the locker room before the exhibition: the liniment-and-adhesive ministry
felt his true calling was not to the priesthood but to the liniment-and-adhesive ministry of professional athletic training
Context
The saga's whole point, and the pickup: athletic training named as a genuine vocation, set explicitly beside the priesthood and losing nothing by the comparison. Barry Loach's "true calling was not to the priesthood but to the liniment-and-adhesive ministry of professional athletic training" — the care of athletic bodies as a ministry, splints and flexion and adhesive tape a form of service with its own indwelling seriousness. The trainer isn't below the players; he's the building's priest of the body.