Browsing by Subject "Catholics"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Generosity Traditions
    (Center for Social Concerns, 2024) Herzog, Patricia Snell
    This practitioner-engaged article reflects on the role of higher education and research endeavors in understanding generosity. As part of a higher education for human flourishing initiative, this publications seeks to issue an open invitation to a conversation, a community, and a set of contested aspirations for how we ought to live together in this world and how higher education might serve those aspirations. The focus of this article is on generosity in major world faith traditions, followed by a spotlight on giving habits.
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    The Politics of Denying Communion to Catholic Elected Officials
    (De Gruyter, 2013-12) Blake, William D; Friesen, Amanda
    In his 2004 presidential campaign, John Kerry, a Catholic, was threatened with being denied Holy Communion because of his pro-choice voting record. This article investigates the extent to which communion denial impacted Catholic elected officials and analyzes public attitudes regarding communion denial for Kerry. The results of our analysis suggest that, despite heavy media coverage, few bishops endorsed the communion denial and few pro-choice Catholic officials were threatened. While the data also indicate there are meaningful political implications for public attitudes on communion denial, the tactic does not command support from many Catholics.
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    Reading Between the Lines: Social Contextual Influences on the Production of and Response to Charitable Appeals
    (2021-07) O'Connor, Heather Ann; Konrath, Sara; Shaker, Genevieve; Benjamin, Lehn; Haberski, Raymond
    This two-article, mixed-methods dissertation examines social contextual influences on donor and fundraiser behavior. It presents an extension of the Charitable Triad Model to conceptualize philanthropic behavior as a contextualized act informed by the social context shared among and between fundraisers, donors, beneficiaries, and organizations. The first article extends research on how social identity shapes donor behavior. This work finds that people are more likely to donate when they share identities, experiences, or group affiliations with beneficiaries. However, donors make philanthropic decisions in the context of multiple—and sometimes incongruent—identities. How might this complexity affect philanthropic behavior? I apply an intersectional approach to consider donors holding two simultaneous yet seemingly incongruent social identities. Using interviews analyzed with grounded theory, I examine the philanthropic journey of twenty Catholic women who donate to pro-choice organizations and identify as pro-choice activists. I uncover a common process shared by the donors as they navigate their seemingly incompatible identities. Findings reveal implications for fundraisers seeking to understand donors and for organizations that address controversial causes. The second article uses an experimental design with professional fundraisers to test how the presence of a teammate affects the performance of a common fundraising task, that of writing a charitable appeal letter. A large body of research in non-fundraising domains finds that working in a team versus alone can positively affect performance and team members’ satisfaction. Further, new research finds that fundraisers who feel like they fit with their environment have higher satisfaction and retention. However, no known research has examined the role of the social environment in fundraisers’ crafting of charitable appeals. Using person-environment-fit theory, we randomly assign fundraisers to work in a team versus alone to examine how this affects their satisfaction with the task, as well as the content of the letter produced. Results suggest implications for the management of development teams. Overall, this dissertation provides evidence-based insights to improve fundraising practice.