HOTR on Whiskey Priesthood

We said, when we should have done. We were what the Irish called whiskey priests. We knew what was right. We just didn’t do it. But then one day, for reasons no one has yet figured out, we decided to do instead of say. Now these people who lie here, they want you to do, to live, and to be, in whatever strength or weakness or joy or sadness or triumph or failure or just plain life comes to be your lot. For over a century long past, some very evil people conspired to make sure that you would never have that chance, that a white girl like you would never even exist in this year. But like you said, we beat the bastards.

--"The Hill of the Ravens", pg 329-330