Father Grace sat at his kitchen table with his head in his hands. The cup of tea he had made just before he received the phone call lay cold and untouched in front of him.
Deep down, the priest had always known that this day might come, but it was still a shock now that it had finally arrived.
Part of him felt as if he was being nudged towards retirement, but the thought of living out the rest of his days in one of the many retirement homes designated for priests, with no flock to preach to and having to spend each day listening to the bitter resentment spewed out by his fellow alumni who had also been dumped in the same position before they felt that they had served out their time, was not a predicament he felt he wanted to embrace.
The alternative which had been presented to him was b
