One of your very close friends, Jack Shea, is a former priest. He left the active ministry nearly twenty years ago to marry Sr. Maureen O'Reilly. The O'Reilly-Sheas now have two teenage children.
Jack recently was treated for bronchitis, but the cough just never went away. He also began to be short of breath, so he called back his physician. The doctor had him come to the hospital for tests, and discovered that Jack has a massive lung tumor. There is no medical treatment that will remedy the situation. Jack is now in the Intensive Care Unit, and will probably not last the night. You come to the hospital after work, but Jack is asleep. While you are talking to Maureen, she mentions that Jack has been expressing regret that he never received a dispensation from his vow of celibacy:
"He tells me he that the day he married me is still the happiest day of his life. He thinks he just was not cut out for the single life, but he wishes he had asked Rome for a formal release from his vow. He wants to be reconciled to the Church before he dies, but he knows that there is no time to do this. He is so disconsolate. What should I do? What can I tell him?"
What advice do you give Maureen?