The Collaborator

By Mitchell Hadley

In a provocative story that reflects today’s headlines, the Catholic Church is at a crossroads, beset by scandal, controversy and shrinking congregations. A wildly popular new Pontiff promises reforms designed to focus on inclusion, social justice and modernization. He is opposed by the powerful Prefect, a Cardinal dedicated to preserving the traditional teaching of the Church, who fears the Pontiff’s plans will destroy the Church. Their inevitable confrontation is brought to a head by a Journalist’s investigation that uncovers a story of ambition, loss, deceit and more. Mitchell Hadley’s disturbing new novel takes readers from the backstage politics of the Vatican to the world of dictators and rebels, and is sure to stir controversy on both sides of the debate.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Throckmorton Press LLC
• Release date: Nov 16, 2015
• ISBN: 9780692568996

Mitchell Hadley

MITCHELL HADLEY is a writer, social critic and cultural commentator, and has followed the Vatican scene for over a decade. He and his wife live in Irving, Texas. His author website, where you can read more of his writing, is www.mitchellhadley.com.

Book preview

The Collaborator

Mitchell Hadley

T H R O C K

MORTON

P R E S S

T H R O C K

MORTON

P R E S S

THROCKMORTON PRESS LLC

DALLAS

Copyright © 2015 by Mitchell D. Hadley

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof

may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever

without the express written permission of the publisher

except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Printed in the United States of America

Scripture quotations are from The Catholic Edition of the

Revised Standard Version of the Bible, © 1965, 1966 by

the Division of Christian Education of the National Council

of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.

Used by permission. All rights reserved.

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, events, locales, or words and phrases appearing in real life, is purely coincidental and is not meant to suggest an alternate truth or exposition of behind-the-scenes facts.

Cover design by Linda Bryant

Author photo by J.A. McKinney

First Printing, 2015

ISBN: 978-0-692-55597-2 (Paperback) 978-0-692-56899-6 (eBook)

Throckmorton Press LLC

6445 Love Drive, Suite 2112

Dallas, TX 75039

May be the devil, and the devil hath power

T' assume a pleasing shape. Yea, and perhaps

Out of my weakness and my melancholy,

As he is very potent with such spirits,

Abuses me to damn me. I’ll have grounds

More relative than this. The play’s the thing

Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king.

Hamlet, Act II, Scene 2

PROLOGUE

In the beginning was the word,

and it is the word that tells the story. Out of the darkness they come, one after another into focus, and as the image sharpens the story begins.

RADICAL CHANGES SEEN IN WAKE OF

PAPAL ELECTION

A NEW POPE CALLS FOR A NEW CHURCH

EARLY INDICATIONS POINT TO LEFTWARD SHIFT IN CATHOLIC CHURCH

IT’S ALL ON THE TABLE

VATICAN SPOKESMAN SAYS

TODAY’S CHURCH: OUT WITH THE OLD,

IN WITH THE NEW

Quick cut to a montage of faces and voices on the video screen, all of them charged with the thrill of excitement:

A Retired Woman:

We talk about the pope just about every time we have dinner. He is the poor man’s pope. He does his own thing. He’s a more normal, down-to-earth person, and he seems connected with the people. There’s no flamboyance.

A Female College Student:

It just feels like the church is now focusing on what I think is important and less on political issues. I think what’s important is reducing poverty, helping the homeless and children who have been given up for adoptions and other at-risk populations, as opposed to fighting against gay marriage and abortion and contraception. He’s doing a good job bringing the right things back into focus, and that has certainly changed the way I feel about my church.

A Middle-Aged Man:

He’s more open than all the other popes. He’s taken a more liberal turn and I think that’s wonderful. I think that’s a good direction for the Catholic faith. It makes the church more relevant for our times.

A Young Male Professional:

The church’s teachings have gotten too strict over the years. It needs to change with the times and to fit people’s lives better. I think he might understand this and might be bringing the Catholic faith into the 21st century. He’s taking the church back in the direction it should have been on.

A Female Executive:

This particular pope makes me hopeful because of how in touch he is with reality and the challenges of the modern world. He is open-minded, inclusive, and seems to be the perfect vehicle to bring millions back into the Catholic faith. Seeing him here was one of the greatest moments of my life.

The image fades out, replaced by a scene of thousands of people, jammed into a single space. In the foreground the silhouette of a man, slightly hunched over and with rounded shoulders. We hear the echoes of the crowd cheering and shouting Viva il Papa! then, as the cheers die down, he begins to speak:

Pontiff:

My dear brothers and sisters,

in this conflict that we face today,

we, the Church, must be like the Good Samaritan,

treating the sick and the injured in a world

that has grown ill over the years.

We must put aside our differences,

and concentrate on those things which we have in common.

After all, our differences are not so very important.

We must not let what we think we believe in

get in the way of what we must do.

So let us put aside our doctrine,

cast away the vestiges of the past,

and come to the heart of the matter – the heart that once beat inside a man

and still beats there today.

Without judgment,

without favor,

without talk of concepts such as sin,

but with only the love that beats inside that heart.

We must be more than imitators of Christ,

we must be collaborators with Him

in healing this sick, sick world.

As he concludes, the light is extinguished, the silhouette fades, and everything gradually darkens.

ACT ONE

All the world's a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;

They have their exits and their entrances,

And one man in his time plays many parts,

His acts being seven ages.

As You Like It, Act II, Scene 7

SCENE ONE

If the playwright’s words are true,

then it is appropriate that we adopt the conventions of a play in order to tell our story. So imagine, if you will, a stage in a semi-lit theater. The theater could be anywhere; the time could be any time. Let us say that the time is now, and the place is wherever you may happen to be as you read these words.

On stage right we see a desk: large, sturdy, but without excessive ornamentation. The chair behind the desk is likewise simple, suitable for a man of medium height and slightly heavier than normal build. A door is cut into the wall to its right.

Facing the desk is a single wingback chair. Next to the chair is a wooden table, the type one might use to set down a glass of water or a stack of papers. An Oriental rug fills the space in front of the desk, and various religious images are seen on the wall. A hand-carved Crucifix hangs overlooking the desk; a bookcase holds a modest collection of books. This is the Papal study at Castel Gandolfo, the summer residence of the Pontiff, the place to which he and his staff retreat during the heat that envelopes Rome in August and early September.

On stage left, a much smaller area is shrouded in shadow. In the darkness one can still make out a grouping of chairs that can be arranged singularly or paired together, allowing one or several people to talk to each other or the audience. Furniture of indeterminate style, adaptable to multiple uses, completes the Spartan setting. It is, one might say, the Theater of Dreams, the place where flashbacks occur, where a character’s thoughts might be played out. As such, because we are often merely witnesses to our memories, it is proper that the set has been positioned within sight of the occupants in the Papal study, for in the end we really are nothing more than observers of our own past histories.

Between the two sets, just to the left center of the stage, stands a large rectangle, reaching down to the floor and covered by white curtains. Architecturally, this is the window where the Pontiff appears each Sunday to pray the Angelus and bless the adoring crowds that gather for a glimpse of him as they listen to his inspirational words. For us, however, this particular window serves another purpose, doubling as a video screen on which one might see an excerpt from a television broadcast, a series of still pictures, or other images, projected on the white curtains, serving to underscore a point being made by those on stage, or adding context to the situation.

But now: enough with the words of explanation. It is time for the story to begin.

The lights rise. From stage right we see an elderly man, walking with a slight stoop, entering the room.

Never in all my years have I seen things change so much, so fast.

These are the words the

Housekeeper

would say out loud, if there was anyone there to hear them. As it is, the words come to him anyway each day that he walks into this room. Always it is the same thought.

The last few months have been a whirlwind of activity, and things have not slowed down just because the Pontiff and his staff have finally arrived at Castel Gandolfo for the summer. Indeed, the Pontiff maintains the same schedule he had in Rome: meeting with his advisors on a weekly basis, giving his Sunday Angelus address, going outside to engage the tourists and the faithful, invariably resulting in one of the seemingly endless photo opportunities that have saturated the media ever since the Conclave.

From the first moment of his pontificate the world could sense that there was something different about him. He appeared on the balcony of St. Peter’s, shorn of all ornamental vestments save the white cassock that he would now wear for the rest of his life, looking overwhelmed by the noise and clamor greeting his surprise election after only one day of deliberations. Looking into the blinding lights set up for the worldwide television coverage, with the strobes from the photographers’ cameras flashing over and over, he blinked and looked very much like an animal caught in the lights of an oncoming car. Subsequent events, however, have shown him to be anything but.

Wherever he has gone, whether crossing continents to other countries or crossing oceans to new shores, the turnouts have been immense. The people swallow up his entourage, reaching out for him, seeking a touch, a smile, a blessing. They are male and female, young and old, people of means and those with little more than the clothes on their back. They see the man in white, and in him they find hope.

Magazines name him their Person of the Year. Television commentators proclaim his a new way of addressing the world’s hotspots. A renowned statesman announces his intention to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize. Internet commentators debate his words, parse his statements, and assume either their greatest desires or their worst fears. Politicians tremble at the force of his words, and the way they resonate with the people. Before long, rumors of miracles begin to spread: bodies healed, diseases cured, hopes restored.

Soon, The New Openness becomes a catchphrase to describe this new Pontiff. His promise to change the ways of the Church are hailed by those reformers who see him as one of their own, the final implementation of the post-Conciliar era, part of a movement which has fallen in and out of favor during the course of a generation. Others hear those same words and calculate how this new way will affect their status, their influence, their place of power and prestige.

The Princes of the Church, the cardinals who had chosen him in the Conclave, are not immune to such speculation. Despite their exalted status, they are made up of hopes and doubts, like any other men who bleed when they are cut and laugh when they are tickled, and their conversations are increasingly filled with intense speculation on how the changes will affect them and the Church. For some, especially the eight cardinals from around the world who have been chosen by the Pontiff to form his College of Counselors, the future became a bright one. They will assist in the implementation of The New Openness, and their influence will command new respect from their colleagues. Others, veterans of the Curia who in past days have wielded power that caused others to tremble, now tremble themselves with apprehension that their days in Rome are numbered. Their whispered conversations take place in forgotten corridors and behind pillars.

There is sure to be a battle, the Housekeeper thinks; there is no question of that. The only issue to be determined is who will come out on top. As for the answer to that, the Housekeeper would not bet against the man dressed in white.

His reverie is interrupted by the entrance of a young priest, stage left. He is the Pontiff’s personal

Secretary

.

Secretary

: (Humorously) Daydreaming again are we, Antonio?

Housekeeper

: (With a start, then smiles) Just thinking, Padre. One cannot rest when one is in this room, you know? The energy, even when he is not here…

Secretary

: (Laughing) Tell me about it. You should see the energy when he is in here! It infects all of us – whether we like it or not! I fear we’re in for another busy day today.

Housekeeper

: (Quietly, turning serious) He’s coming today, isn’t he?

Secretary

: (Nodding) Yes. Sometimes I don’t know how the Holy Father is able to put up with him.

Housekeeper

: Given the Prefect’s age, he shouldn’t have to do so for much longer.

Secretary

: Now, now, you shouldn’t think such thoughts, Antonio.

Housekeeper

: I’m sorry, Padre. It’s just that he always seems so severe, you know? For some reason, whenever he appears I always feel as if I’m back in school, and he’s about to scold me! There seems to be no love of life in him, you know? (Shrugs) But then, that is how his people are. They do not have la dolce vita there!

Secretary

: Actually, Antonio, he’s quite different when you get him away from the office. I’ve been with him at gatherings when he’s more relaxed, when the pressure of his job isn’t present. He’s really quite charming in those settings. He has a very dry sense of humor. Not at all what you would expect.

Housekeeper

: I wish he would show that side here, then! Perhaps he would find that he has more friends.

Secretary

: Don’t be too hard on the Prefect, Antonio. He takes his job very seriously. Even though he and the Holy Father do not agree on many things, His Holiness has been grateful for the advice. (Pauses) And he has many friends, Antonio. Do not forget