Description
Book SynopsisBetween individual Catholics and a global institution, thousands of local parishes remake Catholicism each day. With fresh data and sociological methods, this book shows how parishes are shaped by community, geography, and authority; how parishes respond to diversity and change; and how parishes worship and educate for the future of Catholicism.
Table of ContentsIntroduction: What Is a Parish? Why Look at Catholic Parishes?
Gary J. Adler Jr., Tricia C. Bruce, and Brian Starks | 1
Part I : Seeing Parishes Through a Sociological Lens
1. A Brief History of the Sociology of Parishes in the United States
Tricia C. Bruce | 25
2. Studying Parishes: Lessons and New Directions from the Study of Congregations
Nancy T. Ammerman | 47
Part II: Parish Trends
3. The Shifting Landscape of US Catholic Parishes, 1998–2012
Gary J. Adler Jr. | 69
4. Stable Transformation: Catholic Parishioners in the United States
Mark M. Gray | 95
Part III: Race, Class, and Diversity in Parish Life
5. Power in the Parish
Brett C. Hoover | 111
6. Liturgy as Identity Work in Predominantly African American Parishes
Tia Noelle Pratt | 132
7. A House Divided
Mary Jo Bane | 153
Part IV: Young Catholics In (and Out) of Parishes
8. Parishes as Homes and Hubs
Kathleen Garces-Foley | 173
9. Preparing to Say “I Do”
Courtney Ann Irby | 196
Part V : The Practice and Future of a Sociology of Catholic Parishes
10. A Sociologist Looks at His Own Parish: A Conversation with John A. Coleman, SJ
John A. Coleman, SJ, with editors Gary J. Adler Jr., Tricia C. Bruce, and Brian Starks | 217
Conclusion: Parishes as the Embedded Middle of American Catholicism
Gary J. Adler Jr., Tricia C. Bruce, and Brian Starks | 231
Acknowledgments | 247
List of Contributors | 249
Index | 253
