How much false witness can we bear?

IF, AS WAS WRITTEN HERE AND WAS TRULY SAID, 1993 was the year of the priest, the year 1994, just as truly, might be described as the year of the Eighth Commandment. But that Commandment is honored more in its breach than in its observance. Remember the Eighth Commandment: Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor? I'm guessing, of course, but when was the last time anyone gave or heard a homily based on that Commandment?

I confess that I have forgotten a lot of the details of the catechism that I was taught in my Catholic education. But somehow the three elements of sin against the Eighth Commandment stuck in my memory, and the new Catechism of the Catholic Church has sustained my recall:

"He [oh, that noninclusive language] becomes guilty: of rash judgment who, even tacitly, assumes as true, without sufficient foundation, the moral faults 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 truth, harms the reputation of others and gives occasion for false judgments concerning them."

May I suggest that, to paraphrase an ancient advertising slogan, we, all of us, try those words on our piano. And as we do, we might have to remind ourselves that "thy neighbor" is not just the person across the picket fence next door or in the next apartment but any person, whether or not known to us personally, maybe even someone holding public office.

If memory serves, the sin against the Eighth Commandment that proved most interesting and contentious in classroom discussions was detraction, speaking or spreading information about another that might well have been true but might harm the other's reputation.

There was always someone in class (not, be it said, holier-than-thouI) who wanted to know: "What's wrong with my telling everyone that I looked in my neighbor's window and saw hanky-panky going on?" or "If my neighbor has dirty laundry, what's wrong with my washing it in public?"

"It's wrong," came the thunderous response, "because that's detraction, and it's a sin against the Eighth Commandment."

Now, pause for a moment to consider how much detraction (and calumny and rash judgment) pollutes our television and radio airwaves and our newspapers and magazines incessantly these days. Turn a radio dial to any of the inescapable talk shows that once upon a time featured homemakers discussing their favorite recipes, do-it-yourselfers telling how to fix squeaky floorboards, or (at worst) movie starlets grabbing for their 15 minutes of fame. Today these programs are far more likely to be discussing in lurid details the private lives of neighbors far more contemporary than the late King Farouk.

It is doubtful that any of these spewers (the phone callers are often more egregiously detracting than the hosts) have heard or would give a damn if they have heard these words from the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

"Everyone should observe an appropriate reserve concerning persons' private lives.... Interference b the media in the private lives of persons engaged in political or public activity is to be condemned to the extent that it infringes upon their privacy and freedom." Also, "Every offense committed against justice and truth entails the duty of reparation ... a duty that also concerns offenses against another's reputation."

O, woe for the National Enquirer, Globe, Weekly World News, and their ilk, including increasingly more mainstream media and the omnipresent talk shows. If they were to heed the Catechism's strictures, they would be reduced to reporting sightings of Elvis on Mars.

The Catholic Catechism's teachings on the Eighth Commandment would, of course, be only icing on the cake if all of us observed the Great Commandment: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.