Fr. Z. posted this anecdote from a reader. I’d be curious to hear if anybody has seen or experienced something similar:

I’m a consultant manager at a department store and my job consists of walking around and assisting customers and getting feedback about our store. I noticed an older gentleman in a plaid oxford and slacks sitting in my favorite patio-furniture chair, so I went over to ask him if he loved it as much as I did. Over the course of the conversation it came out that he was an Irish priest visiting, and I had been a seminarian for four years.

We discussed a few things but as soon as I found out that he was a priest, my attitude changed noticeably, so sayeth a co-worker. When Father rose to leave, he shook my hand, and out of habit, I kissed it, and Father began to weep. He told me that no one had kissed his hand in thirty years, and it suddenly “brought forth what a priest, in his dignity, really is.”

I’ve only seen the faithful kiss the hands (rings) of bishops, never priests. Anybody else?  Thoughts?