Church Lady Gossips

We used to have something at our church called “church ladies.” They kept the order. We used to find out things after Mass when people would spill out into the sidewalk and talk to each other, face-to-face. There was always something to discuss, something to repeat.

A large part of the church ladies were “gossips.” I know gossip is identified as the only deadly sin left, but these church lady gossips were a vital member of our Church once.

In today's society the sexual class of sins have been reassigned to not quite mortal sins. The school of thought today is those poor saps under the influence of lust can't really help it. Forget that lust has always had a foothold on society. And maybe they were born that way. Situational ethics professors now say things like adultery, fornication, contraception, sodomy and abortion can't be serious enough to give up going to Holy Communion over since culpability is limited by so many things. Well, those church ladies never bought that one. Perhaps they weren't well-educated enough like we are today.

Times have changed. Those holy roller church ladies could sniff out sins faster than a hound dog. They knew what was going on in all parts of town. They had no problem identifying mortal sins. Those ladies had more authority than a Pope. And a heck of a lot more influence.

The funny thing was their own lives weren't so great. They had children who stopped going to Mass, or lived with someone they didn't bother to marry. Some had divorces under their belt or alcoholic spouses who spent more time at the town bar than at home. When they gossiped, it wasn't so much about the juiciness of the details, it was more about the morality of the action.

Of course gossip is wrong. No one disputes that, but the old church lady gossips weren't merely gossiping. They were also lamenting. Following the whisper of what was done or failed to do, there was always a shake of the head. The shake of the head is what is missing in our Church.

Today's society has destroyed all sense of sin. Yesteryear, the gossips kept society in line. The church lady gossip gave society a measuring stick. Nowadays if anyone says something is a sinful act the battle cry is “don't judge” when it ought to be“don't sin.”

I imagine had the “church lady gossips” not died off, our Church would have avoided the Clergy Sex Abuse scandal entirely.

Shame has a place in human nature. Without shame, we have an “anything goes culture” where people tend to justify what they do. Or worse, they paint evil as a good. With that, they recruit more and more people to join them in their sins.

Human nature being what it is, we tend to want to conceal our evil. That is why Jesus told us we have to confess our sins. That is why He gave us the priesthood. We need to be accountable. Accountability is the first step to conversion.

We have forgotten the benefit of the church lady gossips. They served society because their whispers always made it back to the person they were whispering about. This alone was an invitation to repent.

So if we're going to give everyone else a pass, why not those church lady gossips? Or better yet, say a prayer for them. After all, mercy shouldn't be reserved for only those who are fashionable.