Politics in the Parish: The Political Influence of Catholic Priests

chapter three: Priestly Politics in 2004

chapter three Priestly Politics in 2004 The results presented and discussed in the previous chapter are consistent with what one would expect to find if clergy influence over parishioners’ political attitudes were in fact taking place. That said, the evidence presented to this point is, for two reasons, insufficient for declaring conclusively that clergy play the politically important role hypothesized by so many scholars of religion and politics. First, the results presented in chapter 2, though suggestive, are also in some instances counterintuitive and confusing. Although liberal pastors appear to wield signi ficant political influence with their flocks, conservative pastors, surprisingly, appear not to wield the same sort of influence. Second, the data from the Notre Dame Study of Catholic Parish Life are not ideal for investigating the question of clergy influence, primarily because they contain no information about the messages delivered by clergy to their parishioners. In order to obtain more definitive answers about the extent to which clergy wield political influence, it is necessary first to obtain data that may speak more directly to the question at hand. To that end, the next several chapters describe a new study, undertaken during the course of 2004, designed specifically for the purpose of investigating the political influence of Catholic clergy. My investigation of the extent of political influence exercised by Catholic priests is modeled closely on the Notre Dame Study and is based on detailed case studies of nine separate Catholic parishes from the mid-Atlantic region. It is designed to obtain two separate types of information from each of the nine parishes involved in the study. At  79 each parish I sought first to obtain a thorough understanding and accurate measurement of the types of messages delivered by priests to parishioners. Second, I administered an election survey in November 2004 to a relatively large sample of parishioners at each parish. By combining information about the messages delivered by priests at each of the parishes with the results of the parishioner surveys, and by comparing the results of the different parishioner surveys, it is possible to gain a sense of the type and extent of priestly influence taking place. The methodology, details, and results from the parishioner surveys will be discussed in chapter 5. The remainder of this chapter is devoted to a discussion of parish selection and a descriptive analysis of the messages delivered by parish priests to their parishioners. Parish Selection and Characteristics This study focuses on three randomly selected parishes from each of three Catholic dioceses in the mid-Atlantic region (Arlington, VA; Richmond, VA; and Washington, D.C.), for a total of nine parishes.1 Although the parishes were randomly selected, this sample of parishes is not sufficiently large to be considered representative of parishes in the United States, the mid-Atlantic region, or even of the dioceses of Arlington, Richmond, or Washington. The random selection of these parishes, however, does provide assurance that any effects of priestly communications that are uncovered are not likely to be unique to these parishes; it is reasonable to assume that any clergy influence taking place at these parishes is likely to be occurring in similar ways in other parishes. In addition, as I hope will become clear throughout the remainder of this chapter, the process of random selection yielded a quite varied, heterogeneous group of parishes, both in terms of the demographic makeup of their parishioners and in terms of the messages conveyed by the priests at each parish. In order to protect the confidentiality of the priests who participated in the study, pseudonyms have been assigned to each of the parishes and pastors discussed here and listed in table 3.1. 80 CHAPTER THREE Table 3.1 Parishes and Pastors: 2004 Study of Priestly Political Influence Diocese of Arlington Diocese of Richmond Archdiocese of Washington Parish Pastor Parish Pastor Parish Pastor St. Anastasia Fr. Alexander St. Leon Fr. Lewis St. Winifred Fr. Williams St. Barnabas Fr. Boyd St. Margaret Fr. McCormick St. Yolanda Fr. Yardley St. Cyrus Fr. Cook St. Norbert Fr. Nolan St. Zachary Fr. Zimmerman Although it is not possible (in order to protect the confidentiality of priests) to provide explicitly detailed descriptions of each of the parishes included in this study, some general information about each of the parishes illustrates that the parishes included here are a...