Now I'm not the only one who has escaped from conciliardom who has seen prietenders regularly come down into the aisle and tell long involved jokes etc. in their homilies, now am I? The stuffiness of a pulpit would have robbed me of much laughter as a child. Oh, and the old priest (unfortunately he was old enough that he was a valid priest and old enough to know better) who gave a run down of the region's high school football scores in his homily wouldn't have been nearly as charming behind a pulpit.