Lying to protect someone a sin?

[fingerprint]

Ok let's imagine this scenario:

Your boss at your corporation comes to you and says they need to tell you something about the company. They tell you about (insert subject here) and tell you not to tell (insert name here) or these certain people for their own protection, they aren't allowed to know about it yet. It's nothing illegal or immoral what they tell you, just something about the company's procedures or something to that effect. So then later one of your friends at work comes to you and says they heard a rumor about the same subject the boss told you about earlier and if you know anything about it or were told anything by the boss. How would you handle this? Would you say you don't know anything (which is what the boss wants) and lie? Would you spill the beans and risk your job? Would you just say "I can't discuss that subject" which clearly shows them you know something?


Regardless of the scenario, I'm assuming it's still a sin to lie even if you are protecting someone's interests. If you think you are doing the right thing by lying to someone to protect them because you care about them, should you still confess it?

 

[Bulldog]

What does Catholic doctrine say about this?

 

[fingerprint]

I have no idea, that's why I'm asking hehe. I'm assuming a lie is a lie and still needs to be confessed even if you believe you are doing the right thing and protecting someone.

 

[Debi1967]

Ok my personal choice would be I cannot discuss this with you at this time. If theyt pursued the subject i would simply explain that I have been asked not to discuss it with anyone and that I cannot reveal any of the details so I cannot confirm their suspicions or deny them, they will have to wait.
That I do not believe is lying, That is keeping a trust and at the same time answering the persons question to best of your ability at the time.
In Christ
Debi

 

[ZooMom]

I'm having a hard time imagining what kind of job these people have that being kept ignorant of company policy is 'protecting' them.

*shrug* This is how I would probably handle it...

CoWorker: I heard such and such. Has anyone said anything to you about it?

Me: Who'd you hear that from?

CoWorker: I'd rather not say...or...so and so

Me: Me either...or...Perhaps you need to ask them where they got it from?

CoWorker: Yes, but have YOU heard anything?

Me: I only hear what I need to know.

 

[Debi1967]

Hi ZooMom

 

[bigsierra]

My response is the same for all situations: "We could be canned any day"

 

[geocajun]

fingerprint, lying is always sinful, but the gravity of the sin has to do with the circumstances.
In this case, I would hope that the person who knew the secret was clever enough to escape the conversation without divulging information.
However if not, simply answering the question "do you know anything about it" with a "if the rumor is true, the company would not want to make it public information" should be a sufficient response

 

[ZooMom]

Hi ZooMom

Hi, Debi. Glad to see you back.

 

[Miss Shelby]

My response is the same for all situations: "We could be canned any day"

 

[Miss Shelby]

Lying is not always sinful, just to take this thread in another direction, if done to protect the welfare of someone else.

Yesterday at work, a group of young teenagers who appeared to very much into the gang banging scene showed up at the hospital where I work to visit a young man who was injured by a gunshot wound in a gang related crime.

They asked me where they could find him and I asked how to spell his name. They had to pull out a newspaper article to find his name. I looked on the census and though there was no restriction on information to be given out ( he was on our floor) , I lied straight through my teeth and said we did not have him as a patient. I then called the registration office and sure enough he was to be listed as classified but it for some reason the information did not get into the computer. ( I did't know that when I lied, though)

It isn't unusual for gang members to try to finish of their foe while they're still in the hospital if they've survived a shooting ..... it's happened before. So while these boys could very well have been his friends, lying in my opinion could also have saved him from getting shot in his hospital bed.

 

[Servant of the Kingdom]

And the would to be killers...

To be honest I have checked this with my confessor and he told me that not to reveal the truth is not, per se, a sin.

 

[twex]

Lying is not always sinful, just to take this thread in another direction, if done to protect the welfare of someone else.

That's the position of Martin Luther. But the Catholic doctors since Augustine have consistently taught that formal speech which conveys formal falsity is always sinful. The end doesn't justify the means, and a lie is a violation of truthfulness even if it is conducive to justice.

In the words of St. Thomas:

I answer that, An action that is naturally evil in respect of its genus can by no means be good and lawful, since in order for an action to be good it must be right in every respect: because good results from a complete cause, while evil results from any single defect, as Dionysius asserts (Div. Nom. iv). Now a lie is evil in respect of its genus, since it is an action bearing on undue matter. For as words are naturally signs of intellectual acts, it is unnatural and undue for anyone to signify by words something that is not in his mind. Hence the Philosopher says (Ethic. iv, 7) that "lying is in itself evil and to be shunned, while truthfulness is good and worthy of praise." Therefore every lie is a sin, as also Augustine declares (Contra Mend. i).