Thoughts about the conclusion of Morte d'Urban

The concluding chapters of J.F. Powers's Morte d'Urban (1962) feel a little rushed - and looking back it's astonishing how little information we receive across the course of this novel, tightly focused on the life (not the death) of Father Urban, about his background and early life - but the closing chapters do include important and dramatic events: First, at last Father Urban stands up to his wealthy benefactor, the nasty, self-centered Billy Cosgrove, and their relationship breaks apart (I won't give away the details of this excellent passage); second, the unconventional daughter of his other benefactor tries to seduce him, unsuccessfully - this scene would have been better had the woman played a larger role in the novel up to this point. This attempted-seduction scene hits a highlight, as the woman notes that Father U does not have any friends, which seems to hit the mark, and causes him ponder - in a several powerful and significant pages of prose - about what his life would have been like had he not joined the Church - this section is painful and completely believable and in fact we never get a direct answer as to why he did join the Church except that maybe it was because he feared the life he would have led and wanted to settle for much less, petty political decisions and a thousand speeches to small church groups that haven't made a bit of difference, a quieter and safer life. At the end, we see that he finally received the promotion he had longed for and a return from rural Minnesota to Chicago - but he's burned out and ineffectual and he looks back at his time in the rural outposts - here I'm inevitably reminded of the end of Sentitmental Education - as the best time in his life.