Simon Birch/Prayer for Owen Meany question- unboxed spoilers

Cafe Society
1

I just watched part of Simon Birch on cable. In one scene the narrator, Simon’s best friend Joe, born illegitimate to a mother who never spoke of his father, learns that his father is the married minister whose church he has always attended (ala Scarlett Letter, 1960).

I read A Prayer for Owen Meany years and years ago but I have spotted memory of it and they’ve changed many things for the movie (such as Owen Meany becoming Simon Birch). I’m trying to remember: does he ever learn who his father is in the book? I remember him going on various odysseys (including one to a store that sells only red clothing and accessories in Boston) looking for him and I remember the minister and wife, but I don’t remember him learning the minister is his father. Did it happen?

Just one of those passing curiosity things. Thanks for any help.

2

Yes. In the book, Johnny and the Rev. Merrill are in Merrill’s office just before Owen’s funeral. Owen’s ghost sortof possesses Merrill for a moment and he speaks in Owen’s unmistakable voice and reveals the baseball hidden in Merrill’s desk drawer. As soon as Johnny sees the baseball he realizes that Merrill is his father.