This question goes to the independence that many adolescents desire. But am I my own measure of good and evil? If that were so, then anything I wanted to do would be good because I decided that it was good.
We don’t decide what is good and evil, we discover it. We all have the desire to do good. That is where conscience comes in. God gave us this law “to love and to do what is good and to avoid evil” (par. 1776) inscribed on our hearts. The Catechism defines conscience as “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” (par. 1778).
So it is absolutely necessary to follow our consciences. But a conscience also needs to be formed properly with sound principles and guidelines: “Don’t do evil to achieve good;” “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” and so forth. Where do these principles and guidelines come from? We can use reason, but Revelation also confirms what reason and truth tell us. That is where the Church comes in. The Church is the community formed by Christ to guide us to God. Therefore we need to listen to the Church in her wisdom. She guides us in making moral decisions that conform to what God wants of us. Read more about conscience in the Catechism, par. 1776-1802.
Know your faith. Live your faith. Teach your faith.
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