John C. Seitz

John C. Seitz focuses on the historical and ethnographic study of U.S. Catholics and on theoretical questions in the study of religion. He is currently working on a book about Roman Catholic priesthood in the 20th century U.S.  

In his teaching Seitz treats U.S. religious history, theories in the study of religion and theology, and the history of Christianity in the modern period. Among his courses are “American Religious Texts” and “Faith & Critical Reason,” both of which contribute to the undergraduate core curriculum. Electives and courses for the major have included “Christian Thought and Practice,” “Wartime Religion in U.S. History,” “Contemporary Conversations in Theology,” “Home, Away, and In-Between,” and “Catholic Studies Seminar.” Seitz also teaches "Writing Religion," “Readings in American Religion” and “History of Christianity” and a range of tutorials for the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Beyond the department, Seitz has been involved in a variety of initiatives. In 2020, he became a research fellow in Notre Dame’s Gender, Sex, and Power project and in Fordham’s initiative entitled Taking Responsibility: Jesuit Educational Institutions Confront the Causes and Legacy of Clergy Sexual Abuse. In 2023, Seitz took on the role of Program Director for Taking Responsibility. In addition to his work in the Theology Department, Seitz serves as the Associate Director for Lincoln Center of the Francis and Ann Curran Center for American Catholic Studies at Fordham. A former chair of the Catholic Studies Unit of the American Academy of Religion, Seitz also co-edits a book series, Catholic Practice in the Americas, for Fordham University Press.

Seitz is a native of Boulder, Colorado.   

PhD - Harvard University (Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, American Religions)
MTS - Harvard Divinity School (Christianity and Culture)
BA - University of Colorado at Boulder, summa cum laude (Religious Studies)

• American religions
• U.S. Catholicism
• Theory and method in the study of religion

“Acts of Faith: Religion and the American West” in American Catholic Studies (2024) 134:4, 101-114. 

“Secrecy, Sex Abuse, and the Practice of Priesthood” in The Routledge Handbook of Religion and Secrecy ed. Hugh B. Urban and Paul Christopher Johnson (New York: Routledge, 2022) 258-274.

“Stoic Brothers and Feeling Men: Abuse and Contemporary Clerical Masculinities in the U.S.,” American Catholic Studies 132: 2 (Summer 2021), 15-21.  

“Rock Minister of Souls: The Music and Vision of Angélica Garcia,” National Catholic Reporter October 8, 2021. 

Working Alternatives: American and Catholic Experiments in Work and Economy edited with Christine Firer Hinze (Fordham University Press, 2020). 

“A Vocation of Contested Intimacies: U.S. Roman Catholic Priesthood in the Mid-Twentieth Century,” in Religious Intimacies: Intersubjectivity in the Modern Christian West ed. Mary Dunn and Brenna Moore (2020, Indiana University Press).

“Altars of Ammo: Catholic Materiality and the Visual Culture of World War II,” Material Religion: The Journal of Objects, Art, and Belief (v. 15 n. 4 [September 2019]).

“Priests as Persons: An Emotional History of St. John’s Seminary, Boston, in the Era of the Council” in Catholics in the Vatican II Era: Local Histories of a Global Event ed.  Kathleen Sprows Cummings, Timothy Matovina, and Robert A. Orsi (Cambridge University Press, 2017).

“The Lives of Priests,” for forum entitled “Writing Catholic History after the Sexual Abuse Crisis,” American Catholic Studies 127:2 (Summer 2016), 18-23.

“American Catholics and Emptiness,” [Review Essay] Church History: Studies in Christianity and Culture 85:2 (June 2016), 353-359.

“What better place?” Refiguring Priesthood at St. John’s Seminary, Boston, 1965-1970,” U.S. Catholic Historian 33:2 (Spring 2015), 49-82.

“The Mass Clock and the Spy: The Catholicization of the Second World War” Church History: Studies in Christianity and Culture, 83:4 (December 2014), 924-956.

“Forum on the Future of American Catholic Studies,” [Guest Editor] American Catholic Studies 125:3 (Fall 2014).

“Introduction” for “Forum on the Future of American Catholic Studies,” American Catholic Studies 125:3 (Fall 2014), 1-4.

“Keep Research Weird: Psychoanalytic Techniques and Fieldwork in the Study of Religion” Method and Theory in the Study of Religion: The Journal of the North American Association for the Study of Religion 25:1 (Winter 2013), 26-52.

No Closure: Catholic Practice and Boston’s Parish Shutdowns. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2011.

“Perfect Priests and their Sacrificial Lambs,” Review of Marie Keenan, Child Sexual Abuse and the Catholic Church: Gender, Power, and Organizational Culture for National Catholic Reporter (November 21, 2012).

"Placeholders: Catholic Tradition and Faith to the Parish," Commonweal, September 2, 2013.