Chapter 34: All Saints

In the chap­ter “All Saints,” the sto­ry explores themes of moral com­pro­mise, des­per­a­tion, and insti­tu­tion­al dys­func­tion, cen­tered around a fail­ing boys’ home in Iowa dur­ing the bleak eco­nom­ic and social cli­mate of 1933. The home is a des­o­late place, plagued by finan­cial insta­bil­i­ty, neglect, and dis­re­pair, with lit­tle hope of turn­ing its for­tunes around. The bish­op, who reluc­tant­ly over­sees this strug­gling insti­tu­tion, had har­bored ambi­tions of serv­ing a pros­per­ous parish. Instead, he finds him­self tasked with man­ag­ing an estab­lish­ment that has become a sym­bol of insti­tu­tion­al fail­ure, where efforts to secure fund­ing or improve con­di­tions are met with con­sis­tent rejec­tion.

The boys’ home’s dire state is com­pound­ed by its inabil­i­ty to pro­vide even basic edu­ca­tion­al oppor­tu­ni­ties for its wards, fur­ther alien­at­ing poten­tial donors. Tra­di­tion­al Catholic fundrais­ing efforts fail to gen­er­ate sup­port, as bene­fac­tors recoil at the stark real­i­ties of the home’s con­di­tions. This bleak envi­ron­ment leaves the bish­op grap­pling with a seem­ing­ly insur­mount­able chal­lenge, and after years of fruit­less attempts to improve the sit­u­a­tion, des­per­a­tion dri­ves him to con­sid­er dras­tic mea­sures.

Calvin Evans, an orphan known for his intel­li­gence and rebel­lious streak, finds him­self at the cen­ter of the unfold­ing dra­ma. Despite his pen­chant for trou­ble, Calvin’s pres­ence at the home is both a source of frus­tra­tion and an unin­tend­ed cat­a­lyst for change. The arrival of Mr. Wil­son from the Park­er Foun­da­tion presents a glim­mer of oppor­tu­ni­ty. Claim­ing to seek Calvin’s long-lost rel­a­tives, Wilson’s pres­ence sparks a des­per­ate idea in the bish­op. In a moment of moral reck­less­ness, the bish­op fab­ri­cates a sto­ry about Calvin’s death, con­vinc­ing Wil­son of the tragedy. This fab­ri­ca­tion results in a gen­er­ous dona­tion for a memo­r­i­al fund in Calvin’s name, pro­vid­ing the much-need­ed finan­cial relief the home had been seek­ing for years. Unbe­knownst to Calvin, his name and sto­ry have been used as tools in a larg­er scheme of decep­tion.

As events unfold, Rev­erend Wake­ly enters the nar­ra­tive with his own moti­va­tions, seek­ing infor­ma­tion about Calvin for rea­sons not imme­di­ate­ly clear. Wakely’s inter­ac­tion with the bish­op, ini­tial­ly cloaked in civil­i­ty, begins to unrav­el the lay­ers of deceit. The bish­op, hop­ing to secure fur­ther finan­cial aid, reveals snip­pets of Calvin’s his­to­ry, weav­ing more lies into his nar­ra­tive to main­tain the cha­rade. This tan­gled web of false­hoods high­lights the moral ero­sion that can occur when sur­vival takes prece­dence over eth­i­cal prin­ci­ples.

The chap­ter delves into the com­plex­i­ties of insti­tu­tion­al sur­vival and the eth­i­cal dilem­mas faced by those tasked with main­tain­ing fail­ing sys­tems. The bishop’s actions, while osten­si­bly aimed at pre­serv­ing the boys’ home, reveal the cost of pri­or­i­tiz­ing insti­tu­tion­al preser­va­tion over truth and moral­i­ty. His choic­es under­score the des­per­a­tion of a man bur­dened by the weight of an impos­si­ble sit­u­a­tion, forced to nav­i­gate a world where ideals clash with harsh real­i­ties.

The sto­ry also cri­tiques the sys­temic flaws with­in reli­gious insti­tu­tions, where the line between faith and prag­ma­tism often blurs. The bishop’s deci­sion to fab­ri­cate Calvin’s death serves as a poignant com­men­tary on the com­pro­mis­es made in the name of insti­tu­tion­al sur­vival. At the same time, Calvin’s unwit­ting role in the decep­tion reflects the vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty of indi­vid­u­als caught with­in flawed sys­tems, their lives manip­u­lat­ed to serve broad­er agen­das.

Rev­erend Wakely’s involve­ment adds anoth­er lay­er of com­plex­i­ty, as his motives and actions chal­lenge the bishop’s nar­ra­tive, bring­ing the web of deceit clos­er to unrav­el­ing. Wakely’s pres­ence forces the bish­op to con­front the eth­i­cal impli­ca­tions of his choic­es, though the ulti­mate con­se­quences of these actions remain uncer­tain.

By the chapter’s con­clu­sion, the ten­sion between moral integri­ty and the prag­mat­ic need for sur­vival lingers unre­solved. The bishop’s actions, while secur­ing tem­po­rary finan­cial relief, leave a shad­ow over the boys’ home and its future. Calvin’s sto­ry becomes a sym­bol of both the home’s strug­gles and the broad­er soci­etal chal­lenges of nav­i­gat­ing faith, moral­i­ty, and insti­tu­tion­al respon­si­bil­i­ty dur­ing times of cri­sis. This chap­ter offers a poignant explo­ration of the human cost of sys­temic dys­func­tion, paint­ing a vivid pic­ture of the com­plex­i­ties of lead­er­ship, sur­vival, and the endur­ing con­se­quences of eth­i­cal com­pro­mise.