Politics in the Parish: The Political Influence of Catholic Priests

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments I could not have completed this project or this program of study without the support and assistance of myriad people. Most notably, I am deeply grateful for the guidance of my two closest mentors, Steven Finkel and Paul Freedman . They graciously offered helpful comments, questions, and suggestions at every step of this project since its inception almost six years ago. I greatly appreciate the interest that they have taken in my work, and their support of my pursuit of academic, professional, and personal goals. I am also very thankful for the advice and support of James Ceaser and Gerald Fogarty, who kindly served on my dissertation committee. Mr. Ceaser and Father Fogarty were both involved with this project from the very early planning stages, and their assistance and suggestions were integral to completing and improving this research . The support of many people at the University of Virginia was instrumental in bringing this project to fruition. I am particularly grateful to the Department of Politics (and especially to Steven Finkel, who was the department director of graduate studies when I first came to the university, and to Herman Schwartz, who was the director of graduate studies for the bulk of my time at the university) for generous financial support that made attending the university possible for me. I am also grateful to the Center on Religion and Democracy at the University of Virginia (and especially to its director , James Davison Hunter, to its former associate director, ix  Steven Jones, and to the current associate director, Slavica Jakelic), which supported this research by providing me with a yearlong dissertation fellowship, several research grants, and a vibrant community that provided crucial intellectual stimulation. Larry J. Sabato and the Center for Politics provided me with numerous teaching and research assistantships and showed great kindness and generosity to both me and my family during our time at the university. I am indebted to the helpful staff at the University of Virginia Research Computing Support Center, and especially to Yakup Asarkaya and Kathy Gerber, without whose help I may not have been able to master the statistical and software-related skills necessary to employ multilevel modeling techniques. Finally, I greatly appreciate all of the assistance and support provided by the staff at the University of Virginia Department of Politics, especially Debbie Best and Cassandra Thomas. Since leaving the university, my colleagues at the Pew Research Center—especially Luis Lugo, Sandra Stencel, Scott Keeter, John Green, David Masci, and Tim Shah—have provided me with vital support and feedback on various components of this research. I am grateful for the consistent support, encouragement, advice, and critique provided by Georgetown University Press, especially that of its director, Richard Brown, and that of the editors of this series , John Green, Ted Jelen, and Mark Rozell. A number of others have also provided very helpful comments on portions of this research in a variety of forms, including Geoffrey Layman, Laura Olson, Lynn Sanders, and several anonymous reviewers. I will always be grateful to Dr. Roe Buchanan for planting the seeds of intellectual curiosity from which this project grew. I was fortunate to be a student in Dr. Buchanan’s history classes for three years in high school, during which time he taught me (to the extent that I am able) to write clearly, pushed me to think critically and independently, and demonstrated how interesting and fun it is to study human events. It is no exaggeration to say that Dr. Buchanan’s instruction opened up a world to me that I might not otherwise have discovered, and I thank him for the profound influence he has had on my life. x Acknowledgments A significant portion of the analysis that follows is based on the Notre Dame Study of Catholic Parish Life, and I acknowledge the American Religion Data Archive (ARDA) for making the data from that study available. Data from the Notre Dame Study were originally collected by Jay Dolan, David C. Leege, Phillip Murnion, Mark Searle, and Michael R. Welch. I am deeply grateful to the dioceses and parishes that agreed to participate in this study. I thank His Eminence Theodore Cardinal McCarrick, former Archbishop of Washington, as well as Reverend Monsignor Godfrey Mosley, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Washington, for permission to pursue this project. In the Diocese of Richmond, I am grateful to the Most Reverend Francis Xavier DiLorenzo, Bishop of...