The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Leadership Conference of Women Religious: An Examination of Religious Elites and Their Influence on Catholic Public Opinion

This project explores the influence of religious elites' on public opinion, with particular emphasis on the Catholic Church. This endeavor is particularly relevant in light of the recent Doctrinal Assessment of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, an organization that represents 80% of American nuns, by the Vatican and the American hierarchy via the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. The project first examines if these two groups have different policy preferences, whether they attempt to mobilize their audience in the direction of their positions, and if any differences are rooted in gender dynamics and various concept message frames. It then seeks to determine whether these elites' policy statements are effective in influencing Catholics (a disunified voting block that comprises the largest single-faith group in the country) in the direction of their preferences. Overall, scholarship on religious elites is a developing field and work on the influence of female religious elites remains under-developed; thus, this project makes a unique contribution to both the fields of religion and politics and gender and politics.