Fr. Daren over that the Servant and Stewart blog quotes another priest from his facebook page about things that people may not know about priest. I include them below with Fr. Daren’s comments. Just so you know I agree with them all.
The absolute worst time to tell us anything important is in the receiving line after Mass. Don’t expect us to remember… [He’s right, you know]
We are very flattered that people think of us when they go to Mass on their vacation, but we don’t collect bulletins from other parishes.
We don’t have anyone cook for us. Most of us tend for ourselves [and most of us don’t mind this]. We aren’t offended when people swear in front of us. “I’m sorry, Father,” isn’t necessary [or if it is, it ought to be necessary in front of anyone].
Celebrating all the sacraments is a joy but, given a chance, 9 out of 10 priests would rather do a funeral than a wedding [there’s a lot less paperwork involved].
We go to confession to other priests, usually outside of the Diocese or to a spiritual director. We can’t go to ourselves.
We have one weekday that is our day off. The most popular day off is Monday [I prefer Friday because the parish does not have a Saturday morning Mass]. Obviously, we’re busy on weekends.
We don’t sleep in clerical garb [and we often wear “normal people clothes” around the house]. Nor do we bathe in holy water.
Words of support and encouragement are much appreciated. So is honest feedback. “I didn’t understand your homily” would be a most welcome critique [along with an idea of where we lost you, otherwise the critique isn’t of much use].
We like other people saying a meal prayer from time to time.
We don’t remember most of everything that’s said in the confessional because we hear so many [and we don’t want to remember]. They all sort of run together…
These comments indicate that in addition to being an eloquent speaker, a priest needs to be a good listener.