Chapter 5

fortitude

moral virture that ensures firmness in difficulties and consistantcy in the pursuit of good

What will a conscientious decision involve?

A conscientious decision involves evaluating the situation and determining right from wrong.

What are three aspects of conscience are revealed in the definition from the Second Vatican Council?

Conscience is awareness of God's call to be. Conscience is awareness of God's call to know and do the good, that is, to love. Conscience is a practical judgement of the intellect.

Can a conscience ever be wrong?

Even a well-formed conscience can make mistakes. However, must must always follow the dictates of our conscience, even if it is erroneous.

How does a conscience work?

In our daily routine, most of our decisions of conscience are implicit and result from our already acquired values and attitudes. When we have more important decisions to make, we typically take time to make an explicit, more deliberate reference to our conscience.

What factors contribute to an erroneous conscience?

One major factor is ignorance. The CCC lists other factors that can lead us into making bad conscience decisions: ignorance of Christ and hid Gospel, the bad examples of other people, enslavement to one's passions, holding a false idea of autonomy of conscience, rejecting Church authority and Church teaching in areas of morality.

Who was Archbishop Oscar Romero?

Oscar Romero was a priest from El Salvador who demonstrated fortitude by becoming a spokesperson for the poor and persecuted against an unfair government. While celebrating Mass, he was shot and killed at the alter for speaking out as a revolutionary.

How do I guard against a wrong conscience?

Our decisions of conscience must be free. Sincere people will make a life commitment to forming and continually, informing their consciences out of the virtue of humility, acknowledging that they do not know it all. If we do find we have an erroneous conscience, we must make a concentrated effort with God's grace to overcome them.

What is peer pressure?

Peer pressure is conformity to the standard and actions of members of our age group or social group greatly affects our way of looking at life, our values, and our way of behaving.

How do prudence and justice help us exercise the virtues of fortitude?

Prudence teaches us what is worth suffering for. Justice points out situations contrary to to the gospel, and hence, worth our efforts to correct.

What do the four letters in the acronym SEER stand for? What ia a seer?

S: Study E: Elect E: Execute R: Review A seer is a person in tune with truth.

What is the ultimate act of fortitude?

The ultimate act of fortitude is martyrdom.

What pointers are given to help is resist peer pressure?

To do what is right requites fortitude which is exercised with the help of prudence and justice.

Must a conscience always be followed?

Yes. Through your conscience, God calls you to be the person he made you to be. A human being must always obey the certain judgement of his conscience.

What are two important principles regarding conscience?

You must always form and keep informing your conscience. You must always follow your conscience.

CCC definition of conscience

a judgement of reason whereby the human person recognizes the moral quality of a concrete act that he is going to perform, is in the process of performing, or has already completed

SEER

a method for making moral decisions

martyr

a witness ready to suffer and even die for truth and vitire; martydom is the ultimate act of fortitude

Define what a conscience is.

awareness of God's call to be awareness of God's call to know and the the good (to love) practical judgement of intellect

What is a conscience not? What are the six incomplete or wrong ideas of conscience?

conscience as a majority opinion - surrenders personal responsibility to the group or to the latest survey feeling - individuals are creators of their own moral rules and are only answerable to themselves superego - the leftover rules of childhood that we carry around in our subconsicene gut-instict - hunch to moral situations Jiminy Cricket - an internal voice dictating what we should do myth - denying the existance if personal conscience

virtue

good habits that allow us to do good with ease

dictionary definition of conscience

the awareness of a moral or ethical aspect to one's conduct together with the urge to prefer right over wrong