Jerry?” Luke thought, why ask him and not me?
Jerry slowly answered, “We have a growing school and a large acolyte program. Many different boys now serve at the altar with us.”
Hudson persisted. “I heard a wild story of a teenage boy walking around followed by some of the kids. And other stories also.”
Jerry said slowly, “I’ll tell you what I know. An older acolyte started volunteering in the childcare room. Last month, he was stopped by a parish usher as he was taking a three-year-old boy away into an off-limits area.” The priests stared at Jerry, who paused and continued. “Monsignor Peter investigated and found out that the acolyte didn’t know the rules about being alone with young kids. He said he was only emotionally fond of this child.” Jerry ended lamely. “So I think the situation is resolved and over.”
No one dared a response.
Soon the group stopped for the day and the weary, black-clad priests found their way back to their churches.
Hannah sat at her desk going through piles of paper. Seeing Luke, she began quickly. “On April 26, you have an invitation to Bishop Cahill’s for a reception.” Luke looked at his feet briefly with the odd thought springing into his mind, You don’t need this bishop telling you what to do. “Please decline. I am busy that evening.” Without another word, he and Jerry walked into the monsignor’s office where Father Peter sat behind his desk. Peter briefly looked up but then quickly focused on the task.
Peter began, “We’re dividing up the schedule of masses now. Are you ready?”
Without a word, Luke took his calendar out of his pocket. The priests scattered into distant chairs with the setting sun creating shadows over their faces. Lines of variegated light slowly moved across the red Oriental rug on the floor.
Peter spoke, “Now we are looking at Lent heading to Easter. Luke, you will do the noon day masses Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.” He added, “You can enjoy your Sunday mornings off. Jerry and I will take the morning masses and you do the Saturday 5 p.m. ones.”
Luke looked down intently at the calendar.
The silence deepened.
“If that is what you want, Monsignor.”
Luke walked quickly upstairs.
In his room, he reached for his rosary beads and hoped for that inner vibrancy that came when he prayed. Now though, the beads seemed to lay flat and powerless in his hands as if they were martyred. Where was spiritual vitality? No more Sunday mornings? He would miss the parishioners and the community events.
“Darn it,” he whispered. “I don’t even know what is going on here.”
After a sleepless night, Luke rose at 5 a.m. and sat at the church office computer to print up the Scriptures for his noonday service. Knowing Peter was out for the day, Luke made himself comfortable in front of the computer and suddenly a pop-up ad with a scantily dressed couple jumped on the screen with a jarring headline announcing, “Hot men! Slutty women!” Luke quickly jerked the mouse around, desperately trying to make it go away, yet every time he thought he had successfully disabled this, the nearly naked woman appeared again. As soon as 9 a.m. rolled around, Luke called the diocesan computer services.
That same afternoon, the diocesan computer tech guy sporting blue jeans and a brown ponytail arrived. “There is one thing you can try yourself that may help stop these pop-ups. With Internet Explorer open, choose Tools, Internet Options.” He continued rattling off this information as he jotted notes for Luke. “At the top of the dialog box change your home page to Use Blank. Click OK, close IE and reopen to see if your home page is now just blank. If that works, then go back to Tools, Internet Options, and in the middle of the dialog box choose in order: Delete Cookies, Delete Files, and then Clear History. That may well clean everything up.”
Luke stared at him. Then clearing his voice, he asked quietly, “What in the world are you talking about?”
Reaching for his bag of tools, the young guy stood up. Eyes averted, he said, “Getting rid of the problems related to X-rated websites.” He stammered. “Look, it’s tough to be alone.” Then bolting for the door, he added, “I won’t tell the diocese. They don’t ever do anything about this anyway. Call me if this doesn’t work. Just leave me a message saying that the spam has come back. I’ll know what it means.” Slamming the door behind him, he left, with a trail of questions in his wake.
Luke sat stunned. X-rated websites? Pop-ups? The only pop-ups he read about in seminary were demons popping up to tempt St. Antony, the father of monasticism, when the monk, celibate and fasting, lived in the rural caves of Alexandria, Egypt. Antony said to focus more on God when distracting temptations arise. Yet still Luke sat slumped over: what is going on here?
Upstairs Jerry approached his desk, his one place of luxury, to work on his PhD dissertation. Hoping to be a Jesuit, Jerry’s passion for Roman mythology led to this half-finished degree from Georgetown University. He wrote about the Roman Empire and especially Romulus and Remus raised by their mother wolf. As he frequently did, he looked out of his window to see the statue of the mother wolf sitting out front.
Today Jerry took out paper. The words flowed quickly about the mythical founder of Rome, the generous she-wolf tenderly caring for the babies while protecting from predators. A wolf-mother bringing ferocious protection and eternal love! Wolves symbolized the glory of ancient Rome, as well as the Jesuit Ignatius of Loyola who had wolves in his coat of arms. Soon, Jerry hoped, these images would come out in academic terms for his PhD dissertation. Springing up for his afternoon hospital visits, Jerry began to whistle an old Gregorian chant, Veni Spiritus, Come, Holy Spirit.
As Jerry sprinted toward the door, he almost ran into Hannah. Quickly she blurted, “Would you come help me pick up the reception food for tonight’s meeting?”
Jerry smiled. “Not today. Late for a prayer before a heart operation at Georgetown University Hospital.” Suddenly he added, “Ask Luke!” As her startled eyes met Jerry’s happy ones, Hannah heard a small “I can do it” from the priests’ office where Luke sat.
Hannah added slowly, “Okay.” After a pause, “I want to grab a sandwich first and maybe you are hungry also.” Luke swallowed hard, nodding yes.
She explained, “I know you are busy, but I won’t ever find a parking space around the caterer and if we both go, I can double-park and you can quickly run in to get it.”
He trailed after her, head down. Soon walking into the local Five Guys restaurant, they were greeted by red-and-white signs announcing that the potatoes were from Hatch Farms in Warden, Washington. Fifty-pound bags of potatoes lay against the side wall.
Ordering her grilled cheese sandwich, Hannah murmured to Luke, “The best French fries in Washington!”
Sitting at the white glossy table, Luke peeked across at the blonde woman. “Hey, wasn’t that latest park crime near here?”
“Yes, Mount Vernon Place, an historic park. Odd pinwheels cut into trees with dripping blood. Done at midnight. They taunt the authorities with these public ceremonies. With the new convention center right there, it seems odd to choose that for a crime.” She added with surprise. “Always something in this powerful city! Who do you think is doing this?”
Luke thought back to his studies. “Sounds like one of those weird worshiping groups. Who knows? I took some classes at Loyola and we
