Truth and goodness carry their own authority for men and women who have been gifted by God with insight into the intelligible order and beauty of His creation, and divine revelation extends this insight beyond what we could otherwise discover by ourselves. Our choice for what is good and true may then be itself an act of worship. To act in good conscience is to make well-informed choices for what we believe right. How, though, do we arrive at a good conscience? What is the role in this of the Church's Teaching? And how should a democratic society accommodate people with very different moral consciences?

Richard Finn OP is a Dominican friar based in Oxford, where he currently serves as Regent of Blackfriars Hall. A member of the Theology and Classics Faculties of Oxford University, he is the recent author of Asceticism in the Graeco-Roman World (Cambridge University Press, July 2009).

Faith Matters Autumn 2009 Lecture 1 from Catholic Westminster on Vimeo.