At one church in the city, they’ve decided to no longer hear confessions in the confessionals behind the regular screen (like they’ve been doing for the past few weeks) but have instead erected a transparent plastic screen that sits on top of the communion rail of a small chapel.
That might sound like a good idea at first BUT … there are a few logistical issues.
The first is that … they forgot to add any kinds of holes in the screen so the priest and penitent could actualy hear each other. So in order to be effective, the penitent and the priest both have to talk really loud!
Besides the obvious issues of blaring your sins all over an echo-ey church, compound this with the fact that priests offer confessions during the Mass here. So not only are the two struggling to hear each other through plastic, they're competing with an organ, singing and Mass responses.
So right in the middle of Mass, a poor penitent went up to try it. He first asked Father if he could stand and speak over the screen. Father told him no, but that he should cup his hands on the screen to talk and put his ear on the screen to hear.
After quite a few "whats?, somehow they managed!
Never a dull moment!
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