An old pastor once told me he would rather preside at a funeral—even the most tragic funeral—than at a wedding, any day of the week. Now I know just what he meant.
No one in the congregation was paying much attention to what Father Pastor was saying about the deceased. They were focused on where he'd put his reading glasses.
The number of families with children in religious education was growing at a healthy rate. The problem: many weren't engaged in any other aspect of parish life.
I used to think something tragic had happened to bring a person back to confession after so long, perhaps a loss or grim diagnosis. That's almost never the case.
