Dual Reference Groups and Political Orientations: An Examination of Evangelically Oriented Catholics

Father Knows Best: Parishes, Priests, and American Catholic Parishioners' Attitudes Toward Capital Punishment

“…Such differences between samples of individuals who are actually enrolled in parishes and national samples of self-designated Catholics appear to be attributable to demographic processes that have led younger Catholics to establish parish membership later in the lifecycle than was characteristic of preceding generations (Welch and Leege 1991).…”

Religious influences on Latino ideology and vote choice: are Evangelical Catholics different?

“…Higgins tradition, particularly in their civic engagement and propensity to identify or vote for the Republican candidate (Leege and Welch 1989;Welch and Leege 1991;Green 2007;Mockabee 2007). While some scholars have begun to notice a change occurring within religious outlooks of those who identify themselves as Catholics, the impact this has on Latinos as a strong Catholic population is understudied.…”

“…While some scholars have begun to notice a change occurring within religious outlooks of those who identify themselves as Catholics, the impact this has on Latinos as a strong Catholic population is understudied. There are groups of Catholics who seem to believe and behave in a manner that is similar to Evangelical Protestants (Welch and Leege 1991;Bendyna et al 2000;Espinosa, Elizondo, and Miranda 2003) and yet few studies ever account for a difference of belief within those who identify as Catholic. Welch and Leege (1991) in one of the earliest examinations note that there is a clear and growing "pattern of evangelical-style orientations exists among contemporary Catholic parishioners, and that it differentiates Catholics on their political views" (45; see also Weigel 2013).…”

“…There are groups of Catholics who seem to believe and behave in a manner that is similar to Evangelical Protestants (Welch and Leege 1991;Bendyna et al 2000;Espinosa, Elizondo, and Miranda 2003) and yet few studies ever account for a difference of belief within those who identify as Catholic. Welch and Leege (1991) in one of the earliest examinations note that there is a clear and growing "pattern of evangelical-style orientations exists among contemporary Catholic parishioners, and that it differentiates Catholics on their political views" (45; see also Weigel 2013). This means that "Catholics who identify with the evangelical movement do seem to acquire much of its political conservatism … " (Wald and Calhoun-Brown 2007, 267).…”

“…This means that "Catholics who identify with the evangelical movement do seem to acquire much of its political conservatism … " (Wald and Calhoun-Brown 2007, 267). Despite the few arguments for intra-denominational variation of Catholics based upon a divergence of belief structure, few studies ever account for such variation, and those that do focus exclusively on Anglo Catholics (Welch and Leege 1991). However, there is strong historic evidence to think that this identification of Evangelical Catholics would apply to Latinos at a significantly higher percentage than to non-Latino Catholics (Espinosa, Elizondo, and Miranda 2003).…”