The Project Design
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The overall project will involve several
institutions and will conduct activities in both independent and
common ways. This
multi-track and yet intersecting structure recognizes the breadth,
diversity, and even division of the Catholic community.
The Commonweal Foundation in New York, cooperating with the
Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism at the
University of Notre Dame, and the Faith and Reason Institute in
Washington, D.C., will pursue parallel inquiries, combining case
studies, philosophical, theological, and social analyses, and
dissemination of results in an independent fashion while
constantly exchanging findings and coming together at key points
in the project as well as at its conclusion.
Although much of the three-year project will be devoted to
description and evaluation of Catholic participation in civic
life, it will ultimately aim at developing a deeper understanding
of this participation and concrete proposals for strengthening it.
Summary
The entire project will consist of three
large-scale joint consultations, including the closing conference,
and twenty-six colloquia (eight by the Commonweal Foundation,
twelve by the Faith and Reason Institute).
These should involve between 400 and 500 invited
participants (at least 250 different participants) and another 200 or so self-selected
attendees at the concluding consultation.
Approximately 40 papers in total will be
commissioned for these meetings plus three case studies and three
autobiographical panels of Catholic politicians, media figures,
and economic leaders.
A series of focus groups and a national poll, conducted, analyzed,
and publicized during the 2000 election cycle, will probe what
shapes Catholics’ voting decisions.
Publications
and dissemination will include three books, a website, twelve
booklets, and as many articles as can be recast for publication in
leading Catholic and secular journals.
Learn More About the Three Tracks:
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