Pastoral Theology before the Issue of Conscience

First Insights into a Field of Research

Jan Loffeld

Tilburg School of Catholic Theology

Abstract

Conscience is classically a place of moral-theological or ethical reflection. More and more often, however, it is used by bishops as a place of decision in the face of ambiguous
or controversial pastoral situations, such as the blessing of same-sex partners. In contrast, episcopal critics of the Synodal Way, for example, also refer to the conscience that,
according to their interpretation, is precisely not a place of doctrinal development. This situation leads to the analysis of an understanding of conscience that was already ambiguous in the Council, which is continued in theological follow-up concepts or later magisterial positions. Regarding a “theology of the people” that was already developed in the 1970s in the German-speaking world – parallel to Latin America – this juxtaposition could be overcome from the practice of concrete decisions of conscience and thus the pastoral essence of Vatican II could be continued in the face of concrete problems today.

Schlagworte:

conscience, pastoral theology, theology of peopole, Second Vatican Council

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Veröffentlicht
2025-01-11

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Loffeld, J. (2025). Pastoral Theology before the Issue of Conscience: First Insights into a Field of Research. Studia Teologiczno-Historyczne Śląska Opolskiego, 44(2), 41–52. https://doi.org/10.25167/sth.5647

Authors

Jan Loffeld 

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