Outwitting Sr. Mary Reparata

There is a story about Ray that MUST be shared.  When young Ray was finally released from Bethesda Hospital at the age of 11, he was not placed in school at the age-appropriate grade level.  Back then no one tried to accommodate you.  If you left school at second grade and returned three years later, it was back to second grade with you.

Such was Ray's plight.  Not only was Ray not exactly thrilled at the prospect of being in school with much younger students, but apparently Sr. Mary Reparata was not too thrilled either.  She quickly came to view Ray as a "troublemaker."  Ray's daughter told me that one day, Ray's class was taken into the church to go to Confession.  (You have to be a Catholic of a certain age to remember this).  When it was Ray's turn to enter the confessional, Sr. Reparata opened the door to where the priest was and told him that he was about to hear the confession of Ray Ryan, implying that it had better be good (in terms of number of sins).  Ray dutifully made his confession and the priest told Ray that for his penance, he had to say a rosary every day until his next confession.  For those not in the know, a typical penance for a kid might be to say "Three Our Fathers and Three Hail Marys" -- a total of six prayers.  A rosary has almost sixty prayers.

Ray accepted his penance and walked over to the next confessional.  He then said the expected refrain, "Bless me father for I have sinned, my last confession was two minutes ago."  Ray had figured out at a very young age how to outwit and outsmart Sr. Mary Reparata.  Why is the thought so pleasurable for me?

Well, we've come a long way -- the Church has actually given its imprimatur to an iphone app to help you prepare for Confession (now known as the Sacrament of  Reconciliation).  Here's the description from the app store. (Click to enlarge)

What would Sr. Reparata think?

Still need a smile? Check this out:



Cartoon Credit:  Purchased for Blog Use