The story takes place in Conn, a town in western Ireland, during the 1980s. Conn is a rather conservative town with many farmers and shop owners. All the conservatives are sitting on the right side in church during Sunday Mass, while the principal character and nine other sinners are sitting on the left side. It is easy to see which part of the congregation Farther O'Rourke likes most, since electric heaters have been installed in the right side of the church. Farther O'Rourke is the one person who decides what should be done with the money collected for the church. Through the shop owners in Conn, he squeezes a lot of money out of the inhabitants. Somehow paying every time you go shopping has become an unwritten law. The narrator doesn't like Farther O'Rourke, because he after her confession that she was pregnant, had spread the news in the whole town. When you read the story, you get the feeling that Farther O'Rourke doesn't care about his job. The only thing he is interested in, is how he want's the citizens of the town to be, and how he can use the spended money to counterbalance this. When Farther O'Rourke discovers that Philomena O'Halloran have had a baby with a native african, he get's very angry. Allthough Philomena O'Halloran has been a good example in town with her missionary work, Farther O'Rourke can't forgive her having a baby with native african. This could be taken as a sign of racism from Farther O'Rourke's side. The only ones who seem to go against this, are the "sinners" on the left side of the church. The rest of the town are the same opinion as Farther O'Rourke. After it has been revealed that Friday Mkete is the son of Philomena O'Halloran it is only the people sitting on the left side in church, who keeps collecting money for the Philomena mission. To me it looks as if they are the only goodhearted people, and that it's the people on the right side of the church, who are the actual sinners of the town.
