Most people assume they know what a “conscience” is. We speak of having a clear one, a guilty one, or sometimes none at all. Before doing this study, I never thought too deeply about it. I just went ...

There is much said today about conscience. Some of this originates in the recent debates about marriage, divorce and Holy Communion. There are some who believe that the Church should respect the ...

What if my conscience says one thing and the Church says another? The Catholic Church clearly teaches that I must follow my conscience at all times while also teaching that the Church has authority ...

When Father Hermann Geissler of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith called attention to Blessed John Henry Newman’s teaching on conscience, he was making an important point. This is the ...

Is your conscience the voice of God speaking to you? How can you know if it is or isn’t? The word “conscience” is a compound of two words meaning “con” (with) “science” (knowledge), so our own ...

The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics recently hosted the conference "Conscience in Catholicism: Rights, Responsibilities, and Institutional Policies." Scholars from around the world gathered to ...

Throughout the wide world of creation, God has left all sorts of signs that point right back at him. Often these clues tell us more than that a divine being exists; they often tell us what kind of ...

David E. DeCosse (@daviddecosse.bsky.social) is the director of the Religious & Catholic Ethics program at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University. Views are his own. We are ...