Institutional Selection for Conformity: The Case of U.S. Catholic Priests

The declining dissent among Catholic clergy since the 1970s has consistently been attributed to cohort replacement, indicated by age differences, as a result of changes in Catholic religious culture, despite a recognition in recent sociology of religion of the importance of institutional agency. I test (1) whether changes in priest’s beliefs and values are due to cultural trends (indicated by birth cohort) or institutional selection (indicated by ordination cohort); and (2) whether they are related to liberalism/ conservatism generally or to specific conformity to Catholic moral positions. Data are from the 2002 Los Angeles Times priest survey (N 1⁄4 1,854). Results are mixed: I find support for the thesis of institutional selection for conformity since 1969, but not before. Prior to the 1960s, clergy (and lay) Catholic dissent increased linearly by birth cohort; since 1969, institutional selection, not cultural change, accounts for declining clergy dissent (while lay dissent has continued to increase). Implications for understanding changes in the Catholic Church and for religious theory are discussed.