Chapter Two: The Flesh Beneath the Robes
They were men.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPTfF06bfDV
Long before they were priests, they were men.
And inside the whitewashed walls of the convent, when the incense faded and the faithful had gone home—the rituals became routine, and the temptations bled through.
Not every priest was corrupt.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNMs38L0vW1
But not every priest was clean.
Father Ely had long known this. He’d seen it too many times, especially in confession rooms that doubled as therapy booths for his fellow clergy. They came to him not just to confess—but to vent, to justify, to seek forgiveness without change.
“Forgive me, Father, for I slept with another sacristan. He said he was twenty—he wasn’t.”10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7AyejCIZ9k
“Forgive me, Father, I took church money again. Just a little. For my dying mother. And a new iPhone.”10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfVXfufHH2l
“Forgive me, Father, I was in Solaire last night. Baccarat was flowing. So was the wine. I wore my collar under my jacket. It made the waitresses nervous.”
Some were secret drinkers.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfJdZapfpRu
Others had private Grindr accounts under fake names.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT5lh1EKYdj
A few kept women in apartments rented from the university funds.
They joked about it in whispers.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhgBoySJuin
Called themselves the "Brotherhood of Flesh."10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpP7Eg3tsOZ
A mocking nod to the vows they all broke in some way.
They weren’t all predators.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9MMVMJxBIN
But some were.
There was Fr. Lino, soft-spoken, fond of young choir boys. He never touched them—no. But the way his hand lingered on shoulders, the extra-long “spiritual retreats” he scheduled with his favorite boys—everyone knew. But no one reported him.
Because in San Bartolome, you don’t expose a priest.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO9F5fUy5i2
You protect the image, even if it kills the truth.
“We are shepherds,” the Prior once said in a closed-door meeting. “And shepherds must sometimes keep the flock in line—by silence.”
That silence was golden.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡueghL82j7H
It funded casinos.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDvRhcNC2m3
It protected reputations.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6PPRXkVSyR
It buried scandals like corpses under marble floors.
Even Father Ely—the one they called the golden boy—had secrets.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6DPz854DPm
He didn’t touch children. He didn’t steal. He didn’t gamble.
But he was lonely.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlTyJXfaxEJ
Deeply. Quietly.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoqPBWhBP7J
And sometimes that loneliness took the shape of a sin he refused to name aloud.
That was before Ella Martinez walked into the confession room.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCP5OCZNYv3
Before her voice—shaky, soft, braver than most—asked him something that unsettled his soul.
“Father, what happens when you want to believe… but the people of God are the ones hurting you?”
Ely couldn’t answer right away.
Because her voice reminded him of something he buried.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKXfcfmLqzp
Because he, too, once asked that same question—10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0wn8sRkuom
Only difference was… no one answered him.
