Article II: On Lax Conscience

116. A lax conscience (conscience relachee; ruim of los geweten) properly is one which doubts, suspects, or probably thinks, on account of slight and contemptible reasons, that an act here and now to be placed, being evil, is not evil, or is less evil than it is, for example, venial when it is mortal. Whence it is as it were a moral anesthesia. - It is said:

a) properly: for lax conscience is often taken improperly for a habitual disposition which inclines one to laxer judgments and to having a lax conscience;

b) doubts, suspects, or probably thinks: for if it judges with certainty, then it now becomes a conscience simply erroneous, although this could have arisen from preceding laxity;

c) on account of slight reasons, that an evil act is not evil...: this is its proper object, by which it is distinguished from every other positively doubtful and probable conscience, and even from scrupulous conscience;

d) an act here and now to be placed: thus it is distinguished from a consequent lax conscience, which judges an act already placed.

117. Division of lax conscience. - Lax conscience is threefold:

a) Simply such, which rests upon an opinion thinly or doubtfully probable, or applies the more benign reflex principles too frequently and wrongly; it proceeds from a defect of attention, more often voluntary, and from levity of mind.

b) Cauterized (I Tim. IV, 2: conscience emoussee, cauterisee; verstokt of verstompt geweten), which makes even grave sins as nothing and accounts evil as good without any remorse (Is. V, 20), and proceeds from crass ignorance and a long-standing habit of sinning: for in this way, from perverse morals, the moral sense can be so clouded that a man does not abhor even grave sins, but, as it were, drinks iniquity like water (Job XV, 16). This conscience is opposed at once to the God-fearing and to the scrupulous conscience, so that the God-fearing conscience holds the mean between the cauterized and the scrupulous.

c) Pharisaic, which is so called from the Pharisees straining out the gnat but swallowing the camel: it makes great things (for example, duties of state, internal things, prescriptions of the natural law) little, and little things (for example, works of supererogation, external things, prescriptions of positive law) great (Mt. XXIII, 24). It often arises from malice, and it is opposed at once to the tender and to the narrow conscience, so that the tender conscience mediates between the Pharisaic and the narrow.

118. Conjectural signs of lax conscience. - The following signs are enumerated, by which it is recognized and distinguished from a scrupulous conscience:¹

¹ Thus Lacroix, Th. M., l. I, n. 256, from Stoz, Tribunal Poenitentiae, n. 223.

1. The lax man is one who despises and holds as nothing those things which others commonly think are sins; but he who fears what others hold as nothing is scrupulous.

2. He who generally does not believe preachers and confessors, but judges their rebukes to be immoderate exaggerations, is lax; but he who does not believe confessors or other learned and upright men when they excuse the fact is scrupulous.

3. He who, trusting in his own judgment, is accustomed to proceed without consulting anyone is lax; but he who, even in clear matters, or in matters about which at another time he has received a resolution, asks again and again, wishing by this to render himself more secure, is scrupulous.

4. He who in confessing is in no way solicitous about expressing the species or the number of sins is lax; but he who confesses all things doubtfully and hesitatingly, repeating the same thing more often, saying now this number, now that number, or a different circumstance, and never satisfying himself, is scrupulous.

5. He who acts in anything precipitately and without any consideration is lax; but he who proceeds in all things so suspended that he does not trust the common doctrine of theologians, but always seeks evidences and demonstrations, is scrupulous.

6. He who hurries through any prayers swiftly and vaguely, interrupts them without cause, looks around while praying, or chats, is lax in this; but he who prays anxiously, often stops in order to have attention, and repeats the same things, is scrupulous; and so concerning other matters.

From these it follows that even among the devout there is found a lax conscience, at least in light matter, for example, if they make certain light sins as nothing, or act in anything precipitately and without consideration, or, trusting in their own judgment, are accustomed to proceed without consulting anyone, etc., as was said under 1, 3, and 5.

Especially a penitent in confession is to be judged to be of lax conscience if there is discerned:

a) an accusation evidently insufficient, such as ordinarily exists among those who, on the occasion of annual confession, say that they have committed no evil, neither theft nor homicide, or confess only a few distractions in praying, or certain similar things;

b) absence of remorse of conscience and delay of confession until some external circumstance as it were compels one to confess;

c) lack of all sorrow for the sins declared, as among those who seem rather to defend their sins than to accuse them, who hear the exhortations of the confessor distracted and insensible, who try to persuade themselves by certain little reasons that God is too good to damn to hell for omission of Mass or for eating meat.

But if by these or by other signs stated above the confessor recognizes a lax conscience: 1) he cannot simply trust such a lax penitent who recognizes himself guilty of no grave sin, but by apt questions, as far as possible, greater integrity of confession should be procured; - 2) where he accuses himself doubtfully concerning consent, he is to be presumed to have consented, otherwise he would not doubt, but would be certain that he had not consented, or would in no way remember; - 3) above all, contrition is to be inculcated upon him.

119. Causes and effects of lax conscience. - Several causes are enumerated, which on the part of the intellect are reduced to vincible ignorance, on the part of the appetite to perversity of will. For the most part they are:

1. a bad or neutral education, which is unequal to establishing the difference of good and evil and inculcating the true sense of obligation; and familiarity with the vicious, to whose morals we become accustomed and with whose sentiments we are joined;

2. defect of consideration and counsel in ordering the moral life, whence good works are done from usage, in an external and mechanical way, rather than from love of good and hatred of evil;

3. a soft life, which enervates the soul and causes levity of mind, or a defect of moral discipline in the will, which is acquired only through the practice of mortification and self-denial;

4. vehement inordinate passions, especially in youth, by which reason is clouded and easily judges licit what we desire too much, for example, anger, ambition, greed, empty glory, sensual pleasure, especially lust, by which it comes about that the animal man does not perceive the things that are of the Spirit of God. Thus, for example, movements of anger seem to be nothing other than pious indignation, unbridled ambition nothing other than noble emulation, avarice is held as legitimate providence, commercial frauds are thought to be a display of industry, pleasure an honest or necessary recreation, etc.;

5. excessive solicitude for temporal things, which makes us earthly, in mature age;

6. a life long immersed in vices, or the custom of sinning, and of deliberately neglecting remorse of conscience, which takes away horror of sin;

7. presumptuous trust in God, from which arises neglect of prayer, examination of conscience, and confession, which wholly casts down the soul and leaves it fasting from spiritual food;

8. tepidity of soul.

But the effects of lax conscience are:

a) in the intellect, blindness of mind, dullness of sense, foolishness or blind tranquility after sin;

b) in the will, hardness of heart or insensibility to pious admonitions, so that it can scarcely be moved by any means;

c) mockery of pious exercises;

d) hardening in evil and final impenitence (Rom. II, 5).

120. Thesis. Lax conscience is not the rule of acting prudently, but must be laid aside.

It is proved: For a) it is uncertain; - b) it proceeds from rashness or ignorance which is voluntary, or at least cannot remain involuntary when the doubt arisen from slight reasons is seriously examined; - c) moreover it is dangerous and is accustomed to have harmful effects, because it casts the soul upon the broad way which leads to perdition (Mt. VII, 13), whence ordinarily it increases the danger of sinning mortally or of persevering in sin; and therefore, other things being equal, even more than a scrupulous conscience, it must be guarded against and corrected.

But if it is not laid aside, the one acting sins with that species and gravity of sin to which he knows he commits himself, or to the danger of which he exposes himself, just as theologians teach concerning a vincibly erroneous conscience and concerning an uncertain conscience; and indeed he sins as often as, at least confusedly, he adverts to the insufficiency of the reasons on which he rests and voluntarily neglects to employ apt means for forming a right conscience, and thus exposes himself to the danger of sinning. - Indeed he can sin gravely even in a light matter, if his rashness, with any dictate omitted or contemned, impels him to acting, being actually so disposed that, if he adverted that the action was gravely evil, he would nevertheless place it.

121. Remedies for lax conscience. - Lax conscience must be laid aside from true faith and purification of heart, by the profession and exercise of true religion. Whence the remedies are the study of reflection or of greater consideration, and the combating of tepidity; in particular:

1. a spiritual retreat for some days, whereby the soul may be free for God and itself (Os. II, 14);

2. daily discussion of conscience concerning the acts of the present day (Is. XLVI, 8);

3. devout and assiduous prayer and meditation on the last things (Eccli. VII, 40), and frequent reading of pious books;

4. diligent confession after sin, lest the soul be hardened in sin, and inquiry of means from the confessor;

5. removal of the causes, for example, flight from the wicked and conversation with the good (Prov. XIII, 20).

Especially: a) habitually, let the lax man beware of his first estimation concerning the morality of his acts, so that he may strive against his laxity and learn to rectify his conscience;

b) when a doubt, even a light one, has arisen concerning the liceity or gravity of an action to be placed, let him not despise it as empty, but examine diligently;

c) while doubt concerning the gravity of an action placed remains, let him not approach Holy Communion unless he has confessed.

But if he seriously tries to amend his conscience, he is to be encouraged with great patience and meekness to confidence and perseverance; and if then nevertheless he relapses, he will sometimes be excused from grave fault on account of precipitation in acting, in which case he will have to be exhorted to greater vigilance, so that he may proceed more cautiously and may learn to avoid this also.

122. Warning. - According to the principles explained above (n. 69), the confessor must warn and instruct the penitent who labors under a lax conscience: 1) if such a conscience, as often happens, is vincible and gravely culpable; 2) even outside grave fault, if fruit of the warning is hoped for; 3) even if fruit is not hoped for, when it is harmful either to the penitent, who, with laxity growing worse, could suffer total extinction of the moral sense, or to others, because it would cause notable scandal of neighbor or public evil.