Two priests who have been featured in the pages of the Register both opened up on social media, lamenting a reality they both face: loss of hearing. 

Although hearing aids do exist and help to some degree, the loss of hearing comes at a great cost for Father Dwight Longenecker and Father Joseph Krupp: not being able to hear the confessions offered by the parishioners who come seeking absolution. 

Father Longenecker was the first to admit how frustrating it is to lose the ability to hear, especially when working in the confessional. 

“I am really fed up with my worsening hearing loss — especially as it makes hearing confessions a total chore,” he wrote on social media. 

“Prayers to St. Francis de Sales: patron of the deaf and hard of hearing AND patron of confessors AND patron of writers who had a ministry to Protestants AND was bald and bearded! St. Francis de Sales pray for us!"

Father Joseph Krupp responded to Father Longenecker, saying he shares the same affliction, writing on X: 

“Brother, I am so sorry. I’m totally with you. My hearing loss is severe. Without assistance, I am unable to function in any meaningful way. I have headaches every day from trying to hear and I get so frustrated. I hear ten hours of confessions a week and I genuinely get scared for the day I won’t be able to anymore. Daily interactions are exhausting. Getting people to talk louder/slower is impossible,” the priest wrote. 

“Hearing aids have changed my life but my hearing loss is surpassing the benefits of technology. Two weeks ago my audiologist gave me a device that hangs around my neck and supplements my hearing aids. It’s super helpful. I’m gonna pray for you, bro."

Father Longenecker said he has been dealing with hearing loss for close to 30 years ago, even while he was still an Anglican priest. He recounts a story about a parishioner who asked for his prayers for her own hearing loss, “and I found myself offering to take some of her hearing loss. After the prayers, her hearing did not get worse, but mine started to go. Make of it what you will.” His mother and siblings also suffer from it, “likely to be hereditary,” said the priest based in Greenville, South Carolina. 

“And the loss can lead to some pretty hilarious outcomes,” he wrote. “I had an old woman come for confession once and very timidly said, ‘I need to confess my syphilis.’ She meant her sinfulness.” One woman joked that perhaps more people would be going to confession via Father Longenecker’s confessional precisely because of the hearing loss. 

His post generated thousands of interactions, with more than 100 comments. Father Longenecker said some followers had even sent him money to help buy hearing aids. Father Longenecker said the responses and support has been touching, telling the Register, "I was touched by the concern and support from friends on social media about my hearing loss. Many of them offered advice—both pastoral and technological—and although most comments were about steps we have already taken, it was still heartening to have so much sympathetic concern expressed and prayers offered!"

Some offered prayers and advice, as others shared their own trials. 

“I had a rather sudden and dramatic hearing loss in one ear about 2 years ago,” Tracy Lou shared on X. “Other ear was minor and inconsistent with age and occupation. I knew it was bad when the altar server rang the bells and I couldn’t hear them,” she wrote. “I will be praying for you and a good resolution to this.”

Father Krupp’s post also generated a ton of traction, with some users sharing thoughtful solutions to alleviate the issue. The priest, who also hosts Joe in Black Ministries Podcast, has recently opened up about his own father accompanying him on sacramental calls. 

We know the Catechism of the Catholic Church weighs in on making this sacrament available for the hearing-impaired, and we pray that priests who struggle in this way will find tools and devices to aid them.

As we keep our priests in prayer, understanding the great sacrifices they make for us as well as the gifts they offer us in the sacraments, we say a prayer for Father Longenecker and Father Krup as they struggle with their loss of hearing and grapple with doing all they can to help their flocks meet Christ in confession. 

St. Francis de Sales, pray for us!