Reparation and Lying

[hockeyfighter21]

Someone please give me their opinion on this matter. There was a situation in my neighborhood where some small children were acting dangerously. we tried to contact their parents but no one answered so we called the police. in front of the police and some neighbors i said that i tried to contact the parents for about an hour, which was an exaggeration. a few days later i realized this was an exaggeration and i apoligized to the parent, went to confession, and read the cathecism on the part about reparation for ruining someone’s reputation. while i cant say that i fully ruined someone’s reputation, i did misrepresent the truth. after apologizing to the parent, should i contact the police, who did not take my name and i am not even sure if they reported what i said, and should i contact the neighbors that heard what i said and say that i exaggerated? am i making a big deal of this? it just seems like the cathecism is very serious about the obligation to repair lies. thanks for you help!

 

[fellicia]

What are you worrying may ruin their reputation? The fact that you exaggerated the time you spent calling the parents? I can’t see how this would ruin their reputation.

If your not sure maybe if you asked the parents if they with you to contact anyone else then you will know if it has actually effected them.

 

[gugg15]

I know how you feel, I guess if I were in that situation I would try to repair what I had done by contacting as many people as possible. It might be embarrassing and a hassle, but at least we might cut down if not erase our purgatory time by going through the pain of reparation now.

 

[Ceil-1]

A cause for remorse would have been calling the police unjustly, unceessarily just for malice. This has been done to me and it hurts. I would just resolve not to embellish the truth again and leave it at that.