Remembering to Ask the Boss: Priming and the Dynamics of Priest Reliance on Bishop Cues
Journal Title: Religions - Year 2016, Vol 7, Issue 3
Abstract
Though the degree of influence that US bishops have over Catholic parishioners is inconsistent, the institutional power bishops have over parish priests suggests that bishops enjoy reliable influence over their local subordinates. However, there are an array of competing influences over parish priests that, when made salient, might make priest reliance on bishop instructions for political behavior less reliable. Using data from the first ever survey experiment on a national sample of US Catholic priests, we assess the effects of randomly priming priests with varying considerations of their professional responsibilities and relevant constituencies (including parishioner expectations). Results suggest that priests opt to rely on bishop cues when primed to consider institutional responsibilities as part of their professional identity, but that bishop influence over priest political behavior is, at best, indirect.
Authors and Affiliations
Brian Robert Calfano and Elizabeth A. Oldmixon
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP25518
- DOI https://doi.org/10.3390/rel7030021
- Views 304
- Downloads 8
Follower-Centric Influences on Sexual Decision Making in a Pentecostal Church Faith Community
This study utilized participatory action research approaches to construct a follower-centric framework for measuring influences on sexual decision making by youth members of a church organization. Participants were Bat...
This Battlefield Called My Body: Warring over the Muslim Female
This communication centers on the argument that there is an ideological tug-of-war over the Muslim female body. The author discusses how religious and secular patriarchies, as well as feminism all make claims to the bo...
Geoffrey Hill’s “Hard-Won Affirmation”: The Mystery of the Charity of Charles Péguy
Sir Geoffrey Hill, long hailed as Britain’s greatest living poet, was devoted to remembering the deceased, those forgotten in the debased din of mass culture—some of them worthy of our emulation, others edifying by the...
Icons of Just Is: Justice, Suffering, and the Artwork of Samuel Bak
This paper examines select paintings by Holocaust survivor and painter Samuel Bak from his recent Just Is series. The essay explores ways Bak’s art bears witness to suffering. He creatively interrogates and reanimates...
Running Head: Faithful Health Norms
Religious communities influence health-related behaviors of adherents in important ways for public health promotion. Questions remain about the processes involved and resultant health promotion actions of the religious...