Conscience

Fr. Araujo's post seems reasonable as far as it goes.  Individuals cannot simply make it up for themselves without regard to the Church's teachings and then plead "conscience."  But I'm not sure the concept of "conscience" has any meaning at all if there is not some room for individual evaluation of the relevant sources and arguments.  And, while the Church does have a role to play as a guide, we should not forget the MANY instances in the (not so distant) past when, despite its authority and all the advantages Fr. Araujo lays out in his post, the Church has simply gotten it flat-out wrong.  Support for slavery in the 19th century and opposition to religious freedom come to mind as obvious examples, but there are many more.  Moreover, if the Catholic conception of conscience does not leave any room for individual evaluation and dissent on ethical questions, then I am not sure how we can possibly defend ourselves against critics who see the Catholic intellectual tradition as profoundly incompatible with the most basic democratic values.

On a side note, although I'm sure he didn't mean it this way, I can't help but take Prof. Bainbridge's post as implicitly calling into question my faithfulness to the Church.  In response, I should say that (1) I am apparently in good company with respect to contraception, since that particular Church teaching is nearly universally derided and ignored by the laity and by a great many priests (this is important for my second point because Church arguments on contraception and homosexuality share some common intellectual ground in their views of human sexuality and marriage); and (2) my view on homosexuality was not lightly formed; it is based on careful scrutiny of the scriptural and philosophical arguments on behalf of the Church's position, as well as my own prayerful reflection on the lessons I have learned from my (as Fr. Araujo might put it) engagement with the world -- in particular, the lessons I have learned from my many good and (in my opinion) holy friends who have endeavored to live lives faithful to the Church while engaged in committed and loving homosexual relationships.