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Catholics and the Civic Order: Parish Participation, Politics, and Civic Participation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2009

David C. Leege
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Extract

Renewed interest in the relationship between religion and politics in the United States and widespread discussion of recent pastoral letters adopted by the American bishops, especially those dealing with disarmament and the economy, have drawn attention to the political values of American Catholics. After a brief historical review of the political experiences of American Catholics and of the roles social theorists accord religion in political life, this article addresses three concerns: (1) in a nation of joiners, does parish participation reinforce civic participation? (2) are there patterns in the connection between religious values and political values? and (3) do parishioners feel that church leaders should offer teachings on personal morality and sociopolitical questions and, if so, should the teaching be accorded special respect? The primary basis for empirical generalizations is a sample of 2667 active, parish-connected non-Hispanic Catholics.

Information

Type
Religion and Politics
Information
The Review of Politics , Volume 50 , Issue 4 , Fall 1988 , pp. 704 - 736
Copyright
Copyright © University of Notre Dame 1988

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References

Notes

1. See for example, Hofstadter, Richard, The Age of Reform (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1955)Google Scholar; Banfield, Edward C. and Wilson, James Q., City Politics (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1963)Google Scholar; Riordan, W. L., Plunkitt of Tammany Hall (New York: McClure, Phillips, 1905)Google Scholar; Royko, Mike, Boss: Richard J. Daley of Chicago (New York: Signet, 1971)Google Scholar; Rakove, Milton, Don't Make No Waves, Don't Back No Losers (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1975).Google Scholar

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23. Drawn from a methodological paper first presented to the American Political Science Association in 1985 and later expanded, the following source presents our most complete critique of the Study design: Leege, David C. and Welch, Michael R., “Catholics in Context: Theoretical and Methodological Issues in Studying American Catholic Parishioners” Review of Religious Research 31Google Scholar (forthcoming). More succinct assessments are also found in Reports 1 and 4 of the Report series.

24. See, for example, Reports #3 and #9 where leadership roles are analyzed at length.

25. Flexner, Eleanor, Century of Struggle: The Woman's Rights Movement in the United States, rev. ed. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1975), p. 309.Google Scholar

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29. Ibid.

30. Greeley, Andrew M., American Catholics Since the Council: An Unauthorized Report (Chicago: Thomas More Press, 1985), pp. 42 ffGoogle Scholar. The dramatic change was first chronicled by Greeley, in an article in the National Catholic Reporter.Google Scholar

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32. Representative of the papers and articles are: Leege, David C., “Toward a Mental Measure of Religiosity in Research on Religion and Politics.” In Jelen, Ted G. (ed.), Religion and American Political behavior. (New York: Praeger, forthcoming, 1989)Google Scholar; Leege, David C. and Welch, Michael R., “Religious Roots of Political Orientations: Variations Among American Catholic Parishioners,” The Journal of Politics, 51 (02 1989)CrossRefGoogle Scholar forthcoming; Welch, Michael R. and Leege, David C., “Religious Predictors of Catholic Parishioners' Sociopolitical Attitudes: Devotional Style, Closeness to God, Imagery, and Agentic/Communal Religious Identity,” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 27 (12 1988): 536–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

33. This measure is inspired by the approach to measurement of religiosity reported in Benson, Peter L. and Williams, Dorothy L., Religion on Capitol Hill (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1982).Google Scholar

34. Castelli, , “Tale of Two Cultures.”Google Scholar

35. Reported and analyzed in a special section of the National Catholic Reporter, 11 09 1987.Google Scholar