In doing some background reading on conscience for some articles and presentations on conscience I ran across the following article.
Cardinal Pell on True and False Conscience
The key paragraph that struck me was:
"Much of the debate over conscience in Catholic circles focuses on the possibility of a conscience against the Church's teaching. This seems to me a peculiar notion. For a start, it would mean that dissenters believed that following the Church on, for example, contraception or same-sex relationships, would actually give them a guilty conscience, not just frustrated wishes. Yet it seems clear that most dissenters do not fear guilt if they obey the Church: What they fear is precisely the frustration of their unsatisfied wishes. ... "
It makes a strong point about the difference in the experience of being convicted by our conscience and being frustrated in our desires. I cannot imagine anyone feeling guilty about following the church's teaching.
I take that back. I can imagine someone feeling guilty because they are allowed to express their sexuality while their homosexual brothers and sisters cannot. Hmmm. Something to think about.
