Politics in the Parish: The Political Influence of Catholic Priests

Portada
Georgetown University Press, 29 de març 2008 - 272 pàgines

For well over a century the Catholic Church has articulated clear positions on many issues of public concern, particularly economics, capital punishment, foreign affairs, sexual morality, and abortion. Yet the fact that some of the Church's positions do not mesh well with the platforms of either of the two major political parties in the U.S. may make it difficult for Americans to look to Catholic doctrine for political guidance. Scholars of religion and politics have long recognized the potential for clergy to play an important role in shaping the voting decisions and political attitudes of their congregations, yet these assumptions of political influence have gone largely untested and undemonstrated.

Politics in the Parish is the first empirical examination of the role Catholic clergy play in shaping the political views of their congregations. Gregory Allen Smith draws from recent scholarship on political communication, and the comprehensive Notre Dame Study of Parish Life, as well as case studies he conducted in nine parishes in the mid-Atlantic region, to investigate the extent to which and the circumstances under which Catholic priests are influential in shaping the politics of their parishioners.

Smith is able to verify that clergy do exercise political influence, but he makes clear that such influence is likely to be nuanced, limited in magnitude, and exercised indirectly by shaping parishioner religious attitudes that in turn affect political behavior. He shows that the messages that priests deliver vary widely, even radically, from parish to parish and priest to priest. Consequently, he warns that scholars should exercise caution when making any global assumptions about the political influence that Catholic clergy affect upon their congregations.

 

Continguts

Introduction
1
Chapter One
13
Chapter Two
41
Chapter Three
79
Chapter Four
114
Chapter Five
138
Conclusion
181
Appendix A
197
Appendix B
201
Appendix C
212
Appendix D
222
Appendix E
225
References
239
Index
249
Copyright

Altres edicions - Mostra-ho tot

Frases i termes més freqüents

Passatges populars

Pàgina 3 - Those who defend the right to life of the weakest among us must be equally visible in support of the quality of life of the powerless among us: the old and the young, the hungry and the homeless, the undocumented immigrant and the unemployed worker.
Pàgina 3 - Such a quality of life posture translates into specific political and economic positions on tax policy, employment generation, welfare policy, nutrition and feeding programs, and health care. Consistency means we cannot have it both ways: We cannot urge a compassionate society and vigorous public policy to protect the rights of the unborn and then argue that compassion and significant public programs on behalf of the needy undermine the moral fiber of the society or are beyond the proper scope of...

Sobre l'autor (2008)

Gregory Allen Smith is a research fellow at the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, where he contributes to the Forum's survey research efforts. In 2006 he earned the Aaron Wildavsky Award for the best dissertation in religion and politics, awarded by the Religion and Politics section of the American Political Science Association.

Informació bibliogràfica