Fr. Jerry Pokorsky: The Confessional Echo Chamber of Verbal Articulation

By Fr. Jerry Pokorsky, Catholic Culture, Aug. 11, 2025

Fr. Jerry Pokorsky is a priest of the Diocese of Arlington who has also served as a financial administrator in the Diocese of Lincoln. Trained in business and accounting, he also holds a Master of Divinity and a Master’s in moral theology. Father Pokorsky co-founded both CREDO and Adoremus, two organizations deeply engaged in authentic liturgical renewal. He writes regularly for a number of Catholic websites and magazines.  See full bio.

In the amusing 1970s movie, Being There, the simpleton Chauncey Gardner famously says: “You’ve got to take care of the garden first.” The metaphor of tilling and growing a garden impresses the President because he interprets it as tending to the economy. He sees Chauncey’s straightforward gardening talk as wise political advice, even though Chauncey is literally just talking about gardening.

The same simple metaphor applies to the spiritual life. God gives each of us a job description, and He requires a nominal rate of return in response to the gifts He lavishes upon us. We are all on the Lord’s payroll, and spiritual indolence insults His generosity. So with God’s grace, we till the soil of our souls by confessing our sins and receiving God’s forgiveness in the Sacrament of Penance. Repentance paves the way to virtue. God sends us forth from Mass, and we proclaim the Gospel with lives of virtue, as we adorn our spiritual gardens with virtue. ….

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