The Bishop at Sea

Weird things are happening on the Langley, a nuclear-powered U.S. Navy aircraft carrier commanded by Cardinal Sean Chronin's cousin. A ghost seems to haunt the claustrophobic vastness of the ship. Buoyed by anti-seasick medicine, Greeley's hero, Bishop Blackie Ryan, braves the waters near San Diego to find the ship a roiling mass of integrated sexes, where the ratio of 1000 women to 6000 men is bound to have unhappy consequences. Greeley has strong opinions about how the current Navy should adapt to changing times--ditto the Catholic Church. Blackie goes overboard, by turns maudlin and mawkish, for three Irish goddess-protagonists, enabling the literate and erudite Father Greeley to include ancient mythology in his Bishop's latest adventure. (Nov.)