Nooooooooooooooo!
Julie at Connecticut Catholic Corner relays her story of the Priest talking and then texting on his cell phone while hearing her children’s confessions.
My youngest went right after me and after a few moments everyone in the pews could hear a cell phone going off. I didn’t pay much attention to it because I thought it was coming from downstairs in the parish hall, but when my daughter came out her eyes were huge and she gave me ‘that look’ and whispered “Did you hear the cell phone?”
I nodded and shushed her, but she continued, “Father’s cell phone went off when I was confessing and I didn’t know if I should keep talking or let him finish with his call.”
My mouth dropped open.
I simply could not believe a priest would bother taking his cell phone into the Confessional with him, but since I had just confessed my own sins I didn’t want to create new ones by getting angry about it. I shrugged it off as “He must have forgotten to turn it off” and I let it go.
My eldest daughter went in, came out, prayed and we all left the parish. Once in the car, my youngest brought up the cell phone ringing during her confession and my eldest responded, “You think that is bad, Father was TEXTING during my confession.”
I hit the breaks on the car and turned around with a “WHAT?”
That is beyond crazy. Neither priest or penitent should ever bring a cellphone into confession, never mind answering it or texting.
I will leave it to the experts to discuss validity of the sacrament if the confessor is distracted to the point where he does not understand what is confessed. But at the very least this is a most serious abuse.
I wouldn’t hesitate to call the pastor and complain. Man I shudder at the punishments in purgatory for such behavior.
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