YLC Ch. 5 vocab

conscience

A practical judgment of reason that helps a person decide the goodness or evil of an action or attitude. Your conscience must be formed properly and then followed.

examination of conscience

An honest, prayerful assessment of how well you have lived God's covenant of love. This examination leads you to accept responsibility for your sins and to realize your need for God's merciful forgiveness.

fortitude

"The moral virtue that ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good" (CCC, 1808).

invincible ignorance

Ignorance about the rightness or wrongness of an action in which one is not morally culpable. Despite a person's reasonable effort in seeking the truth, the ignorance was invincible—that is, "incapable of being overcome."

martyr

A word that means "witness." A martyr is someone who has suffered and died for the truth of the faith and of Christian doctrine; martyrdom is the ultimate act of fortitude.

peer pressure

Pressure to go along with the beliefs and actions of others. This kind of pressure can be morally neutral, positive, or negative.

vincible ignorance

Ignorance about the rightness or wrongness of an action in which one is morally culpable. This kind of ignorance is vincible—that is, "capable of being overcome" if the person had diligently sought the truth.