Speaker Bio
The Most Reverend Archbishop Vigneron
Allen H. Vigneron, Oakland’s third Bishop (2003–09), now Archbishop of Detroit and Metropolitan of his native Michigan, chairs the Board of Trustees of the Catholic University of America, where he earned his doctorate in philosophy. Distinguished alike as a pastor of souls and an acute student of the human experience, His Excellency is especially qualified to examine the counter-cultural witness to which the Catholic faithful are called in our day.
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Christian Conscience and the Issues of the Day
The signers of the Manhattan Declaration [MD] have reaffirmed their shared commitment to defend in the Public Square the sanctity of life, traditional marriage, and religious liberty. This commitment, as well as the acts that follow from that commitment, are the fruits of consciences shaped by the Word of God, heard and accepted within the communion of the Church.
Since signing the MD is a public act of Christian conscience, a clearer understanding of what Christian conscience is and is not is necessary for an intelligent engagement in the MD Project.
In seeking to grasp the essential shape of Christian conscience, we will pursue the strategy of Pope John Paul II in his Encyclical Veritatis splendor, where he identifies the martyr’s conscience as the paradigm for all of Christ’s disciples.
"Inasmuch as these truths are foundational to human dignity and the well-being of society, they are inviolable and non-negotiable."
