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When We Must Call Evil by Its Own Name
On Charitable Speech and
Slander (Part 6)
As we said last week, in our series, now it is time to discuss a very important part of how a follower of Christ lives out the eighth commandment. There are occasions when, in fact, we have reasons to speak of the ills, deficiencies, even sins of another person. What are the conditions which permit or require such speech? And how is it to be done? I think today we shall focus on “when” we may speak so, and leave the “how” for next week. We have been and will follow St. Francis de Sales, a magnificent bishop and doctor of the Church, as our guide. Yet for this question, of how to discern when we can permit ourselves to speak of another person’s defects, today I would like to turn to St. Thomas Aquinas, another great doctor of the Church. St. Thomas in his masterpiece, the Summa (IIaIIae, 60, 2), says that there are three conditions which are required for a person to pass judgment justly: good will, competency, and knowledge of the truth. A good will is one that loves justice, and is disposed to give each one his due; someone with an axe to grind is not in a position to judge anyone. Competency is the quality of the person who is in a position to judge; a small child is not in a position to pass judgment on his parent, but a jury member may judge a defendant. The knowledge of the truth implies certainty; a suspicion, or even “it’s probable that…” is not enough. It requires us to go against the grain, here in America, to discuss how to judge another person. Yet as it is not right for one to pass a judgment which is rash, malicious, uninformed or none of their business, so it is also not right for one in a position to judge to not do so. The eighth commandment is ignored by the slanderer, yet it goes amuck in the one who omits a due judgment. Virtue falls neither to excesses nor to deficiencies: it does what is good, true and beautiful always, even when acting virtuously is unpopular. Regarding this last point, sometimes I see one person tell another, in the most scandalized tones, “You’re being judgmental!” Of course, the sentence, “you are being judgmental” is itself a judgment, and makes the accuser a hypocrite, for he does what he condemns. One can’t be a human being and not be “judgmental” in the sense of discerning right from wrong. It belongs to the nature of the human person to discern such things. Rather, we should see it as an act of charity, when, if my neighbor is doing something sinful, I realize that indeed he is doing evil, and so then I help him stop doing that and repent, and so save his soul. The next step is to, so to speak, move from the head to the mouth; that is, once we have determined when we may or even must form a judgment mentally, now we need to ask when I may open my mouth to express my thoughts on the matter. The Catechism of the Catholic Church has a whole, very praiseworthy section on this very topic (paragraphs 2475-2487). The criteria we find here are found in the words scattered through the whole section: “unjust,” “without sufficient reason,” “without objectively valid reason.” So there may be times when we have a just reason to speak honestly of another’s ills, or we do so with sufficient reason, or with objectively valid reason. Some such reasons might be things like preventing scandal, saving our neighbor from physical or spiritual harm, defending Church teaching, forming the conscience of a child who witnessed some evil, removing the damage of someone’s lie, and the like. No list could ever be formed to name every possible reason, but a person who has formed the virtue of prudence is able to well apply the principle to each particular situation. Yet in all things, let us remember what St. Ignatius of Loyola recommends: “Every good Christian ought to be more ready to give a favorable interpretation to another’s statement than to condemn it” (Spiritual Exercises, 22). And when it would be unreasonable to still apply the favorable interpretation, then we should pray and do penance for our neighbor, and do all lovingly so he may be saved. Picture: Terrorist attack on the Twin Towers, 9-11-2001. Thanks http://www.ukuleleman.net/2006_09_01_ukemanspeaks_archive.html. |
