To commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the restoration of the diaconate as a permanent and stable order of ministry in the United States, the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University undertook a contemporary study of the diaconate in the United States. Building on studies completed in 1981 and 1995 as well as annual research that CARA has conducted for the USCCB since 2005, CARA designed a comprehensive study of deacons, their wives, diaconate directors, and bishops to explore all aspects of this ministry. This book explores trends in the diaconate as well as current and emerging opportunities and challenges in the ministry. Deacons and their wives, diaconate directors, and bishops share insights about how those trends impact diaconal ministry today and into the future.

To commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the restoration of the diaconate as a permanent and stable order of ministry in the United States, the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University undertook a contemporary study of the diaconate in the United States. Building on studies completed in 1981 and 1995 as well as annual research that CARA has conducted for the USCCB since 2005, CARA designed a comprehensive study of deacons, their wives, diaconate directors, and bishops to explore all aspects of this ministry. This book explores trends in the diaconate as well as current and emerging opportunities and challenges in the ministry. Deacons and their wives, diaconate directors, and bishops share insights about how those trends impact diaconal ministry today and into the future.

Parishes are the missing middle in studies of American Catholicism. Between individual Catholics and a global institution, the thousands of local parishes are where Catholicism gets remade. American Parishes showcases what social forces shape parishes, what parishes do, how they do it, and what this says about the future of Catholicism in the United States. Expounding an embedded field approach, this book displays the numerous forces currently reshaping American parishes. It draws from sociology of religion, culture, organizations, and race to illuminate basic parish processes, like leadership and education, and ongoing parish struggles like conflict and multiculturalism. American Parishes brings together contemporary data, methods, and questions to establish a sociological re-engagement with Catholic parishes and a Catholic re-engagement with sociological analysis. Contributions by leading social scientists highlight how community, geography, and authority intersect within parishes. It illuminates and analyzes how growing racial diversity, an aging religious population, and neighborhood change affect the inner workings of parishes. Contributors: Gary J. Adler Jr., Nancy Ammerman, Mary Jo Bane, Tricia C. Bruce, John A. Coleman, S.J., Kathleen Garces-Foley, Mary Gray, Brett Hoover, Courtney Ann Irby, Tia Noelle Pratt, and Brian Starks

A seminal moment in the study of U.S. Catholic parish life came in the 1980s with the publication of a series of reports from the ground-breaking Notre Dame Study of Catholic Parish Life. These reports are now badly outdated, as Catholic dioceses grapple with new challenges that didnt exist in the 80s. Topics that were not considered then, like greater Catholic mobility, increased cultural diversity, and structural re-organization as well as the rise of lay leadership, have attained new significance. This timely book, based on more than a decade of research, provides an in-depth portrait and analysis of the current state of parish life and leadership. Unique in the scope of the research and the timeliness of its findings, the book critically examines the current state of parish life. The authors draw on data from national polls of Catholics, national surveys of parishes, and thousands of in-pew surveys which explore parishioner's needs, experiences, and satisfaction with parish life in the twenty-first century. The book provides a unique 360- degree view of parish life from the perspective of pastors, parish staff, parishioners, as well as the larger Catholic population.

Parishes are the missing middle in studies of American Catholicism. Between individual Catholics and a global institution, the thousands of local parishes are where Catholicism gets remade. American Parishes showcases what social forces shape parishes, what parishes do, how they do it, and what this says about the future of Catholicism in the United States. Expounding an embedded field approach, this book displays the numerous forces currently reshaping American parishes. It draws from sociology of religion, culture, organizations, and race to illuminate basic parish processes, like leadership and education, and ongoing parish struggles like conflict and multiculturalism. American Parishes brings together contemporary data, methods, and questions to establish a sociological re-engagement with Catholic parishes and a Catholic re-engagement with sociological analysis. Contributions by leading social scientists highlight how community, geography, and authority intersect within parishes. It illuminates and analyzes how growing racial diversity, an aging religious population, and neighborhood change affect the inner workings of parishes. Contributors: Gary J. Adler Jr., Nancy Ammerman, Mary Jo Bane, Tricia C. Bruce, John A. Coleman, S.J., Kathleen Garces-Foley, Mary Gray, Brett Hoover, Courtney Ann Irby, Tia Noelle Pratt, and Brian Starks