Tricia C. Bruce, PhD

Sociologist. Author. Researcher. Speaker.

Tricia C. Bruce, PhD, is a Senior Research Fellow with the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies, a 2025-2026 Affiliate of the Center for the Study of Religion & Society at the University of Notre Dame, President-Elect of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, and a five-time marathoner. She served previously as President of the Association for the Sociology of Religion, a papal-appointed consultor to the Synod on Synodality, and a tenured professor. She is the author of numerous award-winning books, articles, and reports in the sociology of religion and U.S. Catholicism.

Happenings

  • Academic Year 2016-2017, Wrapped.

    This semester wraps my 10th year teaching at Maryville College. Among this year’s teaching highlights was attending the “New Directions in Critical Race and Ethnic Studies” conference at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville with several of my students from Introductory Sociology and… Continue reading

  • Parish and Place

    The listing for my new book, Parish and Place: Making Room for Diversity in the American Catholic Church is now up on the Oxford University Press website, available for pre-order! Continue reading

    Parish and Place

  • Status update on my new book, Parish and Place

    I am pleased to report that I have now received the fully copyedited manuscript from Oxford University Press for my forthcoming book, Parish and Place: Making Room for Diversity in the American Catholic Church. This expected release date for the… Continue reading

  • Soliciting Nominations for Sociology of Religion Book Award (3/1/17 deadline)

    From the American Sociological Association Section on Religion: DISTINGUISHED BOOK AWARD The ASA Sociology of Religion Section solicits nominations for the 2017 Distinguished Book Award. The award honors a book that makes an outstanding contribution to the sociology of religion.… Continue reading

  • New Chapter about Preserving Catholic Churches in Changing Urban Settings

    Spiritualizing the City:  Agency and Resilience of the Urban and Urbanesque Habitat (Edited by Victoria Hegner, Peter Jan Margry) is now out with Routledge Press! The chapter I authored – “Preserving Catholic Space and Place in ‘The Rome of the… Continue reading

    New Chapter about Preserving Catholic Churches in Changing Urban Settings

  • Panel on Asian American Catholics at the American Academy of Religion

    It was a pleasure to participate in today’s conversation about Asian American Catholics, stemming from the report I co-authored with Drs. Stephen Cherry and Jerry Park. At a special panel of the American Academy of Religion – sponsored by the… Continue reading

  • “In A Divided America, Ideas For Healing A Divided Church”

    I sat down recently with Brandon Hollingsworth at Knoxville’s local NPR station, WUOT, to talk about the realities of and responses to polarization during this election season. Our conversation builds upon the essays featured in my recently published co-edited volume,… Continue reading

    “In A Divided America, Ideas For Healing A Divided Church”

  • Daily Theology Review of Polarization in the US Catholic Church

    “The current historical moment that our nation finds itself in is not an accident. American exceptionalism, nationalism, the sinfulness of manifest destiny are all hauntingly present. Is there only room left for despair in the anxiety building up to today’s… Continue reading

  • Vox Nova Book Review: Here Comes Everybody!

    Thanks to jeanninemariedymphna for posting a thoughtful review of my co-edited volume, Polarization in the US Catholic Church, on Vox Nova. This excerpt comments on my own chapter contribution: “The second part of the volume, “Naming the Wounds,” includes four… Continue reading

  • My Daily Theology Podcast Episode

    I thoroughly enjoyed my conversation with Steve Okey for the Daily Theology podcast, out today. You’ll hear more about how and why I do the sociology of religion, my research on personal parishes, diversity and polarization in the American Catholic Church, teaching,… Continue reading

    My Daily Theology Podcast Episode

engaging A Sociological Perspective

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