The Malignant Virus Of “Invincible Ignorance”
By CHRISTOPHER MANION Again and again we hear the refrain.“Follow your conscience.”We know all too well that a poorly formed conscience can cheer on all sorts of malevolent mischief. The importance of conscience invites scrutiny of the formation of the conscience, and of the teaching which that formation imparts.When my hometown congressman, Notre Dame graduate Joe Donnelly, was dithering before the vote on Obamacare twelve years ago, he received a call from Fr. Ted Hesburgh, CSC. Fr. Hesburgh, prompted by Nancy Pelosi, had called to urge Donnelly to vote for Obamacare. He told the dithering Donnelly, “Just follow your conscience.”To no one’s surprise, Donnelly’s conscience had been quite ill-formed at Notre Dame, so he voted “Aye” in support of federal…Continue Reading