About the authors and upcoming events

About the authors

William V. D’Antonio joined the sociology faculty of The Catholic University of America as a visiting research professor in 1993. He is currently a fellow at the Institute for Policy Research & Catholic Studies at Catholic University. He is the coauthor of eight books and coeditor of four. His most recent coauthored books include American Catholics Today: New Realities of Their Faith and Their Church and Voices of the Faithful: Loyal Catholics Striving for Change.

D’Antonio has taught at Michigan State University and the University of Notre Dame, where he served as chair of the sociology department from 1966-71. He moved to the University of Connecticut in 1971 as professor and chair of the sociology department, and later served as executive officer of the American Sociological Association from 1982-91.

Mary Gautier is a senior research associate at the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University in Washington. A sociologist, Gautier specializes in Catholic demographic trends in the United States. She edits the quarterly research newsletter The CARA Report and other CARA publications, manages the center’s databases on church information and specializes in demography and computer-aided mapping.

Gautier served as a parish lay pastoral associate for six years in Baton Rouge, La., and received her doctorate in sociology from Louisiana State University. She is coauthor of two books on sociological and demographic trends in the Catholic church: Catholicism USA: A Portrait of the Catholic Church in the United States (2000) and Global Catholicism: Portrait of a World Church (2003).

Michele Dillon, professor of sociology and chair of the department at the University of New Hampshire, is the author of several books and articles on religion, culture and institutional change, with a particular interest in Catholicism. She is president-elect of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, past president of the Association for the Sociology of Religion and past chair of the American Sociological Association section on the sociology of religion. She is the Tipton Distinguished Visiting Professor in Catholic Studies at the University of California-Santa Barbara for 2011-12.

Upcoming events

The survey of American Catholics will be released Nov. 1 at a noon news conference at the National Press Club in Washington. A second presentation of the study will be made during a daylong symposium Nov. 2 at Boston College.

The major highlights of the survey will be presented at the Press Club by William V. D’Antonio and Mary Gautier.

At Boston College, a morning session will include presentations on “A Changing Catholic Landscape” by D’Antonio; “Doctrinal Belief and Discernment Among American Catholics in the 21st Century” by Michele Dillon; and “Parish Life and Catholic Education” by Gautier. Lisa Sowle Cahill, professor of theology and ethics at Boston College, will respond to the presentations.

Presentations on Hispanic Catholics, the millennial generation and the political affiliations of Catholics will be made during an afternoon session. Hosffman Ospino, director of graduate programs in Hispanic ministry at Boston College, will respond to those presentations. At both sessions, the panelists will take questions from those attending.