Dark Manna

Father Gerry Gowan, the son of a criminal, also is a priest wrongly accused of embezzling Church funds. In disgrace, he is sent to St Martin's, a rundown parish in a violent, poverty-stricken area the local police refer to as The Swamp. He's bitter about the assignment until he learns that St. Martin's is an outpost of desperately needed social services in an area whose toxic racial mixture is primed to explode.Nothing in his background has prepared him for the urban bloodbath of The Swamp, where the crime rate is the third highest in the nation, gangs engage in open warfare, and less that half the population speaks English.Aside from that, St. Martin's century-old buildings are crumbling. The roofs leak, the furnaces are kaput, winter looms, and the parish is mired in penury. Father Gowan is warned by his bishop to expect no financial aid; the diocese is strapped for cash. Despite the odds, he's determined to save the parish. He tries every legitimate way he can think of...