Church, Not Media, Is to Blame

Re “The Sin of Media Ignorance,” Commentary, Nov. 13: I believe Andrew Greeley’s anger is misdirected. Do not kill the messenger. His anger should be directed toward the hierarchy of his church and not the media. The church’s hierarchy has hidden sexual abuse by its employees, protected them and destroyed many lives with cover-ups and denials of these crimes.

Yes, Father Greeley, these are crimes. In fact, in my opinion, the hierarchy has been an accessory to these crimes in many dioceses.

The media have done a fine job of informing not only Catholics but all of our society. I believe that this exposure is doing more good than we know. I am sure that many children will not be abused because of this exposure in the media.

It is time for the hierarchy of the Catholic Church to tell us all the truth, and in doing so maybe we can help to mend the lives of those who have been so brutally abused by the clergy and their superiors.

David Price

Indio

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Father Greeley finally got one right. There seem to be very few people in the news media who understand the fundamental difference between religion and politics.

Thomas F. Brands

Los Angeles

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Re “Bishops Change Tone on Abuse,” Nov. 12: It seems to me that the Catholic bishops are uninterested in searching out the root cause for why such an alarming number of priests have abused children. Their resistance to further discussion of this issue suggests to me that they are not planning to, and do not care to, look within the organization and discover what may have contributed to this outrageous problem.

The people who are accused by bishops of “advancing their own agendas” are people who are simply asking the difficult questions that need to be asked. Yet again I am left to conclude that child abuse is not an issue of importance and validity to the leaders of the Catholic Church, but rather is viewed as a public relations nightmare that they have grown tired of. Only when the church agrees to openly, honestly and thoroughly examine the problem can meaningful change occur.

Catherine L. Mesavage

Los Angeles