I have the ability to create and be in touch with God. I can't change bread and wine into body and blood, but I can take the scum or the slime of the earth and make it into a man or woman.

Powers and Wahl were married in 1946 following Wahls' graduation. His first writing experiment began as a spiritual exercise during a religious retreat. Sister Mariella Gable OSB a member of the College of Saint Benedict English faculty had sent him a sample of Wahl's fiction and Powers had asked to meet the writer.

James Farl Powers (July 8 1917 – June 12 1999) was a Roman Catholic American novelist and short-story writer who often drew his inspiration from developments in the Catholic Church and was known for his studies of midwestern Catholic priests.