Bad Catholics Read Free

of call. It’s not as if it makes any sense, not unless he wants people to know he’s back … Yes, that’s what I thought, so I’d be happier with Vic here until we know what’s going on. No sense in taking any chances.’
    George put down the phone and stood for a while. He was beginning to get worried about the health of his old mum. He worried about her sometimes. He didn’t visit her as often as he should and right now he was getting a strong feeling that this was a good time to think about going away and asking after her health.
    Kilburn, December 1952
    In the pre-dawn dark of a cold December day two figures hurried along the empty Kilburn streets, a woman and a young boy. The boy’s skinny legs poked out from the bottom of a long, belted navy-blue mac and on his head was a school cap. The woman also wore a long mac and had a headscarf tied tightly under her chin. The boy had to hop and skip every few steps to keep up with her.
    â€˜Mum, if the Jews don’t believe in Jesus, why won’t they eat pork?’
    The woman sighed. Sometimes she just couldn’t make him out, he said the strangest things.
    â€˜Jimmy, what has believing in Jesus got to do with not eating pork?’
    â€˜Well, yesterday at Sunday Mass Father McGinty was telling us about Jesus putting the demons into the pigs. But if it was Jesus put demons in pigs, then only people who believe in Him wouldn’t eat pigs, and if the Jews don’t believe in Jesus they could eat pork if they wanted, couldn’t they?’
    He was a strange child.
    â€˜Did you work that out for yourself?’
    â€˜Yes, Mum,’ Jimmy said proudly. ‘It means the Jews are wrong, doesn’t it?’
    â€˜Not really. I think Jews didn’t eat pork for a long time before Jesus. It wasn’t because of the pigs in that story. I don’t think Jesus Himself would have eaten pork.’
    â€˜Why not?’
    â€˜Because Jesus was a Jew and the Jews don’t eat pork.’
    â€˜But I thought Jesus was a Catholic, like us.’
    â€˜No, Jesus was a Jew. So were Mary and Joseph.’
    They hurried on in silence. Jimmy thought about it. He didn’t for one minute believe that Jesus was a Jew, or Mary and Joseph. If God was a Catholic then Mary and Joseph had to be Catholics and Jesus was God’s Son so He had to be a Catholic. But he couldn’t accept that his mum could have got things so wrong. That would be just as threatening as the Holy Family not being Catholic. So he did what he always did, he put it away for the time being.
    â€˜When will I be a proper altar server, Mum?’
    â€˜When Mr Slavin says so.’
    â€˜Will it be soon?’
    â€˜It’ll be when Mr Slavin thinks you’re ready.’
    â€˜I nearly know what to do, and I can say a lot of the Latin.’
    His mother intoned the priest’s opening words of the Mass, ‘ Introibo ad altare Dei .’ Jimmy parroted the server’s response, running the meaningless sounds together. ‘ Ad Deum qui laetificat juventutem meam .’
    They smiled at each other.
    â€˜Well done, that was very good.’
    â€˜What did we just say, Mum?’
    â€˜I will go into the altar of God. To God who giveth joy to my youth.’
    He thought about it. Into the altar? The priest didn’t go into the altar, how could he? And Mum wasn’t young, she was old, so what was that about youth? Faith was full of mysteries, he knew that, so he put away the deep mystery of the Mass and moved on.
    â€˜How much longer, Mum? Maybe soon?’
    â€˜Maybe, but serving at Mass is a very great honour, you represent all the people who’d like to be up there with the priest but can’t be. It has to be done well, because you’re not just serving the priest, you’re serving God.’
    They walked on through the wet Monday streets towards the church and the first weekday morning Mass. The dark sky still