Sociologist, Professor, Author
Thanks to Knoxville's WBIR news station for drawing attention to one of my current book projects: an exploration of buildings that go from religious use (i.e. "church") into other purposes. I've colloquially called these "church conversions," recognizing that (1) most (though not all) of the adaptive reuse of houses of worship are impacting buildings once …
Continue reading TV coverage of my ongoing research on “church conversions”
The National Catholic Reporter series, The Field Hospital, has published a feature article on personal parishes based upon my research and book on the topic (Parish and Place: Making Room for Diversity in the American Catholic Church). Personal parishes remain a largely unknown phenomenon today. I am grateful to NCR and reporter Peter Feuerherd for …
Parish and Place: Making Room for Diversity in the American Catholic Church has been awarded First Place in the 2018 Catholic Press Association Book Awards ("Immigration" Category)! IMMIGRATION First Place Parish and Place: Making Room for Diversity in the American Catholic Church by Tricia Colleen Bruce, Oxford University Press While placed in the area of immigration, …
In 2014, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) commissioned me to lead a national study of Asian and Pacific Island (API) American Catholics. Together with sociologists Jerry Park and Stephen Cherry, we conducted a national, mixed-methods study (survey, focus groups, interviews, field observation, and secondary data analysis) resulting in multiple reports/presentations to the …
The Catholic Church is among the largest and most diverse institutions in the USA. Progress toward overcoming polarization in the Church is progress toward overcoming polarization in the nation. Georgetown University's Institute for Catholic Social Thought and Public Thought recently brought together an impressive gathering of leaders across various sectors of the Church to dialogue, …
Continue reading Though Many, One: Overcoming Polarization Through Catholic Social Thought
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Centre for Catholic Studies at Durham University, an extraordinary initiative of the Department of Theology and Religion and founder/director Prof. Paul Murray. Highlights of the week were many, among them: provoking keynote addresses and panels; dinner inside the Durham Castle; a lively evening of dancing and singing; and …
Born of The American Parish Project (which I co-lead with Gary Adler and Brian Starks), a forum I edited on the sociology of parishes appears in the latest issue of American Catholic Studies. It features exceptional essays by sociologists James Cavendish, the late Mary Ellen Konieczny, and Carol Ann MacGregor. This same issue also features …
