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FEB.
18, 2004 
KENNEDY
TO KERRY
Catholics and the White House
IN
THE NORTHEAST
• Sister
Mary Johnson is an associate professor of sociology and religious studies at
Emmanuel College in Boston. She follows trends related to Catholic life and
co-authored Young Adult Catholics: Religion in the Culture of Choice
(University of Notre Dame Press, 2001). The book is a national study of the
spiritual beliefs and practices of Catholics between the ages of 20 and 39.
Contact 617-735-9830, johnsmb@emmanuel.edu.
IN
THE EAST
• Mary
E. Bendyna is a research associate for the Center for Applied Research in the
Apostolate at Georgetown University. She is an expert on the Catholic Church
and religion and politics. Contact 202-687-8080, bendynam@georgetown.edu.
• The Rev. Thomas O'Hara is a political science professor at King's College,
a Catholic school in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. He can comment on issues of Catholic
and politics, especially in old-line Catholic communities in keystone states
such as Pennsylvania. Contact 570-208-5899, tjohara@kings.edu.
• Elizabeth McKeown is a professor of theology at Georgetown University
in Washington, D.C. McKeown focuses on American studies. She is the co-editor
of Public Voices: Catholics in the American Context (Orbis Books, 1999).
Contact 202-687-4516, mckeowne@georgetown.edu.
IN
THE SOUTHEAST
• Michael
J. Perry holds the University Distinguished Chair in Law at the Wake Forest
University School of Law and has studied the role of religion in politics. Contact
336-758-5457, perrymj@law.wfu.edu.
• James Guth is a professor of political science at Furman University in
Greenville, S.C. He has written widely on the emergence of Christian conservatives
and can discuss the relationship between Catholics and evangelicals in key Southern
states. Contact 864-294-2210, jim.guth@furman.edu.
IN
THE SOUTH
• John M. Bruce is an associate professor of political science at the University
of Mississippi. He specializes in politics and religion. Contact 662-915-7218,
jbruce@olemiss.edu.
• Paul J. Weber is a political science professor at the University of Louisville,
Ky., and is an expert on religion and politics. He says Catholics are swing
voters who can determine the winner of the election. Contact 502-852-3305, paulweber@louisville.edu.
• Penny Long Marler is an associate professor of religion at Samford University
in Birmingham, Ala. She has tracked contemporary trends in religious behavior
and has written about the attitudes of young adult Catholics. Contact 205-726-2869,
plmarler@samford.edu.
IN
THE MIDWEST
• James D. Davidson is a sociology professor at Purdue University, West
Lafayette, Ind. Davidson can comment on the trends shaping political attitudes
and beliefs of American Catholics. Contact 765-494-4688, davidsonj@soc.purdue.edu.
• The Rev. John Putka is a Marianist priest and lecturer in political science
at the University of Dayton in Ohio. Putka specializes in analyzing Catholic
voting patterns and says he believes that abortion is a key issue influencing
the Catholic vote. Contact 937-229-3626, John.Putka@notes.udayton.edu.
• David Yamane is a professor of sociology at Notre Dame University who
is working on a project titled "The Catholic Church in State Politics:
Negotiating Prophetic Demands and Political Realities." It is a study of
the role of Conferences of Catholic Bishops in state legislative politics. Yamane
also contributed an analysis
to a special edition on religion and politics in Religion in the News,
a publication of the Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life
at Trinity College. Contact 574-631-8739, David.A.Yamane.1@nd.edu.
• The Rev. Charles E. Bouchard is a moral theologian and president of the
Aquinas Institute of Theology, a Dominican graduate school in St. Louis. In
an article in the Feb. 12, 2001, edition of the Jesuit weekly America,
he called for Catholics to "abandon the all-or-nothing strategy" in
the abortion debate in order to reduce abortions. Contact 314-977-3882, bouchard@slu.edu.
IN
THE SOUTHWEST
•
Gerard Wegemer is a professor of literature at the University of Dallas and
founding director of the Center
for Thomas More Studies at the Catholic college. He is the author of several
books on Thomas More, the 16th century English statesman who was executed by
Henry VIII for refusing to assent to his break with the papacy over Henry's
divorce. More has been cited by many as a role model for Catholics in public
life, and in 2000 Pope John Paul II named him a patron of statesmen and politicians.
Wegemer's books include Thomas More on Statesmanship (Catholic University
of America Press, 1996) and Thomas More: A Portrait of Courage (Scepter
Publications, 1997), and he has spoken recently about the lessons he believes
contemporary Catholic public figures should draw from More. Contact 972-721-5327,
wegemer@udallas.edu.
• Mark Chaves is head of the sociology department at the University of
Arizona and an expert on religion in American politics. He was also the principal
investigator for the 1998 National Congregations Study of 1,236 congregations.
Contact 520-626-2560, mchaves@u.arizona.edu.
• Andrew Greeley is an adjunct professor of sociology at the University
of Arizona and the University of Chicago. A Roman Catholic priest, he focuses
his studies on a range of issues facing the Catholic Church. He can talk about
whether Catholics are shifting from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party.
Contact 520-621-3531 or 773-256-6280, agreel@aol.com.
IN
THE WEST/NORTHWEST
• The Rev. Thomas P. Rausch is a professor of theology at Loyola
Marymount University, Los Angeles. He can comment on various aspects of Catholic
political life, including efforts to forge bonds with Christian conservatives.
He is the editor of Catholics and Evangelicals: Do They Share a Common Future?
(InterVarsity Press/Paulist Press, 2000). Contact 310-338-7670, trausch@lmu.edu.
• Ted G. Jelen is chairman of the political science department at the University
of Nevada, Las Vegas. He studies the role of the Catholic Church in American
politics. Contact 702-895-3355, jelent.@nevada.edu.
• Gerard Heather is a professor of political science at San Francisco State
University and an expert on religion and politics. Contact 415-338-1019, gh@sfsu.edu.
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