I GET THROUGH THE 4:30 p.m. Mass and retire to the Rectory. I throw myself into a chair, emotionally exhausted. I’m still trying to process what Rachel Watson revealed in confession. She’s put me in an unpleasant situation. What she told me in confession, I can’t tell anyone. I can’t even tell Father Leonard that I know the truth. But Rachel gave me everything I needed to tell the Archbishop that the young priest broke his vows of celibacy and needs to be dealt with.
Leonard can’t stay at Saint Clare’s. Not because of the rumors, as bad as those are, because if they moved a priest every time there were rumors in a parish about them, there wouldn’t be a priest in a parish for more than six months at a time. No, Leonard can’t stay for his own sake and the sake of his calling. He needs couns
