About Us

Established in 2001, The Francis and Ann Curran Center for American Catholic Studies is an inter-disciplinary center sponsoring a four-fold set of programs:

• National Conferences to which scholars are invited to discuss with each other and with various publics issues of Catholic belief and culture in the United States. • Public Lectures, Symposia, and Readings held at both the Rose Hill and Lincoln Center campuses featuring a wide range of topics relating to American Catholic history, theology, and culture. • Faculty Seminars in the various schools and divisions of the University focusing on issues of religious identity and scholarship, ethics, and the Jesuit/Ignatian tradition of pedagogy. • Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Certificate Program open to students of high academic achievement who are interested in studying the history, theology, and culture of the Catholic Church in America. These events and programs provide an important forum for ecumenical engagement between Catholics and believers from other faith traditions, and for the academic study of broad “faith and culture” questions in the United States. Overall, the Curran Center extends Fordham’s Jesuit tradition of serious intellectual engagement with religious ideas, and its revered commitment to educating “men and women for others.” Conferences, lectures and symposia, made possible in part by a generous endowment from the John and Constance Curran Charitable Foundation, have featured timely and though provoking topics: A Three-Year Study of the Future of the Catholic Community in the United States The study includes 90 scholars and church leaders – academics, journalists, bishops, diocesan officials, and youth ministers – to discuss with each other (and then with much broader publics) the challenges and opportunities facing the Catholic community in the United States in a new century. Anti-Catholicism: The Last Acceptable Prejudice? Conference presenters included William Donohue, Ph.D., the Catholic League for Civil and Religious Rights; the Rev. Andrew Greeley, director of the National Opinion Research Center, University of Chicago; Alan Wolfe, Ph.D., director of The Boisi Center, Boston College; and Ken Woodward, religion editor, Newsweek. Urbanism and American Religion Conference presenters included Jon Butler, Ph.D., Yale University’s William Robertson Coe Professor of American Studies and History, professor of religious studies and author of a major study on religion in New York City. One Church,Many Cultures: The Legacy of Joseph P. Fitzpatrick, S.J. Conference speakers included Roberto Gonzales, Archbishop of San Juan, Puerto Rico; Timothy Matovina, Ph.D., University of Notre Dame; Ana Maria Diaz Stevens, Ph.D., Union Theological Seminary. New Directions in American Catholic Studies Conference presenters included Mary Gordon, Millicent McIntosh Professor of English at Barnard College, essayist and bestselling novelist; Elizabeth A. Johnson, C.S.J., Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of Theology at Fordham University; and David Gibson, Vatican journalist and author. Between Heaven and Earth: The Religious Worlds People Make and the Scholars Who Study Them Book forum participants included: Robert Orsi, Ph.D., Harvard University; Elizabeth A. Johnson, C.S.J., Ph.D., Fordham University; and Kathryn Tanner, Ph.D., University of Chicago. Lipper Family Foundation Events, made possible by a generous grant from the Lipper Family Foundation, have provided a vibrant platform for examination and debate: Catholic Conservatives after the Cold War, 1989-2000 Patrick Allitt, Ph.D., professor of history, Emory University. In Search of American Catholicism Jay Dolan, Ph.D., professor emeritus of history, University of Notre Dame. On the Waterfront: An Evening with Bud Schulberg Budd Schulberg, Academy Award-winning screenwriter and novelist. Picturing Faith: Religious America in Government Photography Colleen McDannell, Ph.D., Sterling McMurrin Professor of Religious Studies and professor of history, University of Utah. The Curran Center is honored to sponsor The Rita Cassella Jones Lecture Series The Rita Cassella Jones Lecture Series is Supported by a generous endowment from Robert F. Jones, Ann Leslie Jones and Christopher Cummings, Robert and Diane Jones, Kenneth and Kathryn Jones, Timothy and Jessica Jones, William and Susanne Jones. The Series fittingly focuses on the concerns and issues of women in the U.S. Catholic community. Thanks to the generous endowments from Shirley and Jonathan O’Herron, and Jean and Albert Salvatico, Olga M. Ficarra, Edward I. O’Brien III, Mary and Ray Bonnabeau and a scholarship endowment in memory of Martin E. Feeney, S.J., the Center offers scholarships to students enrolled in American Catholic Studies.