Flying Through the Storm

by Carrie86

What would have happened in Ballyk if Peter and Assumpta's relationship had been allowed to progress? How would people have reacted? A blow-by-blow account of the hurdles and joys of the first two weeks of Peter and Assumpta's relationship.

14. Chapter 14

Peter had just served Padraig his lunch when Father Mac came in. He walked slowly to the bar and placed both his hands on it.

"Err... what can I get you, Father?"

"Nothing. I'm not here for drinks." He looked at Padraig. "Is there somewhere we can talk privately?"

Peter nodded slowly. "Ah, yeah, the kitchen. You can enter through the reception door there."

In the kitchen, Peter offered Father Mac a seat.

He didn't take it, instead gripping the back of a chair. "I think perhaps it would be best if you left town."

"What makes you say that, Father?"

"My phone has been ringing off the hook this morning with people who saw your very public show last night calling to express their outrage; people who didn't see it but heard about it from people who saw it saying so-and-so said this and I think it's outrageous; people who heard about it from people who heard about it from people who saw it and can't believe it's true but if it is it's completely outrageous - do you get the picture?"

"I know everybody knows, Father."

"I am no longer responsible for you, but according to the Vatican you are still a priest, and according to many people you will always be a priest, which means that how they view you is still deeply connected to how they view this parish and the Church at large. Do you care about the Church, Peter?"

Peter swallowed. "Yes."

"Do you care about this parish? Do you want scores of your former parishioners turning away from the Church and into the path of darkness?"

"No, Father."

"Then the best thing you can do is leave. Whether you take her with you or not is up to you, but remember that she is a married woman."

"I am painfully aware of that, Father."

"And I'm going to ask you again, have you broken your vows?

"No. Which means that this is not adultery, so if you could let those people who've been phoning you know that..."

"Will you leave?"

Peter closed his eyes and sighed. "I don't know. I'll have to talk to Assumpta."

"Do so."

Father Mac strode out of the kitchen.

Peter rushed after him. "Father, wait!"

The priest turned around and glared at Peter. "What?"

Peter fingered his temple nervously. "Are you taking confessions today?"

Father Mac's expression turned to one of incredulous amusement. "Oh," he said, "Now that will be interesting."

"Is it still at the same time?"

"Yes."

"OK, thanks."

With a kind of grunt and exhalation of air, Father Mac went out the door.

"I thought he wasn't authorised to yell at you anymore," said Padraig.

"He didn't yell."

Peter walked back behind the bar and began morosely wiping the bench behind it.

"What did he say?" Padraig asked.

Peter sighed. "Oh, you know, just pointing out the obvious, that I'm a heartless, evil, disrespectful..."

Padraig laughed, but Peter didn't seem to find this so unbelievable.

"Oh, stop beating yourself up about it, Peter! Sorry, poor choice of words there."

"You don't understand, Padraig. It's bad enough that Leo's hurting so much and that's my fault - I hate to see people get hurt. But if that wasn't bad enough..." He trailed off.

"Come on, spit it out!"

"Everything he was saying... stealing his wife, lying to my parishioners.. All of it was true. I couldn't say anything back because he was right, I am that awful."

"Ah, come on, you didn't mean to."

Peter wasn't even listening to Padraig; he was distractedly wiping the same place over and over again, staring into space. "I've been raised my whole life to believe that marriage is sacred, and now I'm..."

"I was raised to believe that too, but sometimes it just doesn't work that way."

Peter continued to wipe the same area of the bar. He didn't even look up when the door opened, but Padraig did, and he saw the look of shock and horror that spread across Assumpta's face.

"Oh my God!"

Peter dropped the cloth and put up his hands. "It's - it's fine, I'm fine!"

"No you're not!" She ran around the bar to him, held out her hand, and then stopped, just short of touching him. "What the hell happened?"

"Long story. I'm fine, don't worry about it."

"Tell me the story please!"

"Please don't freak out."

She stepped forward now, gently touching a non-bruised part of his face. "Are you OK?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, I'm fine," he said, grabbing her shoulders and reassuredly rubbing her arms.

"Who did this?"

"Ah, well... I had a visitor last night."

She shook her head. "No... No!"

"Look, I don't mind, OK, he was upset, and -"

"I asked him if he was OK - he said I should see the other guy!"

"Haha, yes, that would be an appropriate assessment -"

"I felt sorry for him, I apologised to him!"

"And that's as it should be."

She breathed in and out, her face etched with concern. "How did it happen?" she said quietly.

"Well, he came in, he was upset, he asked me to step outside -"

"And he threw an expensive drink in your face, too, don't forget," said Padraig.

"Oh yeah... smashed a glass, sorry."

"He threw a GLASS in your face?"

"No, no, no-one was hurt, it just smashed, that's all. Sorry."

"You think I care about broken glasses, Peter?"

"No."

"How the hell did he get away with one split lip when you're -"

"Ah, but Peter won the fight, Assumpta!" declared Padraig.

Peter and Assumpta turned to look incredulously at Padraig. "What?" they said in unison.

"You may have only thrown one punch, Peter, but it was a knockout punch, the knockout punch, and then the fight was over, so you win!"

"I'm not proud of that, Padraig, and there are no winners and losers -"

"Hang on," said Assumpta. She pointed at Peter. "You threw one punch."

"Yes."

"And it was the last punch?"

He nodded.

"So he did all that to you without you lifting a finger to him?"

"Oh, now -"

"Where was Ambrose?" Assumpta strode back around the bar. "That's assault - where the hell was Ambrose?"

She charged through the door as if it wasn't there and strode up the street, with Peter running after her. "Assumpta! Assumpta, wait! Ambrose did his job very well -"

Assumpta knocked on the door of the Garda house with force. Ambrose answered quickly, with an anxious expression on his face, and then looked surprised to see that it wasn't an emergency.

"Ambrose," said Assumpta matter-of-factly, "Could you please tell me why Leo is at home in Dublin and not in a police cell or, at the very least, a parole court?"

"Err..." Ambrose looked behind her to Peter, who gave him an apologetic look and waved his hands as if to say, "Don't worry about this!"

"Come in," said Ambrose, stepping aside. Assumpta strode past him and right downstairs to the office. Ambrose followed her, looking a little stunned. "Well, Assumpta, that would be because he hasn't been charged with anything that would require that, though I did write him up for breach of the peace."

"There's no need to charge him," said Peter, hovering in the doorway.

Assumpta ignored him. "Breach of the peace! That's a very tame happy-clappy charge isn't it? Must make things a lot easier for you!"

"Err, do you mind if I land you in it, here, Father? I mean... Peter."

"There was no need to charge him," Peter repeated.

Assumpta turned to face him, her arms crossed. "You've said that already. I disagree. And I don't think it's up to you." She turned back to Ambrose and looked at him expectantly.

"Well, actually, it is," Ambrose explained. "In cases of non-life threatening assault, the decision to prosecute rests with the victim, unless they are a minor or -"

"I should hope it was non-life threatening, but that doesn't mean it wasn't violent and unprovoked -"

"Yes, I know, and I was all ready to charge him, but it isn't up to me! If Peter's condition was more serious I would have tried to persuade him otherwise, but he's fine, the doctor's report confirms that -"

"Does he LOOK fine to you?"

"I mean if there were broken bones or something."

"Oh, broken bones, that's what it takes, is it?"

"If there was something more serious than bruising then I would have tried to persuade him to press charges, but there isn't, there's no permanent damage to his face, his internal organs are fine, his ribs are fine -"

"HIS RIBS?" Assumpta rushed over to Peter and began unbuttoning his shirt.

"Hey - Assumpta, do you mind?" This was not the way Peter had pictured the first time Assumpta unbuttoned his shirt. "He just said they're fine, stop worrying!"

She continued unbuttoning furiously.

After undoing the last button, she paused for a second, then pulled the shirt open very carefully. "Oh no..." she breathed. "Oh no, no, no..."

A large area of Peter's abdomen, extending up to the ribs and down to the belly button, was covered in deep red and purple bruises. The swelling was apparent, and the skin looked sore to the touch.

"His hand or his foot?" she said, so quietly that Peter barely heard her. Then much louder, "His hand or his foot?"

"His hand, his hand!"

"It looks worse than that." Her voice was breaking as she asked, "How many times?"

"Two." He put his hands on her shoulders, and she looked up at him with tears in her eyes.

"Ambrose, do you mind if we borrow your kitchen?" Peter asked.

"Err...Sure."

"Thanks." Peter put his arm around Assumpta's shoulders and led her across the hall.

"It's alright," he said, quickly buttoning his shirt. "I'm OK. I don't think he should be charged because his anger was perfectly understandable. He was hurting and he'd been drinking - maybe he wouldn't have done it if it weren't for that, but I looked at him and I thought, all the pain he is feeling is down to me, and if hitting me is going to make him feel even a little bit better, I'll let him do it."

"It's down to me! And anyway, whatever he's feeling does not justify -"

Peter put a finger to her lips. "I took his girl. He's gutted. I feel awful about it. I let him do it. I hope it made him feel better."

"It doesn't justify... If you don't want to charge him, I will - threatening my staff, destroying bar property -"

"I thought you said you didn't care about broken glasses."

"Yeah, because you were apologising for it - what is wrong with you?"

"Just calm down, please."

"There is no excuse for that - the whole reason we have a gard is to -"

"Look, let's talk about this productively, OK? I think that from a moral perspective there is no reason to charge him."

"Oh, you're being pious about it, are you?"

"No, I'm being humanist about it. But apart from that, from a practical perspective, you still want to get an annulment out of him, don't you?"

"Oh, that is not fair - he can't use that to wriggle out of -"

"Did you talk to him about it?"

"Yes, he signed the forms, it's done!"

"No it isn't, he could still change his mind. But well done on that. What we need to do now is leave him to grieve on his own."

"Look, I feel bad about it too, but nothing justifies violence like that!"

"People deal with things in different ways."

"If the situation were reversed, would you do that to him?"

"The situation was reversed, and I... kinda wanted to!"

"But you didn't. You're better than that."

"Well, people deal with things in different ways."

"You let him do it? Are you insane?"

Peter smiled. "Yeah, maybe." He pulled her into a hug. "It's alright."

Niamh walked in five minutes later, to be most surprised to see Peter and Assumpta embracing in her kitchen. "Err, what are you doing?" she asked.

"Niamh, where the hell have you been?" demanded Assumpta. "You left him in the pub on his own - he should be home on sick leave!"

"Err... you don't do sick leave."

"I'm thinking of starting. Where have you been?"

Niamh and Peter replied at the same time.

"The dentist."

"She had to go to the.. yep, what she said."

"And what are you two doing in my kitchen?"

"Long story."

Niamh looked between them.

"We came to talk to Ambrose," explained Peter.

"Right. And the other question is, if all three of us are in here, who's looking after the bar?"

"Oh shit!" cried Assumpta, sprinting out.

"She doesn't usually forget that," said Niamh. "Is everything alright?"

...

"I think it'll up the tourist stakes for Ballyk," said Brendan, helping himself to a pint. "I dunno what Brian's on about."

"What, people coming to see the setting of the scandal of the priest and the publican?" chuckled Padraig.

"Yeah. I would. I'd want to see the very pub." Brendan slapped the bar in front of him. "Though maybe not if the service is as poor as this."

"Where are all the tourists, then?"

"It's early days, Padraig, early days. It's not even in the papers yet."

Assumpta burst through the door. "Thankyou, Padraig, sorry about that!"

"Ah, Assumpta, can I have some stew, please?" asked Brendan.

"Yeah." She went into the kitchen, still looking very distracted, only to reappear thirty seconds later when she heard Brendan's cry of, "Ah, Peter! The wounded soldier returns!"

"Have you had lunch?" Assumpta asked.

Peter had to think about this for a second before he replied. "No..."

"What would you like?"

After the pain he'd experienced whilst attempting to chew toast that morning, Peter decided that all he could manage was soup. "I'll get it, though," he said, coming round the bar.

"You will not, you will sit dowm. You're on sick leave."

"I'm not sick!"

"Just sit down." She disappeared into the kitchen.

"Does Assumpta usually pay staff sick leave?" asked Padraig.

"Apparently not," said Peter. "But she doesn't need me now anyway, there's no customers."

"Yeah, well, if I was you I'd refuse any sick leave payments. She can't afford it right now."

"Are you saying that the current lack of customers is...?"

Padraig nodded. "There's usually a lunchtime rush at this time. We better drink more, Brendan!"

"What a terrible prospect!" Brendan smiled.

Assumpta came through the kitchen door with Peter's soup, which she placed in front of him and began pouing him a pint of lager.

"Excuse me, what about my stew?" demanded Brendan.

"Yeah, in a moment!" Assumpta placed Peter's pint in front of him. He took out his wallet.

She shook her head. "It's on the house."

"Don't be silly."

"Call it a barman's priviledge."

"I know how to use the cash register!"

"Make sure he doesn't, Brendan." Assumpta went back into the kitchen.

Peter fished a straw out from behind the bar, put it in his beer and began to drink.

"That bad, eh?" asked Padraig.

Peter nodded.

"You know that's the sissiest way to drink a beer?" Brendan winked.

Peter smiled. "How's Siobhan?" he asked. "I haven't seen her recently."

"Ah, yeah, I haven't seen much of her either. She's got some... financial problems."

"Is she alright?"

"Yeah, she's fine."

...

Kathleen, behind the counter in her shop, was being true to form. She asked every customer if they'd seen what had happened on the bridge, and if they hadn't, she filled them in.

Siobhan was in the back of the shop, filling a basket with some weekly essentials, when she heard Kathleen say, "That Assumpta always was a wayward girl, godless as a gypsy, never any respect for her elders. If her parents could see what she's doing now, they'd die of shame, the poor things."

"I don't seem to remember you having much fondness for Assumpta's parents, Kathleen," said Siobhan, bringing her purchases to the counter.

"At least they were God-fearing people! I always knew she'd come to no good, but this, bringing down that poor husband of hers, the whole parish, and never mind Father Clifford - I don't think he knows what's hit him, you know, he always was morally weak. The shame of it! Can you imagine?"

Siobhan said nothing.

"Did you see it, Siobhan? Last night?"

"No, but I heard about it."

"That poor man. There was a time when young people respected marriage - I don't know what the world is coming to."

"Sounds like he was a bit violent, though, I wouldn't have thought you'd approve of that."

"I think that's Father Clifford's pennance. He'll be lucky if he doesn't get worse. It should be illegal, what they're doing - and the gard arrested Mr MacGarvey!" The bell rang and another customer came in. "Oh Maggie, Maggie, have you heard?"

Siobhan left the shop, and put her purchases into the back of her land rover. She looked across at Fitzgerald's for a moment, then jumped into the driver's seat and drove away.

...

"Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned, it's been three days since my last... well... does that one count?"

"What?"

"I sort of did a priest-less confession last Saturday."

"What is that?"

"Well, I was still the priest in charge of this church at that time, and I couldn't be in two places at once, so..."

"Even when you were an active priest, I was still your confessor!"

"Well, yes, but you weren't here at the time."

"You can't confess without a confessor - you'll have to do it again!"

"OK."

"You didn't give yourself pennance, did you?"

"I said pennance, but I don't think it counts."

"It most certainly does not! You must do the whole confession again!"

"OK... I confessed to deception. At that time I hadn't made my announcement yet but I'd just become Kieran's godfather, and there were some people who thought he was getting a priest as a godfather. His grandmother in particular was quite excited about it. I felt that I was deceiving her, and everyone else, and that that was wrong."

"Did you directly lie?"

"Ah, no, I don't think I did, people just assumed and I didn't correct them."

"OK. And did you have good intentions?"

"I was... following your orders, Father."

"Mmm-hmm, and do you think that's a good reason for doing something?"

"Yes, I... I did consider, when I was at the morning tea afterwards, just telling everyone, but I didn't want to ruin Kieran's day and..."

"And?"

"And I was scared."

"Of what people would think?"

"Yes."

"And which of these three reasons would you say was your main reason for continuing your deception on that day?"

"Umm... I would say all three."

"Well the first two are valid reasons and the third is not, but it is understandable. Err, can I assume that this confession is going to go on a while?"

"Yes..."

"Right, well, I'll save your pennance for last - I'll make a list and consider it all at once." Father Mac grabbed a notepad and pen from the coner and began writing something. "Please continue."

"Well, Father, next I have to confess to another count of deception, on Sunday, when I didn't tell people the real reason for my leaving the priesthood."

Father Mac was becoming frustrated. This man had, as far as could be seen, come between a married couple, and all he wanted to confess to was being economical with the truth a couple of times. On his orders!

"Didn't you say that there were many reasons for your leaving and that you couldn't name them all? That was honest, wasn't it? I seem to remember you dropping some rather obvious hints as well..."

"Yes, Father, but that's not the same as telling the truth. I think they were only obvious to those who already knew."

"Peter, if you're again going to confess to doing something which you consider a sin under my orders -"

"Oh, that wasn't the reason, Father. I did want to respect your wishes, but again my main reason was fear. I feared the consequences of my actions becoming known, and so I lied."

"My child, telling a lie isn't the same as being economical with the truth."

"I know, Father. I lied. At the podium, in the house of God, I lied."

"What lie is this?"

"The lie that there were many reasons for my leaving the priesthood. There were many reasons why I was dissatisfied with my vocation, and all the ones I listed were true, but there was only one reason why I left."

"Ah."

"Yes."

"Right, OK, lying, it's on the list, next?"

"Next, OK. My next sin is that I hit a man."

Father Mac sighed and looked at his watch.

"I hit him so hard I knocked him out. I could have done him serious injury."

"I understand he hit you several times as well."

"Yes, Father, but I wasn't going to hit him back. I don't believe in violence."

"You didn't want to hit him because you were taking the moral high ground?"

"No no, it wasn't that - he had the moral high ground, I mean, in terms of the situation."

"You think you did him wrong?"

"Yes, I did do him wrong."

"Do you think that gave him the right to hit you?"

"Well, no, but that was the method he had chosen to deal with his pain, and I'd caused that pain, so... he had a pretty good reason to hit me, whereas I had no reason to hit him, I'm not angry with him in any way!"

"Well, why did you hit him, then?"

"It was because of something he said."

"And what was that?"

"It was something about Assumpta... He was insinuating that I'd broken my vows and made love to her, which made me angry because it's not true, but I didn't hit him because of that, I hit him because then he said something else, something... about her and him."

"Oh, so it was jealousy that made you hit him?"

"I think so, Father."

"Have you harboured jealous feelings before?"

"Yes, very much so, when he was living here, I'm afraid."

"And what did you do about it?"

"I stayed away from him. I prayed a lot."

"Did you stay away from his wife?"

Peter cleared his throat. "When they were together, yes I did. As much as I could."

"What does 'as much as I could' mean?"

"Well other than a couple of parish and community matters when I had to see her, I stayed away completely... She did come to see me on a couple of occasions, though, and I fear that on those occasions I was not able to keep my emotions under control very well."

"Did you say or do anything to influence the outcome of her marriage?"

"No, I don't think so, not consciously anyway. I wasn't very nice to her, actually."

"Did you give her any cause to believe that you might leave the priesthood?"

"No."

"And with Mr MacGarvey, did you act on your jealousy in any way?"

"No."

"OK. On our list here we have deception, lying, violence and jealousy. Are there any other sins that you would like to confess to?"

Peter paused and breathed in deeply. Hearing it read out like that was quite confronting. Was he really guilty of all that? He was, he knew. "For those four sins, Father, I repent and am sorry. I deeply regret them all."

"Do not judge yourself too harshly, my child."

"Thankyou, Father."

"Was there anything else?"

Peter's heart was pounding, but Father Mac's words were gentle: he was asking, but he was leaving it up to Peter whether he responded or not. He knew he could never get absolution for this sin, but he had never believed absolution to be the main purpose of confession. The main purpose was, simply, confession. No matter how bad the sin, one should always confess.

Knowing Peter Clifford, Father Mac knew that he was very sorry for all his sins. He suspected that even if he didn't feel repentent for the last one, he would undoubtedly feel very guilty about it. He felt sorry for him in a way. Any priest leaving the priesthood would have to admit to lying and deception, but the rest of it was just down to Peter's bad luck, or poor judgement, in choosing a woman who was reckless and impulsive. Now he was living with, and repenting for, her mistakes.

"Father," Peter's voice shook. "I have to confess to coming between a man and his wife."

"Do you regret it?"

"No."

"Do you mean to continue to do so?"

"Yes."

"Do you believe in the sanctity of marriage?"

Tears came to Peter's eyes. "Yes. What I repent and am sorry for, Father, is what I have done to Leo. He is in so much pain, and I know how it feels. I know how it feels, and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy!"

"And do you feel the blame for his hurt rests primarily with you, or with Assumpta?"

"With me."

"I must confess, I have trouble understanding that, please explain."

"I am the reason that the marriage happened in the first place. I repent that, I deeply regret that it happened, but having happened, I do not regret bringing about its end."

"So you don't view it as a legitimate marriage - you think it should never have happened."

"Yes."

"And in what way did you cause it to happen?"

"I believe it happened because I told Assumpta that nothing could ever happen between us."

"When was this?"

"Just before I went on retreat."

"And when you came back from retreat she was married."

"Yes."

"Well, forgive me but the connection seems a little loose to me..."

"I asked her and she said that was the reason."

"Well, she's never been the sort of person to need a partner..."

"No, but I really hurt her and I think she went to Leo for comfort, she said she was desperate."

"That's no reason to marry him."

"Well, I dunno, I guess that made her feel better somehow. She said she hoped that in time he would drive me out of her head."

"By shackling herself to him through the bond of marriage."

"Yes."

"Whilst knowing herself that actually she was in love with you."

"Presumably."

"Does that make any sense to you? If you had been in that situation, would you have done the same?"

"Ah... gee, I hadn't thought of it like that..."

"Would you marry someone you did not love?"

"No. No, I'd rather be alone."

"What if you thought that you could grow to love them?"

"Err... I'd want to wait and find out first."

"You see, Peter, I don't think this is your fault. I think it's Assumpta's. Can you see how what she did makes no sense?"

"Well... She thinks that, she keeps saying, 'Why did I do it, that was stupid!'"

"Yes, it was."

"I just think it shows how much pain she was in. And that was my fault."

"So you think the marriage was your fault too."

"Yes."

Father Mac sighed. "Excuse me, I just want to check that nobody's waiting." He opened the dark red curtain. "OK, there's no-one."

"I'm sorry, Father, we've gone over time - I'll leave now."

"You will not!"

"I've already made my confession, Father, so -"

"I haven't given you your pennance yet."

"That's OK, I don't think I deserve to be forgiven." Peter stood up.

"Sit back down now! As your priest it is my job to absolve you if I think you deserve absolution, now will you listen to me?"

Shocked, Peter knelt back down with a force so strong he hurt his knee and lost his balance. Father Mac did not comment.

"OK, Peter. I want you to consider something. Are you at all familiar with Assumpta's views on marriage at large?"

"In what way?"

"Has she ever discussed them with you?"

"No."

"I want to tell you something, and obviously you shouldn't take my word for it, you should discuss it with her, but -"

"Father, I don't like where this is going."

"You think I'm going to speak ill of her. Well, I am going to point out a couple of her character flaws, but I don't mean to dissuade you from marrying her. You've made your decision. But I do think there are a lot of things you don't know about her, and the two of you have tough times ahead: if you don't understand how she thinks and why she acts the way she does, you may not survive."

"Do you mean to say that... you understand that?"

"I've known her her whole life. I've never been close to her, but I've always watched her. I've seen all the things that shaped her into the person she is today. On of the penultimate ones was her parents' marriage. It wasn't a good one. I and the curate who was here at the time did our best to try and get them to patch it up, but that didn't seem to be possible, and our restriction was, of course, that we had to act within the teachings of the Church: we could never advise them to split up. I think that may be what turned Assumpta away from the Church. I know it's why she hates me."

"What... Assumpta wanted her parents to split up?"

"I believe she did. There are many cases where it is better for the child if the parents stay together. This was not one of them."

"Was she OK?"

"No. Perhaps you should ask her about it sometime. But my point in this instance is that, as a result of that experience, Assumpta has no belief whatsoever in the sanctity of marriage. Oh, I'm sure she thinks it has its place, and I'm sure if she married you she would take it seriously, but she did not do that with Leo - marrying him was a reckless act, and of course she wouldn't have done it if she hadn't thought it might help her, but she's not stupid, she must have known that there was a pretty good chance that it wouldn't help. Someone like you or I who has a belief in the sanctity of marriage would never enter into one if we had any doubt that it would work, but she doesn't have that belief and she is, by nature, impulsive, so she rushed into it not particularly caring what the consequences would be. She knew she didn't love Leo but she married him anyway, and then she turned around and took him back to the village where the man she does love lives! Can you see how reckless that is?"

He paused for effect, and Peter found his tongue. "Father, what are you tying to achieve here?"

"I'm trying to absolve you! I can't give you pennance for it because you don't regret it, but the fault for the dissolution of this marriage is solely Assumpta's - she entered it impulsively, she treated it recklessly, and now she discards it like yesterday's beer dregs! Moreover, she would have discarded it regardless of whether you left the priesthood or not. The only difference you have made is in encouaging her to seek an annulment rather than a divorce, and that's a good thing! For the sin of destroying a marriage, I cannot tell you that I absolve you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, but I can tell you that I believe that in the case of that sin, your hands are clean."