Care | Church | Compassion | Confession | Confessions | Discretion | Listening | Priests | Understanding

HEARING CONFESSIONS
The new priest is nervous about hearing confessions, so he asks the older priest to sit in on his sessions . . . The new priest hears a couple of confessions, then the old priest asks him to step out of the confessional for a few suggestions. The old priest suggests, “Cross your arms over your chest, and rub your chin with one hand.” The new priest tries this. The old priest then suggests, “Try saying things like, ‘I see, yes, go on, and I understand. How did you feel about that?” So the new priest says those things. Then the old priest says, “Now don’t you think that’s a little better than slapping your knee and saying ‘No way, you’re kidding?!? So what happened next?'”