An elderly priest had become exhausted from hearing the same confession over and over again.

Every week, different people came into the confessional, but the sin was almost always the same: adultery.

One Sunday, during his sermon, the priest sighed heavily and told the congregation, “My children, if I hear one more confession about adultery, I may have to resign.”

The townspeople loved their priest and did not want him to leave. So they quietly came up with a plan.

From that day on, instead of saying they had committed adultery, they would simply say they had “fallen.”

The priest was pleased. The confessions became easier for him to hear, and the parish returned to normal.

Many years passed. Eventually, the old priest died peacefully at the age of 93.

A young priest arrived to take his place, full of energy and determination to care for the town.

After a few weeks, he decided to visit the mayor.

“Mr. Mayor,” the young priest said seriously, “I think there is a real problem in this town.”

The mayor leaned forward. “What kind of problem?”

“The sidewalks,” said the priest. “They must be in terrible condition.”

The mayor frowned. “The sidewalks?”

“Yes,” the priest replied. “Every week, people come to confession and tell me they have fallen. It is happening constantly. You really need to fix the sidewalks before someone gets badly hurt.”

The mayor immediately understood what was going on and began to laugh.

The young priest looked offended. He shook his finger at the mayor and said sternly:

“And I don’t know why you’re laughing, Mr. Mayor… your wife fell three times last week!”