 San Tanco is getting a new parish priest, Father Walter Larson, an old friend of the Reverend Mother s. Father Larson has spent most of his life as an archivist. He is used to being alone with his books, and is not a very social person. His biggest weaknesses are his poor social interaction with people and his speech writing/delivery, weaknesses that he himself realizes. He is terrified by his new duties, the first of which is to give a speech at a banquet dinner. He uses the sisters as guinea pigs; Sister Bertrille admits to him that his speech is the worst she s ever heard. So she asks Carlos to find a writer to liven up the speech. He finds stand-up comedian writer Danny Simms, whose writing style of one-liners does not suit the father s stiff delivery style. So Sister Bertrille asks Carlos to tell the banquet guests, most of whom are his employees, to laugh at the father s speech regardless. The father however decides himself to give his original solemn and stiff speech, the mandated laughter during which makes the situation that much worse. Sister Bertrille and Father Larson apologize to each other, Sister Bertrille for ruining the banquet, and Father Larson for causing Sister Bertrille to weaken to the point of losing faith. Father Larson is ready to leave for good, when Sister Bertrille tells him of her own learning curve of flying. Amazed by the act of the flying itself and by the sister s message, Father Larson decides to stay.