin.  This,
combined with frequent confession and Communion, offers us the
only way to preserve a correct and balanced conscience.

CERTAIN CONSCIENCE AND DOUBTFUL CONSCIENCE.  A conscience,
whether it be correct or erroneous, may be either certain or
doubtful.  When conscience speaks so clearly as to leave no
question in our minds as to what we ought to do or not to do,
then it is a certain conscience.  A certain conscience must
always be followed whether it is correct or erroneous.  If a
man's conscience tells him clearly and unquestionably that he
must avenge his honor by a physical attack on his enemy, even
though his conscience is erroneous he must follow it.  Society,
to protect the peace generally, might forcibly restrain such a
person from exercising the right and duty to follow his certain
but erroneous conscience.  Outside of legitimate self-defense, we
are never permitted to use physical violence.  However, if
conscience tells a man clearly and unquestionably that he may
defend his life when threatened, it is both correct and certain,
and must be followed.

     Conscience, however, may not always speak so clearly. 
Complex moral problems may arise regarding which it may speak
hesitatingly, leaving us with some doubt as to what is right or
wrong.  Conscience can be doubtful.  If the doubt is silly and
imprudent, it can and ought to be opposed by the healthy
conscience.  However, if the doubt is a reasonable one, it should
be taken into account.

     Generally speaking, then, it is always wrong simply to act
on a doubtful conscience without making some effort to solve or
to dispel the doubt.  Suppose a person is in doubt as to whether
the law of the Church obliges him to attend Mass on a certain
day.  It would be sinful for him merely to omit going to Mass
because this would be to risk committing mortal sin, should it be
a day of precept.  Since attending Mass would be a serious
obligation, he is obliged seriously to investigate the matter. 
However, if upon duly careful investigation he is unable to
discover the facts and remains "in doubt about the law," he may
omit Mass since a doubtful obligation cannot bind in conscience.

     A somewhat different case would be that of a boy who wants
to receive Communion, knowing that he may drink liquids other
than water up to an hour before receiving.  He has no doubt about
the law.  About an hour and a quarter before Communion time, he
meets a friend who invites him to stop for a double malted.  He
seriously doubts whether a double malted can be considered a
liquid in the ordinary sense of the word.  There is no one he can
consult and he has no time to look it up.  He must abstain from
accepting his friend's invitation if he wishes to receive
Communion later on.  In this case, he has no doubt about the law
or the existence of the law, and is bound to its observance.  His
doubt refers rather to a fact - namely, whether this action comes
under the law or not.  In such cases, if investigation is
impossible or even if investigation fails to clear up the doubt,
it is necessary to avoid acting.  If the situation is one in
which action is required, then one must choose to act in a way in
which it is at least probable that he will avoid violation of the
law.

     Adequate and proper information is the means by which you
can avoid doubts of conscience.  Since such doubts can be very
disturbing, it is wise to guard against them beforehand.  This is
another of the very many reasons why you must take your religion
course seriously.  It will provide you with much needed knowledge
to help you make your moral judgments with certainty.  Outside
this course you can and, when the need arises, you should get
further information from your spiritual director, parish priest,
or religion teacher.

PERPLEXED CONSCIENCE.  Another type of conscience which remains
to be considered is the perplexed conscience.  This conscience
sees evil being done regardless of which course of action a
person takes.  A girl caring for her sick mother on Sunday is
perplexed because she does not see how she can leave her sick
mother unattended and hear Mass.  The girl feels that she ought
to care for her sick mother.  She feels that she ought also to
attend Mass, since it is Sunday.

     When conscience is thus perplexed, one may seek a solution
in one of these ways: (1) suspend action and seek competent
advice at once; or if this is impossible, (2) follow the law
which is greater when two laws appear to conflict.  In this case,
the girl ought to follow the divine command to love and assist
her mother, which law takes precedence over the law of the Church
regarding Sunday Mass.  However, if the laws appear to be equally
binding, one may choose either for God never expects us to do the
impossible.  In such a case, no sin is committed, for when one
makes up his mind to observe one of the laws, the other ceases to
bind.

DEVELOPING A RIGHT CONSCIENCE.  The standard of correct conduct
is a true conscience and a person is always obliged to follow
his conscience when it commands or forbids anything.  There are
several ways in which we can develop a true or correct
conscience.  One of these ways is by careful study of our
religion.  Asking questions of competent people - priests,
Brothers, Sisters, and lay teachers trained to teach religion -
will give us information concerning moral affairs, as will the
many Catholic books, pamphlets, and magazine and newspaper
articles that are available.

     Teenage boys and girls especially ought to have a spiritual
director, some priest in or out of the confessional, who will
direct them if doubts, scruples, or perplexing problems upset the
conduct of their moral lives.

     In order to form a right conscience we must be honest with
ourselves, avoiding the sly arguments with which we often try to
"get around" our consciences.  Daily prayer is indispensable to a
good conscience, as are frequent confession and the habit of
daily Mass and Holy Communion.  Union with Our Lord will surely
help us to recognize the true morality of our acts.

                         Conscience and "Feeling"

The term "conscience" is often used to describe some kind of
sensation, whether of peace or disturbance, in the mind AFTER an
action has taken place (subsequent conscience).  Such is the use
of the word when we refer to an examination of conscience.  It is
more correct to use the term "conscience" in referring to the
verdict of the intellect which tells us beforehand to do or not
to do an action.  It is a judgment upon an act which one is ABOUT
TO PERFORM (antecedent conscience).  In the true sense,
therefore, conscience is an act of the practical intellect
concerned with some particular act which we are now considering
doing or omitting.

     Many young people make the mistake of thinking of conscience
as a "feeling."  They "feel" that this is right or wrong.  But
our feelings are not charged with the responsibility for guiding
our human acts.  Though we sometimes allow them to be so,
feelings cannot be reliable guides to moral conduct.  It is
always correct - regardless of how strongly we "feel" about
something - to find out what actually is or is not permitted to
us.  Since conscience is a judgment on acts TO BE DONE, we
examine our acts later in the light of what we have done
knowingly and willingly, certain that at the time we acted
we knew that we were doing right or wrong.  We do not blame
ourselves for committing serious sin if we discover LATER, while
examining our conscience, that what we did was seriously wrong. 
If we did not know it at the time, there is no serious sin
involved.

     If while examining our conscience we have a genuine doubt
that some uncharitable remark of ours has or has not done harm to
our neighbor, we are not held responsible for serious sin in the
eyes of God.  It is always wise to confess doubtful sins but,
strictly speaking, where there is doubt about a sin, there is no
sin.  That is, if we have some degree of uncertainty as to
whether or not we were aware of the malice of our act at the time
we acted, then there is no sin on our part.

     But we must beware of deceiving ourselves into thinking
that, when we examine our conscience, we may excuse ourselves
from the guilt of serious sin by "building a case" for doubt.  We
must take care to recognize a genuine doubt and not confuse doubt
with excuse.

Box inserts contained in the previous original text:

                     When in Doubt, Consult a Priest.

     By bringing our moral questions to a priest in confession,
or  by seeking outside the confessional for guidance and advice
in moral conduct from authorized Catholic books or a well-trained
religion teacher, we come to know what is and what is not
permitted in given situations.  Our personal problems ought
always to be discussed with the confessor and his decisions
strictly adhered to.  His training in moral theology fits him for
the task of guiding souls safely to heaven if they are in doubt
or troubled by moral problems.

                            Frequent Confession

     If, every week or every two we kneel for a serious
examination of conscience preparatory to an adequate confession,
it will scarcely be possible for us to become careless regarding
sin or the confession of sin.  If, at any time, we find that we
have been developing a careless attitude toward regular and
frequent confession, we must take it as a sign that our
conscience is becoming weak and flabby, and that we need in all
honesty to strengthen it lest we fall victim to the dangers of a
lax conscience.  If we will just talk with him, our confessor
will want to help.
