William Kienzle: Man Who Loved God

His brother looked up brightly. “Have we got some stories to tell you!

More than he could express, Father Tully deeply appreciated this farewell dinner.

This was by no means his first send-off celebration. In his twenty years as, in effect, a missionary priest, he had periodically been transferred from parish to parish.

Such priestly passages could prove financially rewarding, as soon-to-be-former parishioners sponsored a party at which gifts were given. But congregations in parishes serviced by a Josephite priest usually could afford only gifts of prayer and affection-actually sufficient for just about any truly dedicated priest.

This evening’s leave-taking was especially significant because the participants were those with whom Father Tully had bonded to varying degrees in his brief stay in Detroit.

There was Father Koesler, back from vacation and eager to get back to the helm of his parish. Inspector Koznicki and his wife, Wanda, were the hosts. Rounding out the company was Lieutenant Tully-the brother who had become a brother-and Anne Marie, who was all a real sister should be.

The dinner bore Wanda’s hallmark: good plain food prepared and served with love. As the clambakers in Carousel sang, “The vittles we et were good, you bet/The company was the same.” Throughout, all joined in the conversation, which was, by turns, warm, witty, thoughtful, and stimulating.

When eventually the plates were empty, still no one made a move to leave the table, which was being cleared by Wanda and Anne Marie, assisted by the lumbering Walt Koznicki. Dessert and coffee were coming up.

Father Koesler had been surprised, indeed amazed, that his standin had been involved in a murder investigation. Was such clerical assistance in police work, he wondered, endemic to St. Joe’s? Or was it just to a Koesler pastorate?

It must, he decided, be the latter. For in succeeding parishes, Father Koesler had been involved in this sort of thing almost as an annual adventure. And here was Father Zachary Tully at a Koesler parish for only a few days and, voila! in a mystery up to his collar.

So much had been going on with Tom Adams and Jack Fradet and the Adams Bank people, as well as with the police and the prosecutor’s office, that Koesler had a lot of lingering questions. With the table clearing causing a temporary lull in the conversation, he was finally able to get a question in. “What puzzles me most about all this excitement that’s been going on in my absence is this business of equating Mrs. Ulrich’s killer with the father of the child. I thought that a pretty good motive-”

“And in the light of that-” Father Tully interrupted.

“Yes,” Koesler plowed on, “in the light of that, why would you reject that theory simply because Mr. Adams admitted that he was the child’s father, but claimed not to have killed the mother? Why in the world did you believe him? True, he acknowledged paternity … but wouldn’t most criminals deny the major crimes they commit while admitting the minor ones? I know you were eventually proven correct. But what-a lucky guess? Blind trust in Mr. Adams?”

Father Tully looked as if he’d hit a home run in Tiger Stadium on his birthday. “Thank you for finally asking that question, Father Koesler. I’ve been dying to explain. But I’d like to explain it in the form of a game.”

“Really!” Lieutenant Tully protested, all the while smiling at his brother.

“Humor me,” Father Tully said. “I’ve got the perfect cast of characters for this game right here and now. Playing against each other will be Father Koesler and my brother.

“Now, I’m going to tell you a story. Neither of you may interrupt me. Hear me out and then tell me the identity of the rich man.”

By this time the dessert and coffee had been served.

“Okay” Father Tully commenced, after first taking a sip of coffee. “The rich man in this story is also very powerful. What separates him from most other rich and powerful men is his love of God. He religiously kept the first half of the great commandment to love the Lord God with all his strength and with all his mind and heart. He wasn’t always strong on the second part of the commandment-that being to love all others in like manner. But he was outstanding in his love of God. It was a love that could prove costly to him. But he would meet that cost to maintain, demonstrate, and prove this love of God.”

Zoo was smiling. Koesler was not.

“In the course of giving himself generously to God, he angered his wife. Every chance she got she scolded him because he was, in her eyes, making a fool of himself for his God.

“The result was not pleasant for him-or for either of them, for that matter. The man was forced to choose between getting respect from his wife or giving to God. Loving God as he did, the man had no real choice-and his wife had no chance at all: she was cast aside.

“Now, enter into the rich man’s life a woman of outstanding beauty. In addition, she was extremely effective in the art of seduction. After shedding his wife, the rich man had a definite gap in his life. He filled that gap with the very willing, beautiful woman.

“The fact that the woman was married to a man in the service of the rich man made no difference: passion was the undisputed winner. As a matter of fact, the married man himself was so dedicated to the rich man’s service that he had no time for his own wife.

“Then the wife became pregnant. The rich man had to be the father. Her husband had not had relations with her for months.

“The rich man tried to get the married man and his wife back together. But the married man would have none of it.”

Now Father Koesler was smiling. Good, thought Father Tully; both his brother and Koesler had solved the mystery at exactly the proper time for each.

“Now the rich man managed to place the married man in harm’s way. And in that place of peril, the married man was killed.”

“Now,” Father Tully concluded, “who is the rich man?”

“David,” said Father Koesler.

“David! Who the hell is David?” exclaimed Zoo. “The rich man is Tom Adams!”

“He’s both,” Father Tully said.

“Both!” Koesler and Zoo said simultaneously.

“Father Koesler is talking about King David-in the Old Testament,” Father Tully explained, mostly for his brother’s benefit. “He fits perfectly the description of the rich man in my story. He loves God totally. In a ceremony welcoming the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem, King David programs a massive celebration, during which, as the Bible says, David, nearly naked, ‘dances with abandon before the Lord.’

“His wife, Michal, ‘despised him in her heart.’ When David gets home, Michal makes fun of his behavior in showing his love of God so completely. So David dumps Michal.

“Compare that to Tom Adams, whose generosity to the Church is his way of showing his love of God. His wife gets angry with him for giving away so much money. So he divorces his wife.

“Later, when Israel is at war, David is taking an evening stroll on the roof of his palace. On the roof of a nearby home, an outstandingly beautiful woman named Bathsheba is bathing. She doesn’t seem to be a woman of much reserve.

“When her husband, Uriah, is off at war, Bathsheba and David get it on, as I believe they say nowadays. Bathsheba finds herself pregnant. Uriah can’t be the father; he hasn’t been home in months.

“David calls Uriah back from the battle lines, gets him drunk and tells him to go home, that his wife misses him. But keeping faith with his comrades in arms still in the trenches, Uriah instead spends the night on the cold, hard floor of David’s palace.