Letters: Do penance, Catholic Church

Re “Priest abuse files are redacted,” Dec. 8, and “Priests’ records could be unsealed,” Dec. 11

Reading this article, I thought of the Roman Catholic sacrament of penance and reconciliation. By redacting the names of the conspirators within the church hierarchy who covered up the depraved sex abuse of children by priests, the Catholic Church failed to do penance for its guilt.

Perhaps federal Judge Dickran Tevrizian, who approved the redactions, was trying to prevent the names from being used to “embarrass or to ridicule the church.” But when the church went along with these redactions, it missed an opportunity to do penance for its sins and probably reoffended God’s law.

Kathi Smith

Ojai

When will the Roman Catholic Church realize it deserves to be ridiculed and embarrassed until it truly makes accountable all guilty parties involved? The act of redacting names only affirms the suspicion that the church will do anything to protect its leaders.

Kip Gilman

Malibu

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