"God is very important during times like these," Priest said in a pious tone. His large hands came together as the fingers steepled, and he added, "He can't make the lights come back on, but he can make the darkness a little easier to bear, yes?"
He was annoying her somehow, and he wasn't sure of why. He was a good reader of people, had had to be to get along in his home diocese, and this young lady found him either tiring or tedious or both. It was common among the young to find religion boring, which was why he always tried to give lively sermons - if for no other reason than to keep them from falling asleep in the pews - but something had gone amiss here.
"Now that the cold months are almost upon us I've no doubt that I'll lose a few souls on Sunday," he told her with a faintly reproving expression. Not directed at her, per se, just as the general idea that the church wouldn't be as full. "People will be preparing for harsh weather, laying in supplies and battening down the hatches at their homes. Does this place see as much snow as New York during winter?"