Father James Lavelle: I think there's too much talk about sins and not enough about virtues.
Fiona Lavelle: What would be your number one?
Father James Lavelle: I think forgiveness has been highly underrated.
Father James Lavelle: The limits of His mercy have not been set.
Father Leary: I didn't realise you hated me that much.
Father James Lavelle: I don't hate you, at all.
Father Leary: Then, why?
Father James Lavelle: It's just you have no integrity. That's the worst thing I could say about anybody.
The Writer: You know how you can tell when you're really getting old?
Father James Lavelle: How?
The Writer: No-one ever says the word 'death' around you any more.
Father James Lavelle: I've always felt there's something inherently psychopathic about joining the army in peace time, as far as I'm concerned people join the army to find out what its like to kill someone. I hardly think that's an inclination that should be encouraged in modern society, do you?
Jack Brennan: I think she's bipolar, or lactose intolerant, one of the two.
Father James Lavelle: Leave home. Go somewhere where your chances of meeting available young women with loose morals are increased proportionately.
Milo Herlihy: Sligo town, d'you mean?
Father James Lavelle: No, I was thinking more: Dublin, London, New York.
Milo Herlihy: New York? I'd only end up getting the aids, knowing my luck. Thanks for taking the time to talk to me, Father. I can't say it's been of much help, but it's good to get these things out in the open, I suppose.
Answer: I think he did. That's what made everyone so uncomfortable during the meat locker scene. He even alludes to the bishop that he knows who made the threat in the confessional. The movie wasn't about him preserving his life, but him fulfilling his role as a priest and meeting people at their darkest spaces.