Theses Bachelor's

The Death and Resurrection of a Church: Group Formation and Shifting Identity after Parish Closure

Oliva, Alejandra

When Our Lady Queen of Angels closed as a part of routine parish reorganization in 2007, parishioners formed a weekly protest and prayer group that met outside the church on Sunday mornings. This group has continued for over eight years now. Through participant-observation and interviews, this study looks at the causes of the longevity of the protest group, as well as their alienation from the institutional Catholic church. Thanks to networks formed through in-church participation, parishioners were able to find and activate a protest group. The group's continued existence owes itself to the transition of the group's goals from protest to praise. The implications of its longevity represents an institutional failure on the part of the archdiocese to maintain parishioners through changing times, and the experiences of these parishioners can be used to develop better policies in the future.

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More About This Work

Academic Units
Sociology
Thesis Advisors
DiPrete, Thomas A.
Degree
B.A., Columbia University
Published Here
June 18, 2015