Bishop Bernard J. Flanagan Lecture on Religion and Public Affairs

"Religious Congregations, Community Organizing, and Democratic Renewal"

Wood specializes in political sociology and the sociology of religion, focusing on the institutional and cultural underpinnings of democratic life. He is particularly interested in community organizing efforts to advance substantive democracy in the contemporary United States, and on police-community interaction in urban America. His current research looks at the relationship between faith communities and religiously based political organizations. He is the author of Faith in Action: Religion, Race, and Democratic Organizing in America (University of Chicago Press, 2002), an ethnographic study of faith- and race-based civic engagement among Hispanic, African-American and Anglo residents in low income, U.S. neighborhoods.

The Bishop Flanagan Lecture series was started in 1991 in an effort to build a relationship between the Diocese of Worcester and Holy Cross on social justice and peace issues. It is named in honor of the late Bishop of Worcester, a member of the Holy Cross Class of 1928, who was known for his lifelong dedication to peace, social justice and ecumenism.

Each year the Bishop Flanagan Lecture brings scholars, pastoral leaders or leaders of important apostolic movements to Holy Cross. Their presence stimulates discussion of important problems facing the American Church and provides an opportunity for dialogue and collaboration between the local churches and the College.