The New Priest‪.‬

For me as a child, Catholic Priests were always a dangerous curiosity, when I was a young lad there were many children, (in fact some were schoolmates) who were sent away from their families to be institutionalized, brainwashed and then mentally sterilized.
To me at that time this was a devious system of insane slavery, and thankfully my clan never followed suit. I never forgot one scary old priest informing a classroom of little ones, "Give me a boy up to the age of seven and I will have him for the rest of his life."
So whatever happened to these 'offerings up to God'?
After completing the fundamental tuition they were given the unpaid jobs of professional marriage advisors, family planning instructors and spiritual guidance specialists and then let loose on their parishes.
Now I admit, there were a many who did an excellent job operating under such strict guidelines, but there were others that just couldn’t cope.
I often wonder what nature would want with such an abnormality, where in the beehive or termite nest would this particular deviation would be tolerated; allowing celebrant freeloaders to dictate the tribes' mindsets. So perhaps this is all part of being human, and these assorted religions certainly know how to cater for our cultural tastes.
This story is set in the fictitious Newcastle industrial suburb of Carrick and the year is 1955 where my first 'new priest' arrives and really tries his best. The second 'new priest' appears soon after and the two of them are beset with a Pandora’s box of problems. But these are resilient chaps and perform a splendid job with most of their challenges. All in all you will witness the experiences of nine new priests and their marks on the community.
As a bona fide storymaker everything written in this novel was spontaneous, this is the only way I know, and just like you ... I get to be entertained right up to the very last word.
So ... let's turn on the juice and let the dam thing loose!