The Cardinal and the Crook

The candles were kept in the storage area in the basement of the church. John entered the church and walked down the steps from the vestibule. He unlocked the storage closet and picked up the candle. As he was closing the closet door, he thought he heard someone crying. It seemed to be coming from the opposite side of the basement, where there was another set of stairs leading to the sacristy of the church. As he got closer to these stairs, the cries became even louder. Then he heard someone in a pitiful voice cry, “Oh . . . oh, dear God, please help me . . . help me! I don’t know what to do!”

When John arrived at the bottom of the stairs, he was shocked to see Brian Andrews. The boy was sitting halfway up the stairs. His face was buried in his lap, and he was crying uncontrollably. John quickly leaped up the stairs, placed his hand on the boy’s shoulder, and asked, “Brian . . . Brian, what is it? What’s happened, son? Are you hurt?”

The boy looked up at the priest. He seemed both stunned and frightened. His eyes were filled with tears as he stammered, “I-I can’t . . . can’t tell you. He said that I couldn’t tell you or my parents . . . He said that if I did . . . something really, really terrible would happen to you or to them.”

Now, John was extremely concerned and confused. He could see that Brian was terribly upset and frightened. He could not imagine what the boy was talking about. Intuitively, John knew that he had to be extremely sensitive and patient in asking the boy questions. So, he sat down next to Brian and handed him a handkerchief. He patted the boy’s back and just sat quietly with him for several minutes. Eventually, the boy stopped crying and just stared into space. That’s when John decided to speak.

“Brian, I’m not sure what’s wrong, but I’m here to help you. Absolutely nothing is going to happen to me if you tell me. I heard your prayer to God. You asked him to help you. Well, he listened to you and sent me. His  Holy Spirit is with us right now. He is watching over us and protecting us. So, you can talk to me.”

Brian turned to the priest and then slowly and painfully revealed everything that had occurred.