Absolute Truths. Susan Howatch

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ kind which exists in human relationships. Don’t tell me suffering doesn’t matter! All this liberal-radical blindness to pain makes me sick …

      ‘And talking of sexual sin, I’ve got an appalling problem which has just blown up concerning Desmond Wilton – remember me telling you about Desmond who was booted out of the London diocese after a lavatory disaster? Well, it now turns out that Desmond’s been keeping pornography again, and that ghastly woman Dido Aysgarth’s going around bleating about …’ I outlined the Desmond fiasco. ‘… and the oddest thing happened this morning after I’d returned home from the hospital,’ I said, as the cat put both paws on Jon’s chest and gazed up at him adoringly. ‘Just as I was worrying about finding a suitable locum, this extraordinary priest turns up – early forties, divorced, quite obviously big trouble – and tells me not only that he’s willing to be an Anglo-Catholic locum but that he’s set on muscling his way into my diocese to start a healing centre! Imagine that – a shady wonder-worker on the loose! But do you know what I do? Do I say “no thanks” and dismiss him in double-quick time? No, I don’t! I tell him to come back for another interview! How could I conceivably have been so soft and stupid? The only possible answer is that the Desmond crisis had temporarily deranged me, because of course I can’t possibly do what he wants, it’s out of the question. He says he’s a celibate, but he’s exactly the sort of priest who’d have a sex-life on the quiet when he wasn’t cavorting around exuding charisms in a cassock.

      ‘It’s all Desmond’s fault. If he hadn’t upset me so much – yes, yes, yes, I know he couldn’t help being the victim of random violence, I know I mustn’t be angry with him, but I was so shattered by that pornography – I mean, what can one do with a priest who keeps that sort of stuff, what can one do? Obviously he’ll have to go away and have the appropriate treatment, but I can’t take him back, I just can’t, it’s too much of a risk, and anyway I have to keep up the standards among my clergy, I can’t tolerate that sort of behaviour, it’s letting the side down in the biggest possible way, it’s too devastating for the Church. So I’ll have to sack him, but oh, the strain of it all, the sheer hell of being a bishop sometimes – it all makes me wish yet again that I’d never left Cambridge – all right, I know Cambridge was a narrow, backbiting community in some ways, but I could always escape there into my histories of the Early Church, and here I can’t escape, I hardly ever get the time to write about Hippolytus and Callistus, and I just get angrier and angrier with all these frightful people who seem determined to drive me completely up the wall … Jon, stop making love to that cat and SAY SOMETHING, for heaven’s sake, before I have an apoplectic fit and drop dead!’

      Jon carefully set the cat down on the floor. Then he looked me straight in the eyes and said one word. It was: ‘Forgive.’

      ‘Oh good heavens …’ I had been sitting on the edge of my chair but now I sank back against the upholstery with a groan. ‘It’s all very well for you to say that! You’re a hermit, but I’m out there in the real world and I just can’t afford –’

      ‘Christianity is, of course, a very costly religion,’ said Jon, ‘but I’m sorry to hear you’re finding it too expensive.’

      I groaned again, but in fact I welcomed this austere rebuke, found it bracing – as Jon had known I would. I needed a strong rod to flog me out of the pit of despair. A flimsy switch would have been of no use at all.

      I took a deep breath. The boil had been lanced and the time had come to apply some antiseptic ointment. Calmer now that I had expelled my anger I began my attempt to regard my problems with detachment.

      ‘Very well,’ I said, ‘we’ll set Desmond aside for the moment. There’s a hellish interview in store for me there but at present my task is simply to be a good pastor and ensure he’s properly looked after. I suppose I might just manage to achieve that if I can stop being so self-centred that all I think about is not Desmond’s welfare but my own discomfort. And we’ll set aside the wonder-worker for the moment too; if I employ him as a locum it doesn’t commit me to any fantastic scheme for a healing centre. The really intractable problem is – as usual – Aysgarth. What on earth do I do about that drunken menace at the Deanery?’

      Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

      Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

      Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

      Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.

/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAgEBLAEsAAD/4QEuRXhpZgAATU0AKgAAAAgABwESAAMAAAABAAEAAAEaAAUA AAABAAAAYgEbAAUAAAABAAAAagEoAAMAAAABAAIAAAExAAIAAAAUAAAAcgEyAAIAAAAUAAAAhodp AAQAAAABAAAAnAAAAMgAAAEsAAAAAQAAASwAAAABQWRvYmUgUGhvdG9zaG9wIDcuMAAyMDEyOjA1 OjEzIDA3OjI4OjE3AAAAAAOgAQADAAAAAf//AACgAgAEAAAAAQAAAkygAwAEAAAAAQAAAxsAAAAA AAAABgEDAAMAAAABAAYAAAEaAAUAAAABAAABFgEbAAUAAAABAAABHgEoAAMAAAABAAIAAAIBAAQA AAABAAABJgICAAQAAAABAAAAAAAAAAAAAABIAAAAAQAAAEgAAAAB/+0FtFBob3Rvc2hvcCAzLjAA OEJJTQQlAAAAAAAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADhCSU0D7QAAAAAAEAEsAAAAAQABASwAAAABAAE4 QklNBCYAAAAAAA4AAAAAAAAAAAAAP4AAADhCSU0EDQAAAAAABAAAAB44QklNBBkAAAAAAAQAAAAe OEJJTQPzAAAAAAAJAAAAAAAAAAABADhCSU0ECgAAAAAAAQAAOEJJTScQAAAAAAAKAAEAAAAAAAAA AThCSU0D9QAAAAAASAAvZmYAAQBsZmYABgAAAAAAAQAvZmYAAQChmZoABgAAAAAAAQAyAAAAAQBa AAAABgAAAAAAAQA1AAAAAQAtAAAABgAAAAAAAThCSU0D+AAAAAAAcAAA//////////////////// /////////wPoAAAAAP////////////////////////////8D6AAAAAD///////////////////// ////////A+gAAAAA/////////////////////////////wPoAAA4QklNBAgAAAAAABAAAAABAAAC QAAAAkAAAAAAOEJJTQQeAAAAAAAEAAAAADhCSU0EGgAAAAADWwAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAxsAAAJM AAAAEwA5ADcAOAAwADAAMAA3ADMAOQA2ADMANwA1AF8AQwBvAHYAZQByAAAAAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAABAAAAAAAAAAAAAAJMAAADGwAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAABAAAAABAAAAAAAAbnVsbAAAAAIAAAAGYm91bmRzT2JqYwAAAAEAAAAAAABSY3QxAAAABAAA AABUb3AgbG9uZwAAAAAAAAAATGVmdGxvbmcAAAAAAAAAAEJ0b21sb25nAAADGwAAAABSZ2h0bG9u ZwAAAkwAAAAGc2xpY2VzVmxMcwAAAAFPYmpjAAAAAQAAAAAABXNsaWNlAAAAEgAAAAdzbGljZUlE bG9uZwAAAAAAAAAHZ3JvdXBJRGxvbmcAAAAAAAAABm9yaWdpbmVudW0AAAAMRVNsaWNlT3JpZ2lu AAAADWF1dG9HZW5lcmF0ZWQAAAAAVHlwZWVudW0AAAAKRVNsaWNlVHlwZQAAAABJbWcgAAAABmJv dW5kc09iamMAAAABAAAAAAAAUmN0MQAAAAQAAAAAVG9wIGxvbmcAAAAAAAAAAExlZnRsb25nAAAA AAAAAABCdG9tbG9uZwAAAxsAAAAAUmdodGxvbmcAAAJMAAAAA3VybFRFWFQAAAABAAAAAAAAbnVs bFRFWFQAAAABAAAAAAAATXNnZVRFWFQAAAABAAAAAAAGYWx0VGFnVEVYVAAAAAEAAAAAAA5jZWxs VGV4dElzSFRNTGJvb2wBAAAACGNlbGxUZXh0VEVYVAAAAAEAAAAAAAlob3J6QWxpZ25lbnVtAAAA D0VTbGljZUhvcnpBbGlnbgAAAAdkZWZhdWx0AAAACXZlcnRBbGlnbmVudW0AAAAPRVNsaWNlVmVy dEFsaWduAAAAB2RlZmF1bHQAAAALYmdDb2xvclR5cGVlbnVtAAAAEUVTbGljZUJHQ29sb3JUeXBl AAAAAE5vbmUAAAAJdG9wT3V0c2V0bG9uZwAAAAAAAAAKbGVmdE91dHNldGxvbmcAAAAAAAAADGJv dHRvbU91dHNldGxvbmcAAAAAAAAAC3JpZ2h0T3V0c2V0bG9uZwAAAAAAOEJJTQQRAAAAAAABAQA4 QklNBBQAAAAAAAQAAAABOEJJTQQhAAAAAABVAAAAAQEAAAAPAEEAZABvAGIAZQAgAFAAaABvAHQA bwBzAGgAbwBwAAAAEwBBAGQAbwBiAGUAIABQAGgAbwB0AG8AcwBoAG8AcAAgADcALgAwAAAAAQA4 QklNBAYAAAAAAAcACAAAAAEBAP/hEkhodHRwOi8vbnMuYWRvYmUuY29tL3hhcC8xLjAvADw/eHBh Y2tldCBiZWdpbj0n77u/JyBpZD0nVzVNME1wQ2VoaUh6cmVTek5UY3prYzlkJz8+Cjw/YWRvYmUt eGFwLWZpbHRlcnMgZXNjPSJDUiI/Pgo8eDp4YXBtZXRhIHhtbG5zOng9J2Fkb2JlOm5zOm1ldGEv JyB4OnhhcHRrPSdYTVAgdG9vbGtpdCAyLjguMi0zMywgZnJhbWV3b3JrIDEuNSc+CjxyZGY6UkRG IHhtbG5zOnJkZj0naHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMTk5OS8wMi8yMi1yZGYtc3ludGF4LW5zIycg eG1sbnM6aVg9J2h0dHA6Ly9ucy5hZG9iZS5jb20vaVgvMS4wLyc+CgogPHJkZjpEZXNjcmlwdGlv biBhYm91dD0ndXVpZDpmY2MzNmRhMi05YzllLTExZTEtYmE0My1mYTY3MzllZGU4OWQnCiAgeG1s bnM6eGFwTU09J2h0dHA6Ly9ucy5hZG9iZS5jb20veGFwLzEuMC9tbS8nPgogIDx4YXBNTTpEb2N1 bWVudElEPmFkb2JlOmRvY2lkOnBob3Rvc2hvcDpmY2MzNmRhMS05YzllLTExZTEtYmE0My1mYTY3 MzllZGU4OWQ8L3hhcE1NOkRvY3VtZW50SUQ+CiA8L3JkZjpEZXNjcmlwdGlvbj4KCjwvcmRm СКАЧАТЬ