Toe to Toe With a Drunken Philosopher: Wondering in Small Town America

This is really one story in three parts. First we have the high school philosophy teacher who has to resign his position much as Aristotle had to when the authorities came looking for him.
Part two is of an indigent Irish family who emigrate from the Emerald Isle to the Land of Opportunity. The little Irish boy grows up to be a priest.
Part Three pits the philosophy teacher against the priest in a game of wits.