Fordham University
Candidate for Executive Council (2026-28)
Candidate statement
I am honored to have been nominated to the ACHA Executive Committee and am eager to serve this organization, which has been a joyful and enriching scene for my own development as a scholar. I will bring my training, experience, and energy to the role in order to promote excellent work in Catholic history and foster new opportunities for community and collaboration among ACHA members and beyond.
I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Theology and an Associate Director of the Curran Center for American Catholic Studies at Fordham University. My training is in history and anthropology of religion, with a focus on twentieth century U.S. Catholicism. I teach courses on American religious history, U.S. Catholic history, and theoretical issues in the study of religion for our undergraduate and graduate populations. My first book, No Closure: Catholic Practice and Boston’s Parish Shutdowns (Harvard 2011) combined archival and ethnographic research to understand the imprint of history and memory–particularly with respect to Catholic ideas about place and sacrifice–in the opposition to an archdiocesan plan to shutter dozens of parish churches. A second book, currently under review, considers the history of Roman Catholic priesthood as a social practice in the twentieth century U.S. I am interested in the ways priesthood has worked, for better and for worse, in the shaping of the religious lives of Catholics and others. My CV exposes some of my additional interests. It also documents my administrative work over the years, including a three-year term as a judge for the ACHA’s Shea Prize, five years serving as Chair and Co-Chair of the Catholic Studies Unit of the American Academy of Religion, a term on the Executive Council of the American Society of Church History, founding and editing the Catholic Practice in the Americas book series with Fordham University Press, and several years working as Project Director for a national, and now-international research initiative entitled Taking Responsibility: Jesuit Institutions Confront the Causes and Legacy of Clergy Sexual Abuse.