The teachings of the Catholic Church on morality and conscience might be summarized in the following points:

• Conscience is a judgment 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. In all he says and does, man is obliged to follow faithfully what he knows to be just and right..(1778)
• Human actions are morally good when 1) what we choose to do is reasonable and good, 2) we intend to do good or avoid evil through what we choose to do, and 3) the circumstances around our choice do not alter 1 & 2. For Catholics, a good end never justifies an evil means (CCC 1749-1760).
• While we must always obey our conscience (i.e. we must always do what we judge to be good and avoid what we judge to be evil), we are responsible for forming it according to reason and the teaching of the Church (1790-1794).

Recommended Reading

• ​Read the Catechism of the Catholic Church, #1691-1876
• ​Bob O'Gorman's chapter on the teachings of the church in The Idiot's Guide to Catholicism offers a solid introduction to Catholic moral teachings (PDF)
• ​Read C.S. Lewis's classic and readable treatment of morality in Mere Christianity (PDF)
• ​For another basic introduction to thinking about morality from a Catholic perspective, see Herbert McCabe's chapter "Teaching Morals" in God Still Matters (PDF)
• ​Theologian Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) offers a dense but illuminating reflection on conscience.

Weekly Meditation: Examine Your Conscience

The 10 commandments form the basis for the Church's moral teachings. They serve as a rough outline to living in such a way that we won't look back on our lives with disappointment and despair.

• Take a minute to look at this examination of conscience. Do these principles make sense to you?

But Christian morality is more than simply following rules laid down for us by a divine parent; it's a matter of being awake and attentive to the actions and attitudes in our lives. Some actions and attitudes are ways of participating in the life of God, and other actions and attitudes are ways of stepping away from the life of God. For Catholics, a fully formed conscience is a heart that is attentive, awake, to the currents of life and death that run through our lives. Conscience is the ability to be vigilant about your choices, and to be able to choose a course of action firmly and wisely. 

• Take another minute and reflect on the normal state of your conscience.  Is it generally awake all the time, or does it slumber until a life crisis jolts it to consciousness? Are you perpetually worried about what you're doing wrong? Are you somewhere in the middle?

The quality of our conscience depends on memory and attention. When we remember times of spiritual growth and spiritual decay, we are able to see, to pay attention to, the patterns of God's life unfolding in us. One ancient practice of using memory and attention to develop the conscience is called the examen a version of an examination of conscience. To practice the examen, we simply set aside regular times (daily, weekly, monthly) to reflect on times in which we have experienced the fruits of our good choices and times in which we have suffered the consequences of poor choices. 10 minutes of reflection at the end of each day can yield tremendous insights into our opportunities to participate more deeply in God's life within us.

• Take a final minute and look at this version of the examen. Could this or something like it be useful in your spiritual journey? How will you set aside regular time to reflect on how your actions demonstrate the influence of God's infinite love and mercy?