• What I (Alice) want to talk about is the boy's dream of Father Flynn, where the priest comes and asks absolution of him.  Lots of things are pretty clear:
    • their roles are reversed,
    • the Priest should have had and undoubtedly did receive extreme unction before he died, so he doesn't need confession. 
  • This is the boy's dream, after all, not anything that happens on the realistic level.

    • So here's what I see.  I can put it all into six words.   In this dream, Father Flynn is the boy's shadow.