There was an old priest who got sick of all the people in
his parish who
kept confessing to adultery. One Sunday, in the pulpit, he said, "If I hear
one more person confess to adultery, I'll quit!" Well, everyone liked him,
so they came up with a code word. Someone who had committed adultery would
say instead that they had 'fallen.' This seemed to satisfy the old priest
and things went well until the priest passed away at a ripe, old age. A
few
days after the new priest arrived, he visited the mayor of the town and
seemed very concerned. "Mayor, you have to do something about the sidewalks
in town. When people come into the confessional, they keep telling me
they've fallen." The mayor started to laugh, realizing that no one had told
the new priest about the code word. But, before he could explain, the priest
shook an accusing finger at him and shouted, "I don't know what you're
laughing about, because your wife has fallen three times this week!"
