Resources To Better Understand Gossip, Slander, "evil Tongue",

[Gabriela]

I'm a new Catholic, and my greatest sin (I think... I hope...) is hands-down what Jews call "lashon ha'ra", "the evil tongue". Jews have a book that clearly lays down what is and is not gossip, slander, "lashon ha'ra", etc. Is there any such book or document for Catholics?

I have read the post on gossip and, from what I understand there, the primary determining factors are the speaker's intent and what might be called "contagiousness". By the latter, I am referring to what the Chofetz Chaim (author of that Jewish book I mentioned) describes as the tendency of negative speech to get stuck in the hearer's mind and recalled against his will. For example, if I like John well enough and don't know that John is a hopeless philanderer, and then Bob tells me that John is a hopeless philanderer, every time I now see John, I will remember that Bob said he's a hopeless philanderer and so think less of him, or at least, see him differently.

So far, the only guiding principle I've been using for whether I ought to say something or not is the question, "Should that be spread (like a contagion)?" If the answer is 'no', I (try to) keep my mouth shut.

But really, I could use some more methodical, detailed explanation of the principles behind Catholic thinking on this subject. Cuz I think I'm starting to bore my confessor. ;-)

[cappie]

I'm sure there are books addressing this but for me there is the Catechism:

III. OFFENSES AGAINST TRUTH

2475 Christ's disciples have "put on the new man, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness." By "putting away falsehood," they are to "put away all malice and all guile and insincerity and envy and all slander."

2476 False witness and perjury. When it is made publicly, a statement contrary to the truth takes on a particular gravity. In court it becomes false witness. When it is under oath, it is perjury. Acts such as these contribute to condemnation of the innocent, exoneration of the guilty, or the increased punishment of the accused. They gravely compromise the exercise of justice and the fairness of judicial decisions.

2477 Respect for the reputation of persons forbids every attitude and word likely to cause them unjust injury. He becomes guilty:
- of rash judgment who, even tacitly, arseumes as true, without sufficient foundation, the moral fault of a neighbor;
- of detraction who, without objectively valid reason, discloses another's faults and failings to persons who did not know them;
- of calumny who, by remarks contrary to the truth, harms the reputation of others and gives occasion for false judgments concerning them.

2478 To avoid rash judgment, everyone should be careful to interpret insofar as possible his neighbor's thoughts, words, and deeds in a favorable way:

"Every good Christian ought to be more ready to give a favorable interpretation to another's statement than to condemn it. But if he cannot do so, let him ask how the other understands it. And if the latter understands it badly, let the former correct him with love. If that does not suffice, let the Christian try all suitable ways to bring the other to a correct interpretation so that he may be saved." St. Ignatius of Loyola, [i]Spiritual Exercises[/i], 22.

2479 Detraction and calumny destroy the reputation and honor of one's neighbor. Honor is the social witness given to human dignity, and everyone enjoys a natural right to the honor of his name and reputation and to respect. Thus, detraction and calumny offend against the virtues of justice and charity.

2480 Every word or attitude is forbidden which by flattery, adulation, or complaisance encourages and confirms another in malicious acts and perverse conduct. Adulation is a grave fault if it makes one an accomplice in another's vices or grave sins. Neither the desire to be of service nor friendship justifies duplicitous speech. Adulation is a venial sin when it only seeks to be agreeable, to avoid evil, to meet a need, or to obtain legitimate advantages.

2481 Boasting or bragging is an offense against truth. So is irony aimed at disparaging someone by maliciously caricaturing some aspect of his behavior.

2482 "A lie consists in speaking a falsehood with the intention of deceiving." The Lord denounces lying as the work of the devil: "You are of your father the devil, . . . there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies."

2483 Lying is the most direct offense against the truth. To lie is to speak or act against the truth in order to lead someone into error. By injuring man's relation to truth and to his neighbor, a lie offends against the fundamental relation of man and of his word to the Lord.

2484 The gravity of a lie is measured against the nature of the truth it deforms, the circumstances, the intentions of the one who lies, and the harm suffered by its victims. If a lie in itself only constitutes a venial sin, it becomes mortal when it does grave injury to the virtues of justice and charity.

2485 By its very nature, lying is to be condemned. It is a profanation of speech, whereas the purpose of speech is to communicate known truth to others. The deliberate intention of leading a neighbor into error by saying things contrary to the truth constitutes a failure in justice and charity. The culpability is greater when the intention of deceiving entails the risk of deadly consequences for those who are led astray.

2486 Since it violates the virtue of truthfulness, a lie does real violence to another. It affects his ability to know, which is a condition of every judgment and decision. It contains the seed of discord and all consequent evils. Lying is destructive of society; it undermines trust among men and tears apart the fabric of social relationships.

2487 Every offense committed against justice and truth entails the duty of reparation, even if its author has been forgiven. When it is impossible publicly to make reparation for a wrong, it must be made secretly. If someone who has suffered harm cannot be directly compensated, he must be given moral satisfaction in the name of charity. This duty of reparation also concerns offenses against another's reputation. This reparation, moral and sometimes material, must be evaluated in terms of the extent of the damage inflicted. It obliges in conscience.

So I do not believe that it is necessary to belabor the point that each person has a right to his or her good name. A good name is something that we earn by reason or our good deeds. It concerns the public estimation of a person's intellectual and moral excellence. In a very read sense, a person's good name is his or her property — it belongs to the person concerned as a strict right. Hence the violation of a person's good name is a sin against the virtue of justice.

The good name or reputation of another can be damaged, or even totally destroyed, in a number of ways. To calumniate another is certainly to ruin his good name and so to do him an injustice. Many Catholics seem to be unaware of the fact that detraction is also a sin — a sin contrary to the Eighth Commandment. The seriousness of the sin, in the case of both calumny and detraction, depends upon the gravity of the injury done to the other party. The sin can be either venial or mortal, depending on the circumstances.