Editor:

My grandfather, Ernest William Ellis Sr., ran a body shop in Charleston for over 40 years. I am reaching out to anyone who may have photos of the shop, copies of advertisements from the business, etc.

I am trying to gather material for my family history. The body shop started operations by at least 1945 and ceased in 1991. Over the years it was known by the following names: Ellis Body Works, Auto Body Works, Goshorn Body Works, Ernie's Body Shop. It had two offshoot businesses as well, Ernie's Auto Supply and Ellis Automotive Supply.

It was located at the following locations over the years: corner of Virginia and Reynolds streets, Dickinson Street, Goshorn Street, Third Avenue, Sixth Avenue and W. Washington Street. If anyone has photographs or advertisements from the shop, please contact me at (276) 274-2158.

Joshua Ellis

Abingdon, Va.

We need to confess and seek God's forgiveness for our sins 

Editor:

Some researchers claim that three out of four Americans who have been baptized Catholic no longer practice the Catholic faith. Through my research, experience and discussions with others I have come up with the embarrassing number of such Catholics to be somewhere between 3,561 and 3,701 in the Kanawha Valley.

As part of the Year of Grace and the New Evangelization, I suggest we acknowledge, confess and seek God's forgiveness for the sinful behavior of Catholic Church leaders and members like ourselves who, from 33 A.D. to the present day, have succumbed to human nature and sinned against fellow human beings, created in the likeness of God.

We will use the formula prayed by John Paul II at the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi on March 12, 2000, where, in the presence of religious leaders of many different denominations and traditions, he confessed and sought forgiveness of God for the following:

1. Sins in General.

2. Sins Committed in the Service of Truth.

3. Sins Which Have Harmed the Unity of the Body of Christ.

4. Sins Against the People of Israel.

5. Sins Committed in Actions Against Love, Peace, the Rights of Peoples and Respect for Cultures and Religions.

6. Sins Against the Dignity of Women and the Unity of the Human Race.

7. Sins in Relation to the Fundamental Rights of the Person.

Our Christmas Mass schedule is Monday, Dec. 24, at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m.; Tuesday, Dec. 25, at 12:01 a.m. (Midnight Mass), 10 a.m., and noon.

Msgr. P. Edward Sadie, Pastor

Sacred Heart Co-Cathedral Basilica

Charleston