Forming Conscience

Catholic News Agency by Father Rocky Hoffman:

Is it truly possible for someone to “kill” his conscience — that is, to make it completely inoperable so that he has no moral discernment at all?
When we read about wicked crimes committed in cold blood, we wonder if the criminal is without conscience. Sometimes that seems to be the case. It is possible, through a willful life of sin, to dull the conscience and weaken it, perhaps even to the point of rendering it ineffective. In such case, moral theologians speak more of a “deformed conscience” rather than a “dead conscience.”

Conscience is the “proximate norm of morality” and we have a duty to follow our conscience. However, conscience is not infallible, and we must form it continually, through the frequent examination of conscience and sacrament of confession, the meditative pondering of the Sacred Scriptures, and the assiduous study of the moral teachings of the Church.

* Father Rocky Hoffman is a nationally known radio priest and a widely sought inspirational speaker and retreat leader. He has been instrumental in the founding of several private Catholic academies and preparatory schools nationwide. Currently he serves as Senior Director of Mission, Programming, and Development for Relevant Radio. Ordained to the priesthood by Blessed Pope John Paul II in 1992, Fr. Rocky is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), and holds an MBA degree earned at the University of Notre Dame and a doctorate in Catholic canon law earned at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome. He is an avid waterskier and snowskier, as well as an accomplished jazz pianist.