The Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism at the University of Notre Dame is forming a working group devoted both to furthering research on the sexual abuse crisis in the US Catholic Church and its causes from various disciplinary perspectives, primarily historical and ethnographic, and to asking how this research illuminates new pathways into understanding modern Catholicism. Through its sponsorship of localized studies of the clergy sex-abuse crisis, the Cushwa Center seeks to reexamine what it has meant to be Catholic in the modern world. Online applications to join this working group are due by March 15, 2020.
The Center invites interested scholars to join in seeking answers and in developing new questions. In asking “What do we talk about when we talk about the church sexual abuse crisis?,” members of the working group will not simply undertake their own individual research projects—though it is expected that they will do so—but also explore the broader implications of their findings.
Through the Cushwa Center’s partnership with BishopAccountability.org, members of the working group will have unprecedented access to multiple archives. The working group is committed to including as many voices as possible—including the voices of survivors of clergy sexual abuse—at all stages of the project. Members will be expected to produce studies that are richly documented, properly contextualized, and attentive to historical nuance.
The Cushwa Center will award each researcher a stipend of $5,000 and in addition cover all travel and accommodations related to working group meetings. For a full list of working group member requirements, visit the Center’s website.
To Apply: Submit a CV and a cover letter by March 15, 2020, using the form linked here. Visit the Center’s website for further information on the working group and the application requirements.