Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship

At a Glance:
Order Form | Preview

This program is our attempt to honor the intent of the Bishops that being a “faithful citizen” is not merely something required of us in an election year, but a 24/7/365 commitment.  Although OPJ will offer different types of presentations and catechesis on FCFC, we will pay special attention to three fundamentals:

faith shapes the whole of life

No element of human life and activity is outside the bounds of divine concern.  Hermetically sealing faith and politics deprives faith of its proper scope and politics of the purifying and transforming power of faith.  A faith of worship alone, not imaginatively, communally, and publicly lived as leaven in the world, is inconsistent with Catholic identity. 

formation of conscience

Conscience is not a feeling but a judgment of reason, enlightened by the teaching of Christ as it comes to us through the Church, whereby one recognizes the moral quality of a concrete act. Everyone is obliged to properly form and faithfully follow their conscience.  The Church must also form and obey her own institutional conscience, living it publicly and prophetically in the world.

development of prudence

Prudence is a cardinal virtue, a habit of the soul disposing one to choose the right action under any given circumstance.  Prudence shapes and informs our ability to deliberate over available alternatives, determine what is most fitting to a specific context, and act. Prudence must be accompanied by the other cardinal virtues: justice, temperance, and fortitude.