A priest friend of the family told me that one Sunday the scheduled priest for the Spanish Mass didn’t show up. Our friend, who does not have a major grasp of Spanish, made his way phonetically through the Mass. He did give a sermon but, for safety’s sake, did it in English. He felt pretty good about his performance. A few weeks later, he was again drafted without notice. This happened a few times and, although he got through the Mass, each time he felt less comfortable with his linguistic performance. However, through his secretary he soon learned that the Spanish congregation thought he was great!
A few months later, the Spanish priest scheduled our friend in advance to take over on vacation time. When the Spanish priest returned, he was talking to one of the congregation and asked how our friend had done with the Spanish Mass while he was gone. Our friend took it as a compliment when the woman came back indignantly with, “He could have preached in Spanish if he had really wanted to!”
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