Relevant radio is listener-supported radio. Talk radio for Catholic life. Welcome to our fall

pledge drive. Join the family. Good morning. This is Patrick Madrid, reporting for duty. Thank you for listening.

Today's the first day, well, actually for us anyway, the first hour of the first day of pledged drive.

So let's begin in prayer in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never wasn't known. That anyone who fled to thy protection implored thy help or sought thine intercession was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly into thee, O Virgin of Virgins, my mother. To thee do I come before thee I stand, simple and sorrowful. O mother of the word incarnate despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy, hear and answer me. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Spirit, amen. We say the memorary at the beginning of each hour during Pledge Drive for this reason is that we have a need that we need to accomplish by the end of the week. $3 million is the need. And Mary will be joining me here soon. We'll talk about that, as we typically do during Pledge Drives. But this is a regular show, regular programming. You're invited. So the number to call to be on the air is 888-914-914-9-49. 814-914-914-9-49.

I have an email that came in, and this is from, I think I can, he didn't ask me to keep his name

anonymous.

This is from John, and he's listening on the Relevant Radio app.

Thanks for writing to me, John.

He says, Patrick, about seven years ago, my pastor at the time,

I believe, broke the seal of confession. A sin I had confessed to him, he brought it into the

public while he was vesting for Mass. He chastised me for committing the sin while people were nearby.

It's bothered me for years. I mentioned it to two other priests.

Both of them agree that the seal was technically broken, but asked me not to say anything.

I've never mentioned it to my bishop for fear. He'll either dismiss it or drag it out,

so I'll drop it. What would you do in my situation? If you can, please share it on the radio.

You got it. He says, I'd really like to hear what you would do. Well, first, John, I'm really sorry, I mean, really, really sorry to hear that

this happen. For those who are not familiar, the, what we call in the Catholic Church the seal

of the confessional means, not only can the priest not say to anybody what you call in the Catholic Church the seal of the confessional means, not only can the

priest not say to anybody what you said in the confessional, but he can't even say that

you went to confession. So if the cops rolled up and said, hey, father, did John go to

confession to you yesterday? He can't even reveal whether or not you went to confession.

Much less is he supposed to reveal anything that you said in the confessional.

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