The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) is a national, non-profit, applied social science research center, affiliated with Georgetown University, that studies Catholicism and the Catholic Church. The center opened in March 1965 under its first president, Cardinal John Cody, then archbishop of New Orleans. [1] [2]
The Center traces its origins to the 1950s, when superiors of U.S. missionary institutes called for a national "Catholic center for coordinated research and cooperation in all things pertaining to mission and international development of the Church." In 1961 the Archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Richard Cushing, urged an examination of the feasibility of such an institution. With the Second Vatican Council, the concept of mission was expanded to encompass the total mission of the Church. [2] Subsequent meetings led to the incorporation of CARA in August 1963 with its first staff in place by 1964. [3]
In October 1965 Cardinal Cody announced the existence of the Center at a national meeting of Catholic Bishops, noting that the Center "exists to provide for us the reliable scientific and technical information we require for proper and thoughtful decisions in the very complicated areas of our ministry." [2]
As an applied social science research center, CARA has produced many surveys; program reviews; archival, historical, and other research for a wide range of organizations ranging from the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to individual dioceses, parishes, and religious institutes. Since its founding, the Center has produced nearly 2,000 research reports. [4]
John Patrick Cody was an American bishop and cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. A native of St. Louis, he served as Bishop of Kansas City–Saint Joseph (1956–1961), Archbishop of New Orleans (1964–1965), and Archbishop of Chicago (1965–1982). He was named a cardinal in 1967.
The Catholic Church in the United States is part of the worldwide Catholic Church in communion with the pope. With 23 percent of the United States' population as of 2018, the Catholic Church is the country's second-largest religious grouping after Protestantism, and the country's largest single church if Protestantism is divided into separate denominations. In a 2020 Gallup poll, 25% of Americans said they were Catholic. The United States has the fourth-largest Catholic population in the world, after Brazil, Mexico, and the Philippines.
The Archdiocese of Chicago is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction, an archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church located in Northeastern Illinois, in the United States. The Vatican erected it as a diocese in 1843 and elevated it to an archdiocese in 1880. Chicago is the see city for the archdiocese.
Francis Eugene George was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He was the eighth archbishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago in Illinois (1997–2014) and previously served as bishop of the Diocese of Yakima in Washington State and archbishop of the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon.
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The Catholic Church in the United States began in the colonial era, but by the mid-1800s, most of the Spanish, French, and Mexican influences had demographically faded in importance, with Protestant Americans moving west and taking over many formerly Catholic regions. Small Catholic pockets remained in Maryland, Alabama, Florida, and Louisiana, but scarcely anywhere else.
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John Joseph Leibrecht is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau in Missouri from 1984 to 2008.
Evangelii nuntiandi is an apostolic exhortation issued on 8 December 1975 by Pope Paul VI on the theme of Catholic evangelization. The title, taken from the opening words of the original Latin text, means "in proclaiming the Gospel". It affirms the role of every Christian, not only ordained ministers, priests, and deacons, or religious, or professional church staff, in spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
John Carroll was an American Catholic prelate who served as the first Bishop of Baltimore, the first diocese in the new United States. He later became the first Archbishop of Baltimore. Until 1808, Carroll administered the entire U.S. Catholic Church. He was a member of the Society of Jesus until its suppression in 1759.
Catholic laity are the ordinary members of the Catholic Church who are neither clergy nor recipients of Holy Orders or vowed to life in a religious order or congregation. Their mission, according to the Second Vatican Council, is to "sanctify the world".