Listening to gossip or helping someone to destress?

[blessedtoo]

I guess it is gossiping to discuss my sister’s situation on CAF.

I hadn’t thought about it. I guess since it’s anonymous, I just considered it a safe place to discuss a difficult situation. It’s nice that CAF posters are pretty objective. They aren’t my friends who would want to be sympathetic to me.

oops.

If coming to CAF for Catholic support, advice and suggestions about our lost family members is really gossip, then at least half the threads on here should be questioned. Ever look in the Prayers thread? How about the endless posts about how “rotten” and evil our President is? And the Family Life Section? Are all the poor mom’s who post about their incorrigible children guilty of gossip?

In the Catechism, it says:
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, assumes 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
  I don’t see rash judgement in your posts. Detraction and calumny may be present IF you were identifying your family members and/or yourself by name. Otherwise, to us, they might as well be fictional characters.

 

[rpp]

Have you considered praying WITH your mama? When she calls and wants to talk, and the conversation begins to veer into territory that feels like nothing more than gossip, you might want to stop her and suggest that you both pray a decade of the rosary or some other prayer for your family. This way she won’t feel shut down and will perhaps relax just from praying itself. And of course we know the efficacy of prayers beats the momentary release from venting!

Oh! That is such a wonderful idea! That is so good. Talk about a real solution. Excellent.

 

[FrankLawrence]

Totally inappropriate. OP was not even discussing her marriage.

That was my point, exactly!