This fall, every practicing Catholic must vote, and must vote their Catholic consciences, or by the following fall our Catholic schools, our Catholic hospitals, our Catholic Newman Centers, all our public ministries — only excepting our church buildings – could easily be shut down. Because no Catholic institution, under any circumstance, can ever cooperate with the intrinsic evil of killing innocent human life in the womb.
No Catholic ministry – and yes, Mr. President, for Catholics our schools and hospitals are ministries – can remain faithful to the Lordship of the Risen Christ and to his glorious Gospel of Life if they are forced to pay for abortions.–Bishop Jenkey (bold face emphasis mine)
It is very important that each Catholic develop a properly formed Catholic Conscience.
What is this Catholic Conscience? It is that formation of the innermost self by study and living Catholic teachings. As a person studies Church teaching and tries to live it in their everyday, lay-person’s secular life, that person develops their conscience. Development of a Catholic Conscience will cause a person to feel uncomfortable with sin and vice. The better the development of that conscience, the more sensitive to sin and vice it becomes and thus the sooner the person is warned of it.
A well formed Catholic Conscience is like the canary in the mine. It will warn you early so you can take appropriate action to avoid evil.
For example, a well formed Catholic conscience will not accept a pro-choice candidate, no matter how good otherwise, when there is a pro-life candidate available. This makes some people unhappy when the only pro-life candidate differs from them on economic principles. This is why Catholics need to get involved at the local level and in the primaries so as to expand the number of pro-life candidates who are satisfying choices for office.
There are no rights at all for anyone whose right to life is violated!
Dear Lord, Please help every single baptized person develop a highly formed Catholic conscience. Guide us all in recognizing evil and making wise decisions about how we will act in the face of it. Thank You for Church teaching which can be used to form our consciences well so that we are quick to avoid sin and quicker to seek good. Amen.