''The Bishop's Man'' is a novel by

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

writer

Linden MacIntyre Linden Joseph MacIntyre (born May 29, 1943) is a Canadian journalist, broadcaster and novelist. He has won ten Gemini Awards, an International Emmy and numerous other awards for writing and journalistic excellence, including the 2009 Scotiabank G ...

, published in August 2009. The story follows a

Roman Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in common English usage ''priest'' re ...

and former fixer for the

Diocese of Antigonish The Diocese of Antigonish () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Catholic Church in Nova Scotia, Canada. Its current diocesan ordinary is Wayne Joseph Kirkpatrick. History The Diocese was established on 22 September ...

named Fr. Duncan MacAskill. After years of quietly resolving potential scandals involving the misdeeds of Diocesan priests, Fr. MacAskill has been assigned by his Bishop to a remote parish on

Cape Breton Island Cape Breton Island (, formerly '; or '; ) is a rugged and irregularly shaped island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18.7% of Nova Scotia's total area. Although ...

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

and ordered to maintain a low profile. MacIntyre, a native of Cape Breton, released the novel amidst the ongoing sexual abuse scandal in Antigonish diocese in Nova Scotia. The book was awarded the 2009

Scotiabank Giller Prize The Giller Prize (known as the Scotiabank Giller Prize from 2005-2023) is a literary award given to a Canadian author of a novel or short story collection published in English (including translation) the previous year, after an annual juried c ...

and the

Canadian Booksellers Association The Canadian Booksellers Association (CBA) is an organization that promotes and advocates for Canadian booksellers, publishers and authors. Its membership is open to bookstore owners and "affiliated stakeholders" like authors and publishers. The org ...

's Fiction Book of the Year. Critics gave positive reviews, especially noting MacIntyre's complex and successful character development.

Background

''The Bishop's Man'' was

second novel. His previous novel, ''The Long Stretch'', which was published ten years earlier, in 1999. At the time of the new novel's publication author

was 66 years old and living in Toronto with his wife, and fellow journalist and author,

Carol Off Carol Off (born 1954/1955) is a Canadian journalist, commentator, and author formerly associated with CBC Television and CBC Radio. Early life Off was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1954 or 1955. She moved to Ottawa at ten years old and later ...

. MacIntyre was working at

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...

where he had been the co-host of '' the fifth estate'' since 1990. Both ''The Long Stretch'' and ''The Bishop's Man'' were set on

where MacIntyre lived as a child. As a child, MacIntyre was raised by an Irish-Catholic mother and attended church regularly where the local priest inspired him to consider entering the priesthood. LindenMacIntyreMay2008

''The Bishop's Man'' was published at the same time as a $15 million settlement was reached in the sexual abuse scandal in Antigonish diocese in

. Evidence later emerged that the principal offender, Bishop Raymond Lahey may have similarly assumed the role of a fixer during the

sexual abuse scandal in St. John's archdiocese Several cases of sexual abuse in St. John's archdiocese have been reported, starting in 1988. It is an important chapter in the series of Catholic sexual abuse scandal in Canada, clerical abuse affairs that occurred in the dioceses of Canada. Jame ...

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...

in 1989 when he served under then-archbishop

Alphonsus Liguori Penney Archbishop Alphonsus Liguori Penney (17 September 1924 – 12 December 2017) was a Canadian Catholic priest who was Archbishop of St. John's from 1979 to 1991. He was born in St. John's, Newfoundland. Sexual abuse scandal The Winter Commission ...

. ''The Bishop's Man'' is one of the first cultural depictions of the Catholic sexual abuse emerging after the scandal. The term ''bishop's man'' has two possible meanings in an

ecclesiastical {{Short pages monitor