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 six-time marathoner. She has served 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


  • Changing the parish to help keep unity in a changing Church

    Personal parishes sort and separate like-minded Catholics. There are now (by formal decree) personal parishes whose primary focus is social justice, the Traditional Latin Mass, charismatic Catholicism, Anglican Use, tourism, college ministry, and more. Read more in Part II of my… Continue reading

  • Download Parish & Place as an e-book

    The Kindle version of my new book, Parish and Place: Making Room for Diversity in the American Catholic Church, is now available! Hardback and paperback should be in stock any day now. Continue reading

  • Making Parishes Personal: Crisis Magazine story about my new book

    Read K. E. Colombini’s thoughtful piece in Crisis Magazine engaging ideas from my new book, Parish and Place: Making Parishes Personal I look forward to continuing the conversation as folks read my book in full (out by e-book now; hardback and… Continue reading

  • Crux Story about my new book (out soon!), Parish & Place

    Thanks to Fordham University professor / Crux columnist Charles Camosy for interviewing me about my forthcoming book, Parish and Place: Making Room for Diversity in the American Catholic Church. In this article (part I of II), we discuss how personal… Continue reading

  • Writing, and more writing…

    Summer time means writing time (actually, every season is writing season!). As I work to complete bigger projects this summer, here are links to a few smaller publications I’ve completed recently: My essay contribution to a review symposium of The… Continue reading

  • 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