The new parish priest is nervous about hearing confessions. It’s his first posting to a church, so he asks an older priest if he can sit in on his first confessions and offer him some guidance.
The new priest listens to several confessions from parishioners, then the old priest asks him to step out of the confessional so that he can give him a few suggestions.
The old priest first suggests that the young priest crosses his arms over his chest and rubs his chin with one hand.
The new priest tries this and feels more successful already.
The old priest then suggests that the young priest should try saying things like, “I see, yes, go on, and I understand, how did you feel about that?”
The new priest says those things, trying them out and again feels much more confident at taking confession.
The old priest concludes, “Now, don’t you think that’s a little better than slapping your knee and saying, ‘No way! What happened next?'”
Image used under a Collective Commons License from https://pixabay.com/illustrations/confession-pastor-you-sin-painting-4773136/
