6/5/24 - Fr. John Brancich, FSSP (Father’s 20th Ordination Anniversary!)

Fr. John Brancich, FSSP is the pastor of St. Stanislaus Catholic Church in Nashua, New Hampshire. He was ordained into the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter in 2004.     In Today's Show What is puscillanimity and how do you distinguish it from humility? When I've been to confession in the past, when I'm confessing certain sins, I don't know the number so I have always said "many" (for the number of sins) and I was wondering if that was okay? In other words, was my confession still valid because I used the word many and not a specific number? Many times I have made an appointment for a confession and about four times I was stopped by the priest; I guess he didn't have time even though I made an appointment, so I didn't get to finish my confession although I was there to say everything. So my question is: because I know you're not supposed to hold anything back and I'm not, they're just stopping me from saying my full confession, I would like to know if the things that I confessed were forgiven because I didn't get to finish everything that I had written down on a piece of paper. My list can become very long because I see lots of things on the internet that say you have to confess all these sins at confession, so my list becomes huge. Is there such a thing as a blind priest, or does one have to be sighted to join the priesthood? If a man started seminary with the FSSP and concluded with the SSPX, what standing does that leave him in with the church? Can an SSPX priest say a Catholic funeral mass? During the homily at daily mass, sometimes the priest or deacon will begin and end the homily with the sign of the cross.  Why is this done? My daughter asked me, "Mom, why do we have to say the Hail Mary 53 times... didn't Mary hear us the first time?" I'm hoping you can provide her with a more insightful answer than the one I gave her. I've been going to confession on almost a weekly basis as memories have come up. I feel like a horrible person now. I thought I was a good person. Life has been tough, so this is not helping to make me not feel bad about myself. Any suggestions?   Visit the show page at thestationofthecross.com/askapriest to listen live, check out the weekly lineup, listen to podcasts of past episodes, watch live video, find show resources, sign up for our mailing list of upcoming shows, and submit your question for Father!