The Good Sheep

While the title of my book refers to the main character, a seminarian who, despite enormous temptation, becomes a priest, it could also refer to the laity who still believe firmly that not all priests are pedophiles and, more than that, most if not all, are faithful to their promise of celibacy.

This is a fictional story of an Irish Catholic kid from the Bronx who becomes a priest at a time when sex scandals are erupting in the priesthood. He is plagued with just the memory of a beautiful girl's hand placed innocently in his as they walked from the beach giving rise to thoughts of sex with her. Can he handle celibacy? Will he become another story for the media?

This is also the story of that girl hopelessly in love with that seminarian. She visits him often in his last year in the seminary and begs him to leave. He meets with her a few months before ordination to insist that she accept his refusal. Before saying goodbye, she disappears.

After his ordination she reappears and escalates her behavior by crashing his party and announces he is the father of their unborn child. She later makes that accusation on TV and claims she had an abortion that he demanded.

When she realizes she can never have him, she descends into pschotic depression and, dressed as a nun, she jumps off the Brooklyn Bridge. It is a scene that captivates New York and the world.

Her body is quickly recovered and the autopsy reveals a major surprise. And, that's not the end. There is another surprise that is totally unexpected.