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My church purchased a new center to have Sunday Liturgies attended by a small number of people. Some of the deacons of this church decided to get together after the mass and work on cleaning the church, and trying to give it a "churchier" feel for lack of better word. We were given permission from one of our priests to do so. Every Friday night, there is a university youth meeting in the same place in which the university group sits in the same room in which we pray the Liturgy (the altar is there). There is a dividing barrier (about 1 or 1.5 meters high) between the church and the meeting area. They also play ping pong and other activities. I sent a text message to the priest in charge of the meeting, saying "Hey Abouna..." to let him know that the church has been cleaned and the activities should remain away from the prayer area. I later received an unexpected response which sounded negative and angry.

I understand that I may have been wrong but I did not in any way mean it. He is a priest and I do respect that, but I feel hurt. I was angry and did say wrong things between me and my friends, and I do feel bad for that, and will certainly confess. I messaged him, and repeatedly called him, but he kept refusing my call, and then turned off the phone. I do not want to mention his name out of respect to him.

It is unfortunate that your relationship with your church priest is at this low point, but it can be salvaged. First of all, it would not be fair on my part to comment solely based on your perception of the incidence without knowledge of possible prior conflicts, the strength or weakness of your relationship up to this point, other negative scenarios which may have been escalating, or the priest's side of the situation. An observation I can make here, for example, is the way you addressed me and the way you addressed Abouna. To me, you prefaced your message by, "I kiss your blessed hands...," as opposed to "Hey Abouna" to the priest. Is this the greeting to which you and he are accustomed? If not, perhaps this opening may have been interpreted by him as too casual or disrespectful. If this is the ordinary communication between the both of you, then maybe this greeting was not at all offensive to him, but something else is going on. Because email and text messages are often brief and people try to make them straight to the point, especially when it is youth or someone more comfortable communicating in the English language, sometimes the words come across as blunt and cold. Do what you can to apologize and make peace with your church priest, and as soon as you have an opportunity, confess and ask for absolution from your confession father.