Personal Responsibility in the Catholic Church

As a longtime member of my local Catholic Church, I must tell you where church is for me. A month ago, I found out that my 62-year-old neighbor was to die soon from lung and brain cancer. Having been away from the church for many years due to his second marriage, he and his wife had no affiliation with the parish. His wife asked me if her husband could have a memorial Mass at my parish church. They had been there once and liked it and the pastor a lot. I talked to our pastor and he said, “Of course, I will do anything they ask.”

I then asked our retired pastor to come with me to visit him. He met with him, discussed his impending death and gave him the sacraments of anointing of the sick, last rites and Communion.

The couple are so pleased to have been received into our parish family. As angry and depressed as I am over our archdiocesan mishandling of child sexual abuse cases going back over decades, it does not keep me from finding Christ in the love, joy and hurts of our parish family.

Ralph Sariego

Woodland Hills

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Cardinal Roger Mahony says he will finally turn over all information to legal authorities regarding priests and sexual abuse and exclaims that “the last thing I want is this going on for months and months” (“Mahony Vows to Open Files to Authorities,” May 18). Does Mahony not realize that the abuse he enabled will drag on in these children’s lives for years, not months, with devastating results?

When will Mahony say: “I am sorry. The Catholic Church is sorry. We have fostered catastrophic damage and sorrow in the very children we are supposed to protect. I offer my resignation in recognition of my horrific actions and as penance for my own very sordid part in this mess”?

David Francis

Burbank

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Child molestation is a crime. Those who know about cases of molestation and do not report it to the proper authorities, or who pay for silence, should be found guilty of obstruction of justice. The Catholic Church and Mahony need to be reminded in no uncertain terms that they are not exempt from the civil laws to which we all must adhere. Molestation is a heinous crime and all allegations must be reported and appropriately adjudicated. No exceptions!

Charles and Patricia Collins

Long Beach