The Red Hat

Ralph McInerny, popular author, editor and teacher, presents a novel of suspense, humor and spiritual insight about the Catholic Church rocked by schism, scandal and contested papal elections early in the third millennium. Thomas Lannan, the archbishop of Washington, D.C., is threatened by a scandal dating from his youth just as he is named Cardinal. The Pope dies before Lannan and other nominees are inducted into the College and they are excluded from the conclave. This leads to widespread criticism and the new pope, having enlarged the College of Cardinals considerably, is killed in a plane crash. The next conclave elects the controversial Pope Timothy from Tanzania. Schism threatens as the decadent West resists its marginalization because of the massive demographic shift to the east and south. In Avignon, an anti-pope is elected. Thomas Lannan, against the grain of his brother bishops, remains loyal to Timothy and rallies a remnant of the American church. His moral triumph is threatened when he is accused of having fathered a child when he was a seminarian. He becomes the subject of a sensational trial. This issue will be settled by DNA evidence. The suspense builds. Did he or didn't he? "A murder; an accusation of sexual misconduct; vaulting ambition; a power play in international finance; a virtual schism in the American hierarchy - McInerny's new novel will keep you in suspense until the next to the last page. A nifty parable and a lot of fun." " Michael Novak , American Enterprise Institute "An intimate knowledge of things Catholic, an exuberant orthodoxy, and an apparently unlimited gift of narrative imagination. Ralph McInerny has them all. Life is unfair, fortunately." " Rev. Richard John Neuhaus , Editor, First Things "Ralph McInerny's satirical probe into the sickness of our times is very funny. But beneath the comedy there is an undercurrent of grief over the immense tragedy of the Church. This is a book that should be read wherever men have grown cynical about the Bride of Christ." " Michael O'Brien , Author, Father Elijah "Ralph McInerny is not merely one of our finest Catholic writers, he is one of our finest writers, period! The Red Hat is McInerny the novelist at his very best." " Deal Hudson, Editor, Crisis