As I write this, I plan to take part in this year’s “No Kings” protest on March 28. I took part in it last year along with more than 7 million others across the country. Taking part in last year was an inspiring experience for me.
There are several reasons why I am planning to take part in the protest this year. One reason is because of the leadership of Pope Leo XIV and the American bishops, both of whom have been critical of the present way that immigrants are being treated in this country. I am hoping that a large turnout of protesters will move the current administration of our country to change the way that immigrants are being treated.
When I studied moral theology at the major seminary in the 1950s, there was a strong emphasis on it. At times, my classmates and I joked about this emphasis, suggesting that we were studying sins that most people not only did not commit but never even imagined.
However, there was one very large gap in the program. Almost no time was devoted to the social teaching of the Church, for example, as it was present in social encyclicals of the popes. My conscience tells me that Pope Leo and the American bishops are correct to call attention to the inhumane way that immigrants are being treated. My participation in the protest is my way, however small, of saying “Enough!” Pope Leo and the American bishops are challenging our consciences.
In the philosophy of the human person course that I teach at St. John’s University, most of the students are freshmen, and for all of them, this is the first philosophy course that they have ever taken. At one point in the course, I try to motivate the students to reflect on their consciences. The definition of conscience that I offer them is the following: “Conscience is the habitual way that a human consciousness judges in ethical matters.” So every person has a conscience. What influences the way that a conscience is shaped and formed? Just about everything. I guess that an individual’s family plays a strong role in shaping a conscience.
The schools a person attends, the people with whom a person associates, the newspapers and books a person reads, and the television shows, especially news programs, a person watches, are probably significant factors in the formation of a conscience. At this moment, I am wondering how much cellphones are shaping the consciences of young people.
What is important to remember when reflecting on a conscience is that it is a habit. Therefore, a conscience may not change easily. I will use myself as an example. For most of my life, I believed in capital punishment. You murder someone, we kill you.
For many years, I believed that a nuclear war could be moral. If a country attacks us using nuclear weapons, I thought we could respond with our own nuclear weapons.
I no longer believe that capital punishment is moral, and I no longer believe that a nuclear war could be moral. What changed my conscience on these two topics?
Regarding capital punishment, I read a few books, and St. John Paul II said it is almost always immoral. Pope Francis said it is always immoral. Concerning nuclear war, what changed me? I think nothing can justify the killing of millions, and millions and millions and millions of people!
My conscience tells me that attending the “No Kings” protest is a good moral choice that I am making.
Is my conscience still developing, still growing and deepening? I hope so. New moral situations and questions are frequently presented to us. A serious moral problem has just occurred to me. In many sections of the world, children are starving. I see this being reported on the news every evening. To what extent is this my problem? What is my conscience telling me?
While writing this column, I learned that several of my friends who did not attend last year’s protest are planning to attend this year. I wonder if my attending last year freed them to attend this year. If it did, that would be an excellent example of how one conscience can influence another.
I have been blessed in my life, especially as a priest, with wonderful friends who seem to me very holy. Those very good people have greatly influenced my relationship with God. Reflecting on their presence in my life, I imagine I would be a very different priest without them. Much of what I view as good in my life seems to be due to their presence. I expect to mingle with thousands of good people on March 28.
Father Lauder is a philosophy professor at St. John’s University, Jamaica. His new book, “The Cosmic Love Story: God and Us,” is available on Amazon.com and at Barnes & Noble.