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My Little Collection of Knives... which I Found in My Back One Day... On Charitable Speech and Slander (Part 4)
Associate Pastor's Column
The next step in our discussion of charitable speech is to examine that sort of talk which seems to be full of nobility, but yet is intended only to kill. Kill one’s good name. We take our cue once again from the great bishop and doctor of the Church, St. Francis de Sales, whose feast we just celebrated this past Tuesday. He writes, “Men who preface slander with protestations of honorable intentions or make little compliments and private jokes are the most subtle and venomous slanderers of all… You see what they are up to. The archer draws back the arrow as near himself as he can so that he can shoot his dart with greater force. Such men seemingly draw the slander towards themselves, but it is merely to shoot it out more forcibly so that it can pierce deeper into their hearers’ hearts.” (St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life, III, 29) Some examples of this might help understand to what our saint is referring. This type of slander comes in forms like, “I like him, but it’s too bad he has this defect.” “She’s a nice person, but she was caught off guard.” “I have a funny joke about Johnny, harmless of course…” A similar version of this is when one pretends to be a friend of his victim, but then later behind his back, spreads rumors, gossip, slander, detraction, and every other vile poison. And all of this is grave matter against charity and the eighth commandment, and must be confessed before the perpetrator returns to communion, and the perpetrator must repair the damage he has done. Such poison, when administered with honey, makes the user a perfect hypocrite, for he pretends to do good, yet with the very act he is pretending to make good he is doing the opposite evil. I compare all this to a collection of fine knives or swords. They are delightful to the eye and imagination, but they do no good if they are collected in one’s back instead of on one’s bookshelf. It never ceases to amaze me, furthermore, how easily Catholic faithful fall into this sweet type of slander in two areas: the parishioners, and their priests. Sometimes I get faithful who pretend they’re all concerned about the “future of the parish,” or the “good of the parishioners,” and then follow up with groundless, pointless gossip about parishioners, or sweeping accusations of their moral faults. First, those who slander their fellow parishioners. I have often surprised those who bear such venomous tongues when I refuse to enter into such wicked confidences, disprove their evil accusations, or stand up for the good name of their victims. On occasion, such gossip-mongers were so angered by the fact that I would not collaborate, corroborate or bless their loose tongues, that they stomped away claiming they will simply have to find another parish. Well, if such souls are looking for a parish wherein they can slander their neighbor in peace, I hope they never find one. Second, those who slander their priests. It’s not hard to do so, since priests, as ones entrusted to the care and cure of souls, keep many secrets. And so gossip-mongers are outraged when they don’t know all the comings, goings, doings and thoughts of their pastors. Furthermore, priests are public figures, and their limitations and weaknesses come to light more easily than do others’. And so “concerned” parishioners are always ready to go about telling everyone why their current parish priest is going to somehow ruin the parish. Yet gossip and slander against a priest is a triple mortal sin. It is a double mortal sin when perpetrated against anyone in general: that of bearing false witness, and that of murder (6th and 8th commandments). Slander against a priest of God adds the further guilt of sacrilege, as they are sacramentally consecrated by holy orders and set aside by God and the Church for divine service. So the next time someone visits you with “concerns,” or you feel you need to speak ill of another to save the world, remember what David wrote, and St. Paul quotes, “‘Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.’ ‘The poison of vipers is on their lips.’” (Rom 3:13, cf. Ps 140:3) And let us never allow such evil flattery to circle among the parish families of our happy cluster.
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