Letters: Rich church, poor actions

Re “Church used funds meant for the dead,� Feb. 10

Several years ago I visited the small Roman Catholic church in Loreto, Mexico. There, I saw an older, probably poor woman with a small boy dropping a few coins into the collection box.

A few years later, fortune brought me to the Vatican. It was beautiful and the works of art were stunning, but I couldn’t stop thinking about that poor woman and child in Loreto giving what little they had to such a wealthy organization. As we stood in St. Peter’s Square, the pope’s private white helicopter flew overhead; our guide said, “There goes his holiness to his summer retreat.� I was disgusted.

Now I read about Cardinal Roger M. Mahony raiding a cemetery maintenance fund to help pay victims of sex abuse by priests.

Where is the humanity? Sell some of the wealth hidden in the vaults of the Vatican.

Jimmy Garner

Palm Springs

Does this explain why all of my families’ grave sites at Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Santa Barbara are maintained so poorly? One of my younger grandchildren was saddened by the condition of the cemetery, especially because it is Catholic.

Shame on the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. I would expect better from my church.

Diane Hunn

Thousand Oaks

Here is a perfect case of evil begetting evil.

Adam Mekler

Pasadena

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