It’s official! I’m thrilled to be joining my colleagues at Villanova University’s Center for Church Management. I will try not to be too redundant (you can read more about my excitement in the press release), but for now it is settled that I’ll be working on a book exploring Catholic leadership models across the globe, another book updating Dr. Chuck Zech’s 2006 study Best Practices for Parish Stewardship, and research on synodality.
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I’m excited to begin the new year as an Associate Member of the Las Casas Institute for Social Justice at Blackfriars Hall. Blackfriars was first established in 1221 as a Dominican priory and is today a part of the University of Oxford. The Las Casas Institute explores the ways Catholic social teaching, especially from a Dominican perspective, might weigh in on the various socio-ethical problems of our day. They surface solutions through scholarly dialogue and foster community among their fellows. The projects at Las Casas place a special emphasis on the experiences of marginalized groups, which is very important to me personally and professionally. I am thrilled to be a part of this learning community that brings faith and interdisciplinary research together in socially generative ways!
I’m honored to be one of the keynote speakers at the 2024 Catholic Family Life Conference in San Diego, CA. This year’s conference theme is The Family through the Eyes of Mary, and there is a great lineup of speakers and breakout sessions. My talk, “A Spirituality of Family Life: Seeing God in the Blessed Mess,” will explore the ways we can discover spiritual insights through everyday living as a parent. It promises to be a fantastic gathering and I hope you are able to join us!
We just had our first meeting of the Women’s Advisory Committee for the Diocese of San Diego. As you might know, Pope Francis called the whole Church in this most recent synod to listen more deeply to what is being experienced in every pocket of the Church. This committee is tasked with especially discerning this among the women of our diocese.
To ensure that we have a good sense of the pulse of women’s experiences in our diocese, I’m honored to be the committee’s Social Researcher. More work is ahead and I have immense hope that we’ll be seeing the first fruits of this in due time… stay tuned!
I just got back from an amazing weekend in Las Vegas with the Paulists and many other concerned Catholics who want to address the challenge of polarization in the Church. I cannot tell you how hopeful I am. With the 100 gathered, I met with Paulists and their associates, media leaders, lay and ordained ministers, academics, leaders of lay apostolates and more… from all places along the political spectrum. We had insightful conversations, beautiful time in prayer and joyful fellowship. And this is just the beginning. I am very excited to see where these ideas will take us; this is such an important issue and a critical moment in our Church. As developed, resources will be posted here.
Thank you, once again, to the Paulists for sponsoring and organizing this initiative!
The Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at the University of Southern California just welcomed a new president, Dr. Richard Wood. I really don’t think they could have done better!
I am honored to join their interdisciplinary team of affiliated scholars; there are quantum theorists, ethicists, sociologists, theologians and more. And what unites all this diversity is our thriving scholarship on Catholicism and/or research on questions Catholicism is asking. Happy to join this amazing team!
I just got back from the annual conference of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion and the Religious Research Association. It is always a great time, but this year we took it to “amazing” when Lucas Sharma, Paddy Gillger and I hosted Mass and a wine and cheese gathering. It was a really lovely event and I hope you can join us next year in Pittsburgh when we do it again!
What a fascinating and generative discussion I had this weekend in Chicago with Drs. Bill Clark (Holy Cross), Brett Hoover (Loyola Marymount), Tia Pratt (Villanova), and Susan Reynolds (Candler/Emory) and student Gaby (Northwestern). We enjoyed a deep dive into one another’s research; so many brilliant questions to illuminate both research and applied insights! This Parish Researchers Gathering was part of the National Conversation on Shared Parish Life, generously funded by an anonymous donor. I look forward to the ways this research and our ongoing conversations will strengthen parish life and the American Catholic experience more broadly.
I just wanted to update you that elections for the Religious Research Association closed yesterday and I’m happy to announce that I was elected to serve on the Nominating Committee. In this role I’ll help make sure that our organization puts forth quality candidates that not only excel in our field, but also represent the breadth of our membership in racial and ethnic diversity, gender, denominational focus and more so we can ensure that our leadership is amazing and represents the many concerns and perspectives of our members.
I have benefitted so much from the “and how can we apply our research” focus of RRA and look forward to giving back in this capacity.
I’m more than a little excited to be partnering with the University of Southern California’s Center for Religion and Civic Culture! This center does some amazing work examining the intersection of religion, civic engagement, social change, personal and institutional thriving and more. I’ll be working with them on a variety of projects that connect to Catholicism, from Catholic sisters to formation to climate change. It’s an exciting collaboration that will include a trip to London and Oxford at the end of the month to meet with similar organizations and scholars and explore international collaborative opportunities. This will be my first trip to the UK and I’m thrilled to help make this important work happen.
Maureen K. Day, Ph.D. 