David Ancell / Saturday January 11, 2003
Do you know any priests that you don’t want to confess to? I know of three whom I have tried to avoid, conveniently located in three nearby parishes. One of them I avoid because he once gave me an absolution using a formula of questionable validity. The other two just like to yell at me. I’m a strong believer that a priest who yells at a penitent is abusing his sacramental ministry.
Anyway, I went to two different churches only to find that two of those priests were in the confessional. I left both churches and went off to the bookstore, having made it way too obvious to the others why I was leaving. I decided to go back to one of the churches to pray. When I did, a man asked me if I had been in there. He was probably concerned about having cut in front of me. I said that I didn’t know if I wanted to go to him. He just told me that he was tough, and to pray for him. I finally summoned up the courage to go in there. It really wasn’t that bad.
The man who talked to me approached me after I got out. He had some difficulty communicating with this priest. He told me that in having heard what I said it reminded him of something that he wanted to share with me. He thought about how he felt, and he realized that it would be good to be grateful that we have priests here who do have the faculty to give absolution. He is in need of more understanding, but we need to pray for him.
How I often need people to set me straight! I was grateful for this gentleman, and I was quite humbled.
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