Legion, Part Two

26 August 1997

Last month, the Diocese of Dallas, Texas lost what was apparently a famous lawsuit over sexual misconduct carried out by one of its priests. It seems there are more monsters in robes than I knew. I had not heard about this matter in rural Germany, but the people of South Carolina have. The lack of trust right now has greatly hindered my investigations. When I went to the police department where the last priest had been found after his encounter with the Brood of Nachash to ask what they knew about the assailant, and admitted that I was not associated with a specific local church on being asked, I was detained and questioned about my credentials and mission and knowledge of misconduct for nearly twenty hours. After that, I decided to be more quiet about my work.

I had to abandon my cassock and opt for street clothes in order to accomplish anything, and even then the trail was hard to find. The local diocese knew about my predecessors arriving and beginning their work, but did not receive regular updates that would help me track their location. The non-Catholics in town seemed disinterested at best in the murder of one priest and mutilation of another, and the Catholics were waiting for news of priestly misconduct to die down before they really spoke to anyone about matters of the Church. When I asked the Cardinal for the records of the previous investigation, he informed me that the priest who had been picked up was too traumatized to tell them where his notes were and very few reports had come in. I am on my own, and must retrace the investigation that came before me to find anything.

I believe I'm close, however. The national news suggests that the case in Dallas is not as well-remembered in the rest of the nation as it is here. I suspect someone has used it to encourage animosity toward the Church. My best bet may be to trace that word rather than imitate those who came before me.

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