The Bishop's Man

I am not often inspired to pick up a book simply because it has won national awards but this book and its subject matter was intriguing. I was not disappointed. The very delicate subject of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church and its subsequent cover up for years might turn you away from this troubling story. Don't let it - it is an important story to be read and understood. It is told from the perspective of a priest who is "chosen" by his bishop to be the bridge between victim and perpetrator and his ultimate goal of preserving the institution of the Holy Mother Church. Damaged himself, the story skirts his own troubled past as well as the slow unraveling of the web of secrecy that has been created to protect the Church and his own conflict with the role that he has played throughout. Without delving into the gory details of abuse, the author has given us incredible insight into these tormented souls. Both the soul of the abused as well as the soul of the priests sent to "counsel" the victims. A difficult subject at best, the book is incredibly well written providing the reader with a view angled to both sides but never losing its ultimate message that hiding what had been done damaged the Church, its pastors as well as its parishoners.

First off, this book is not for everyone. It’s a bit slow, complicated at times, it touches on topics not everyone likes to discuss and it is definitely not a page-turner. However, it is a gripping tale of the odd conflict between life and humanity. The central character is a priest with a somewhat-checkered past. After years in the church he is asked to run his own parish, near his hometown in eastern Canada. While there, our priest learns to confront his past demons, while dealing with new ones along the way. Through a writing style that can be best described as poetic, MacIntyre reveals the hardship that a priest must live through for his “profession” – primarily loneliness and constant gossip. I felt the book was showing how priests, who are often held to an unfairly high standard, struggle with same factors we all do. Priests are simply human beings, who make mistakes, have doubts and insecurities. There is a part of the book that talks about people being too wrapped up in institutions (regardless of what they are) and there downfalls…we forget who we are in them– I think anyone can relate to that. A book that makes you review and consider your life – a tough, but great read.

To read The Bishop's Man, by Linden MacIntyre, is to come to an understanding about nuance, patience and the sometimes ambiguity of knowledge.

The novel is set in the late 1990s of Cape Breton, at a time when the Catholic Church is under siege both from within and without, and when Canada's fisheries are collapsing. Come into this Father Duncan MacAskill, known among his colleagues as the 'Exorcist', the damage-control man for the Bishop of Antigonish.

Duncan himself is in need of damage control, burned out, over-stressed, searching for his own relevance in a Church with diminishing relevance. There is very much the feeling of shadows in this novel, of whispers in the wind, of the reluctance to acknowledge hurt, tragedy, and responsibility. I know of many editors, even writers, who would have condemned the first half of this novel as too introspective, too slow, that the character of Duncan MacAskill is too remote.

They would be wrong. As was I. What Linden MacIntyre creates with this cool, distant approach is a fragile foundation he then, in the last few chapters, ruthlessly, and yet with grace, rips out from under the reader's metaphorical feet and leaves you numb, in my case weeping. In a story so reserved in its emotional impact, it creates a thunderous impact in the end so that the only word left to describe this novel is memorable.

Though well written…with words and paragraphs that flow...I've named this novel "the joyless book".

"Father Duncan is the bishop's fixer, the guy called on to root out corrupt priests. For years he's made sure sexual abusers get moved around with no public scandal or personal accountability. When he's sent to his hometown in Nova Scotia to deal with a growing crisis there, it looks like his personal doubts - he has his own secrets - might threaten his professional duties."

I was impressed with this book...even the subject matter didn't deter me from wanting to finish. What did make me glad to finally turn the last page was that I could finally step out of the morose atmosphere the author managed to convey throughout the book. It seemed that none of his characters got any joy out of being alive. They all seemed to swim around in secrets and the past. Life just isn't like that for everyone...and while I could probably handle the main character's glum and pessimistic attitude...I couldn't handle every character living in that type of environment with that type of sad mood.