Ash Wednesday
Authors: Ralph McInerny
Also by Ralph McInerny
Mysteries Set at the University of Notre Dame
| Irish Alibi | Emerald Aisle |
| The Letter Killeth | Book of Kills |
| Irish Gilt | Irish Tenure |
| Green Thumb | Lack of the Irish |
| Irish Coffee | On This Rockne |
Celt and Pepper
Father Dowling Mystery Series
| The Widow’s Mate | Four on the Floor |
| The Prudence of the Flesh | Abracadaver |
| Blood Ties | The Basket Case |
| Requiem for a Realtor | Rest in Pieces |
| Last Things | Getting a Way with Murder |
| Prodigal Father | The Grass Widow |
| Triple Pursuit | A Loss of Patients |
| Grave Undertakings | Thicker Than Water |
| The Tears of Things | Second Vespers |
| A Cardinal Offense | Lying Three |
| Seed of Doubt | The Seventh Station |
| Desert Sinner | Her Death of Cold |
| Judas Priest | Bishop as Pawn |
Andrew Broom Mystery Series
| Heirs and Parents | Savings and Loam |
| Law and Ardor | Body and Soil |
| Mom and Dead | Cause and Effect |
ASH
WEDNESDAY
Ralph McInerny
St. Martin’s Minotaur
New York
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
ASH WEDNESDAY
. Copyright © 2008 by Ralph McInerny. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McInerny, Ralph M.
Ash Wednesday / Ralph McInerny.—1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-36456-4
ISBN-10: 0-312-36456-3
1. Dowling, Father (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 2. Clergy—Fiction.
3. Catholics—Fiction. 4. Euthanasia—Fiction. 5. Guilt—Religious aspects—
Fiction. I. Title.
PS3563.A31166A95 2008
813’.54—dc22 2008013629
First Edition: August 2008
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Ruth and Duncan Stroik
Part One
“Remember, man, that thou art dust and unto dust thou shalt return.”
Father Dowling murmured this formula as he traced a cross on the foreheads of the old people who advanced up the middle aisle of St. Hilary’s on this Ash Wednesday.
Remember, man
. No feminist had ever objected to this inclusive term, perhaps wanting to think of it as gender specific. Like
All men are mortal
?
It was the rheumy eye of Monica Garvey staring into his as he applied ashes to her forehead that prompted these irreverent thoughts. Monica was known to complain about the Church’s treatment of women, thereby earning the friendly enmity of Marie Murkin, the parish housekeeper. Monica turned and made way for the next penitent. Roger Dowling switched to the Latin formula when Kevin Brown stood before him, eyes closed, head thrust forward.
“Memento homo quia pulvis es et in pulverem reverteris.”
Kevin’s lips moved as he repeated the words silently. Kevin had given Father Dowling a subscription to the magazine
Latin Mass
at Christmas, and the first issue had arrived some weeks before. Father
Dowling said Vatican II’s
Novus Ordo
in Latin once a week, on Mondays, and the attendance noticeably rose.
“Why only once a week, Father?” Kevin asked.
“After years of English it takes some getting used to.”
“People love it.”
It was partly nostalgia, of course. There were few people who, like Kevin Brown, understood Latin. He had studied it as a boy at Quigley when he had thought of becoming a priest. But he had gone on to Loyola and then to law school, prospered, married, had half a dozen disappointing children about whose souls he now fretted. “Thank God, Bridget never saw how they turned out.” It seemed that none of them went to Mass anymore. With Kevin there might have been an element of affectation in his championing the return to Latin in the liturgy. A pharisee thanking God he was not like the rest of men? That was unfair. Kevin seemed to think that it was the Church’s dropping of Latin that had led to the falling away of his children.