GUAM
Jungle Watch

A friend called tonight. She was distressed. She had just gone to confession to a priest at the Cathedral. For her penance, the priest told her to “go to a talk” in the St. Therese Chapel on Monday night.

My friend did not respond. She knew what the talk was. She had already spent a few years in the Neocatechumenal Way and had left, and not without some pain. She didn’t want to go to the “talk”.

When she didn’t answer, the priest asked her if that was “okay”. Never having been presented with such a “penance” before and fearing that she would not receive absolution if she did not consent, she replied: “I am at your mercy”.

The priest then told her to consider the penance (attending the talk) “a mercy from me to you.” He then absolved her.

My friend called because she was…