Is this gossip and sin?

[mr.fidelium]

I hang out with a friend from school occasionally and accidentally discovered a while back he had impure images on his phone. I talked about with him and tried to offer advice on this deadly spiritual plague. I thought he was doing ok but then discovered he was struggling again. He’s Catholic but not really too devout (only goes to Mass when his parents force him and that’s about it). It was sad seeing how his life was changing as he used to be somewhat devout but bad influence from other students got to him. He hasn’t gone to confession in some time and I’m almost certain he’s been in mortal sin but God forbid that I’m right. Anyways, I emailed one of his parents addressing my concern but I did so in a vague way so that the contents of his mortal sin was hidden.

I heard from a priest that generally speaking if you reveal a venial sin its a sin but if you reveal a mortal sin, it’s a mortal sin. I think I was guilty of being too harsh when I said he was committing “spiritual suicide” by being lukewarm. I never gave the implication that he was committing “spiritual suicide” because of porn but just by being lukewarm and heading down a bad young adult path possibly with drugs and other addictions.

Was I sinning by sending this email? I believe my initial intention writing it out was pure since I had a genuine concern for his soul and not to throw him under the bus (I would’ve gladly avoided the upcoming awkwardness) but maybe I was more influenced by pride. Thank you for time.

 

[mr.fidelium]

Good point about whether or not it was a sin, it didn’t concern me. His parent did respond back saying she was disheartened and luckily she wasn’t offended by it. We said that’d be pray for him. Thanks

 

[JGuns]

It is not a sin to reveal the sins of others when there is a good reason to do so. However, emailing his parents may or may not have been the prudent thing to do in this situation. Sometimes, doing things like this can make it worse. At other times, however, the circumstances are such that this would maybe be the proper thing to do. Part of prudence is circumspection, being aware of the particular circumstances surrounding a particular action.

 

[CoffeeAndDonuts]

This is very much none of your business, and by emailing his parents all you’ve managed to accomplish is losing a friend when he figures out it was you who emailed his mom, if anything comes of it. You are not the morality police and you need to realize your actions as such will have consequence. Also, if one of my son’s friends emailed me to tattle on him for having ‘impure’ images on his phone I’d take it with a grain of salt anyway and warn him about his friend snooping on him.