Father Chale López

“He knows exactly who and what he is, and accepts it. He’s tough and he gets your measure pretty damn quick. He takes responsibility.” - Eve Dallas, Salvation in Death

López, Father Chale

First appeared in Salvation in Death (May, 2060), mentioned in Promises in Death (May, 2060), Kindred in Death (June, 2060), Indulgence in Death (July, 2060), appeared in Possession in Death (July, 2060), and mentioned in Devoted in Death (mid-January, 2061) and Apprentice in Death (late January, 2061)

Personal Information

• General Description: Compact and muscular, with sad, dark eyes. Peabody calls him “Father Seriously Ripped”
• Place of Birth: Rio Poco, Mexico
• Age: 48 (in May, 2060)
• Eyes: Dark
• Voice: Faintest of accents, an exotic sheen over rough wood.
• Address: Rectory behind St. Cristóbal’s Catholic Church
• Occupation: Catholic Priest

History

• Joined the seminary at age 30.
• Been at St. Cristóbal’s for eight months, since Monsignor Cruz retired.
• Boxed professionally before becoming a priest; welterweight, with a solid 22 wins, 6 of them knockouts.
• He became a priest after his girlfriend, Annamaria, was raped, beaten, and strangled – he spent two years living on the hate with drink and drugs, but after they found the men, his girlfriend came to him in a vision and told him to make a pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of San Juan de los Lagos and bring as an offering a drawing of the Blessed Mother. Once there he realized his life was now for God.

Interesting Facts

• Learned boxing as a youngster to channel his youthful aggression and prevent ass-kickings.
• His father owned a cantina, where he worked while he boxed.
• Three years between dropping out of boxing and joining the seminary.
• Consuela Inez preferred his sermons and Joe was fine with that because they were short.
• Eve suggested that Morris speak with Father López after Amaryllis Coltraine was killed.
• Morris thanked Eve for suggesting he speak with him, telling her he provided comfort to him. Morris called him “a man of unassailable faith, with a flexible mind and limitless compassion.”
• During a barbecue at Eve and Roarke’s house, Morris shared a brew with Father López, “who’d become his friend and counselor.”
• While she was driving him back to St. Cristóbal’s, he let her know most of Morris’s anger had passed, and it also helped that Eve gave Morris earthly justice. She lamented the futility of her work at times: “I wish I could know, even once, that it’s enough.”
• As they were speaking she saw an old woman staggering in the street, lifting her bloody hand to her chest right before she fell off the curb, into the street. He started to give her Last Rites (she was wearing a cross). He saw “a light - such a light. I’ve never seen... then she was gone, and you were...not unconscious, but blank. Just not there for a moment.” He had to pull Eve away so the MTs could get to the woman. Eve acknowledged that she saw, felt, and heard something.
• He stayed to finish giving her Last Rites and to give Peabody a statement before a uniform drove him back to St. Cristóbal’s.
• Eve had him return to assist with Last Rites for the rest of the dead.

YANNI

• Although Father López was introduced with this spelling, most of the subsequent books (Promises, Kindred, Indulgence, and Possession) omit the accent mark and refer to him as “Father Lopez.”