The Burden Of Silence

I have blogged about this before, although there are more specifics in this post. It's about a minister's burden to remain silent where he or she has information which needs to be shared for the good of the Church. Here are four real examples:

• A member was nominated for a leadership position in the Church, but I knew that he was involved in domestic violence.
• Members suggested that an expert be co-opted onto a Church committee, but I knew that he was involved in a plea-bargain with prosecutors.
• A member was nominated to serve as an office-bearer in the Church, but I knew that he had made sexual advances on a member of staff.
• A member was publicly praised for blessing his family, while I knew that he had symptoms of AIDS -- which was his fault. 

In all of these cases, it was my secret -- at least, mine and no more than a few others. OBSERVATION: In some such cases there is, at the end of the day, no need to say anything at all about such secrets (the fourth example). In other cases, I may say: "Trust me. We can't nominate X" (the first example) -- however, that doesn't go a long way. In a few cases, I have said to people confidentially: "Are you aware of the following?" (the third example). While I'll do my best to preserve confidentiality, I consider that the Church is always the greater interest.