From “The Private Diary of Bishop F. Atticus McButterpants” – 23-04-01 – Reconciliation service

April 1st 2023

Dear Diary,

Lenten reconciliation service at the cathedral. Different stations for reconciliation set up with six priests and me. We used one of the old “box” confessionals for the people stuck in the past!  God love ’em.  I guess those boxes weren’t so bad. A lot of people came back then.  Those old priests were always saying “Go to confession!”  And they DID!  There were lines out the door, as I recall.  Different times, before the sunshine.  Hey! Some 25 people showed up tonight!  It was great. One couple came up to me together, holding hands, and smiled at me before I could say anything and they said “we don’t have anything to confess we just want a blessing!”  They looked so happy. I blessed them, of course. No sins? “Impressive”, as Fr. Tommy would say!  But people are so good. They mean well. And at least they showed up tonight. Not nothing.

Great music by our contemporary group. Frisky guitar playing. I was still humming the tune after I got home! “To be alive and feeling free, and to have everyone in our family. To be alive in every way oh how great it is to be alive! Every day there’s newness something else to do, the dawn of something something is something… that’s where I run out.  But isn’t that the whole thing right there?  What memories. That song really brings back the memories of when everything started to get better.  I emailed Sr. Randi and she found a link to the very song[As editor I’ve inserted the link.] It was great!  I played it over and over again on the computer speakers really loud and felt like I was young again.  Music has a lot of power, doesn’t it.

On an other note: Talk to Fr. Tommy about slamming his door.  He did it several times tonight.

We should talk with the music director and see if we can’t get more Rapp music in the parishes.  HA! See what I did there, Diary?  Just a Ray of Hope!

 

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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11 Comments

  1. Irish Timothy says:

    ‘ Frisky guitar playing.…….’

    Baahahahhahahaha!!!! Thanks for the laugh Father! I clicked on the link……..oh man. Should I go hug my neighbor or dance around the neighborhood now flashing the peace sign???? I now cannot un-hear that song………

  2. IaninEngland says:

    What a rubbish song that is! Utterly vacuous; shallow and meaningless. I rather think Kumbaya has more to it.

  3. DanW says:

    OMG, I had to immidiatly look up “How do you get rid of an earworm?”

  4. BobM says:

    The linked song – excerpt from the singer/songwriter’s wikipedia: “…Ray Repp was married to, and lived with, his husband of twenty years, Richard Alther, who made his own living as a writer and painter, in their homes in Southern California and Vermont.[7] Alther wrote The Decade of Blind Dates about his past relationships as a homosexual divorcee and his marriage to Repp…”.
    Song was written in the ’60’s in St. Louis while Repp was in the seminary…..
    ‘Nuff said.

  5. Dave P. says:

    I just sent the link to my Latin-Mass-loving 13-year-old son. His reply will likely melt my phone…

  6. jaykay says:

    “Different times, before the sunshine”.

    The eternal sunshine of the clueless mind.

  7. monstrance says:

    Send this tune immediately over to the CIA terrorists interrogators to be alternated with water boarding.

  8. Saint110676 says:

    Excellent parody…too close to reality. You did not mention the use of liturgical dance in liturgical celebrations. Maybe the Most. Rev. Bishop saves that for special occasions like Ordinations! Along with Ray Rep, I also remember the music of Paul Quinlan, “It’s A Brand New Day”. At least the St. Louis Jesuits’ lyrics try to paraphrase Psalms, even if the musical tone is too often self-pitying.

  9. Did +McButterpants have to dredge up a Ray Repp ditty? Now I have an earworm I can’t shake.

    :/

  10. Dave P. says:

    Son heard it. Acerbic comments received. We both agree The Dead South should cover it…

  11. Ed the Roman says:

    I had not heard that song since it was sung at St. Raphael’s in Potomac MD in the early 1970s.

    It’s a nice song for a kindergarten class in public school, I guess.

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